Some of you may have seen the story I wrote up for Men’s News Daily on what amounts to “snuff” films already distributed by Islamist groups. The least vile of the videos (and mercifully brief) can be accessed in my original article, however it is not for the faint of heart and will likely badly disturb any viewer … I know that it did so to me. It is not directly linked here for that reason only.
Some of you may also recall the story of Daniel Pearl who was the reporter for the Wall Street Journal who was kidnapped and then murdered in Pakistan.
What these stories have in common is that – in both cases – a video camera was present and the Islamists used the films so obtained for the purposes of intimidation and fund-raising. Yes, that’s right … fund-raising.
To date, there are three such films of torture and slow murder circulating intermittently on the Internet. The first two are about 5 to 7 years old and depict the deliberate killing of a captive by the Chechen Islamists. The source is confirmed by a date stamp on one film and analysis of the language and dialect spoken on the films.
There are reports of additional similar films, but these have yet to surface where they can be copied and so be absolutely confirmed. But perhaps that is because these other films were “made-to-order” for a particular customer who could specify the type of victim, the indignities and the method of death, for that was what I was referring to when I mentioned fund-raising. Available in Middle Eastern bazaars even today, there are many dozens of videos made of the torture and murder of Russian soldiers. These videos were initially sent to the families of the soldiers who were skinned alive for cameras.
As I had already seen the short film clip in the MND piece when I wrote “The case for harshness,” it would be useful to return to the hypothesis that I used to describe the 12th-century ethical world of the Islamists. In that world, it was purely routine to rob, rape and murder your enemies without restraint, but today it is conducted with the additional blessing of Islamic code that stipulates that unbelievers were not to be considered as people. The radical Islamists honor, preserve and treasure these same ancient interpretations of Islam (there are other interpretations that do conflict wildly with these) as pertains to all non-Muslims and therefore can indulge in such barbarity without let.
If you are among those who dared to watch what the Islamists consider fair treatment in that film clip, you will perhaps gain an appreciation for the restraint shown in making the case for harshness against Islamic terrorists.
But today, there are new moves afoot to begin making these films again in Iraq. Military personnel, private contractors and aid workers have been warned of efforts by the Islamists to kidnap them and advised to institute safeguards. Dependable and informed sources tell me that the planned kidnappings are to target Westerners, preferably Americans in the following order: military personnel, business people, aid workers and lastly journalists. Because of the unexpectedly negative response after the kidnapping and filmed murder of Pearl, journalists are the least desirable targets.
The purpose of the kidnappings is to rape, torture, humiliate and finally murder the victims for the cameras. It is anticipated that the kidnapping itself will be filmed as well. The objective is to create footage of a similar nature to that of Somalia where a small group of American soldiers were killed, their bodies dragged through the street, mutilated and then hung in public. Aided by the mainstream American media, the outcry these films produced fueled the withdrawal of the peacekeepers. It is this effect that the Islamists hope to recreate by distributing the films of the horrors they will so blithely inflict.
It is appropriate to note here that although the American media described the Mogadishu casualties as an American defeat, it was the Somali warlords who cringed in abject terror waiting for the crushing counter-blow that, fortunately for them, never came. Since 1968, when Walter Cronkite managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, there has been what amounts to a tradition of deliberate journalistic malfeasance in interpreting events to the disadvantage of the United States.
It is this scummy tradition that the Islamists now wish to harness by creating films of coldly calculated horror in the certainty that the American media will pick up the broadcasts of the film from Al-Jazeera and the Internet, and then focus purely on the bloody specifics without commenting on the perpetrators … as usual.
But there is a serious hitch in this plan … it has to be a surprise. Because, you see, if the audience is forewarned, then the shock of the images have a much reduced effect and then the focus of the viewers can be turned to those who have created the monstrosities. This – in intelligence terms – dear readers, is called “blowback.”
In hopes of getting word of our awareness to the Islamists, who are smart enough to cancel such an operation once it is blown, I ask all of you to spread the word to every person, mailing list and media outlet you can get the attention of so that, perhaps, some families will not have to grieve this season.
Consider it the best anonymous holiday gift you will ever give.
Tom Marzullo is a former Special Forces soldier and a veteran of submarine special operations. He resides in Colorado.
