The Savage Republican

This is the hardest post I have had to write and the hardest story I have ever read.

The Times of London bring us this horrific story.

"EVEN by the stupefying standards of Iraq's unspeakable violence, the murder of Atwar Bahjat, one of the country'ss top television journalists, was an act of exceptional cruelty. "

Atwar Bahjat was a 30 year old woman journalist in Iraq. She built quite a following for her reports for al Arabiya on the day to day fighting in Iraq. She was abducted at the edge of her native city of Samarra after a day of reporting on the bombing of the Shi'ite mosque (reportedly bu Sunni factions).

"Two men drove up in a pick-up truck, asking for her. She appealed to a small crowd that had gathered around her crew but nobody was willing to help her. "

One can only imagine the terror and betrayal that she was feeling as she begged her follow Samarrans to help her. However, the horror she felt then was just a faint shadow of what was to come. What follows is not rated PG.

" First she was stripped to the waist, a humiliation for any woman but particularly so for a pious Muslim who concealed her hair, arms and legs from men other than her father and brother.
Then her arms were bound behind her back. A golden locket in the shape of Iraq that became her glittering trademark in front of the television cameras must have been removed at some point — it is nowhere to be seen in the grainy film, which was made by someone who pointed a mobile phone at her as she lay on a patch of earth in mortal terror.
By the time filming begins, the condemned woman has been blindfolded with a white bandage.
It is stained with blood that trickles from a wound on the left side of her head. She is moaning, although whether from the pain of what has already been done to her or from the fear of what is about to be inflicted is unclear. "

By the time the filming begins.....the animals that had taken Bahjat were filming the torture that they were inflicting on this defenseless woman! WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE FROM NOW?????

"A large man dressed in military fatigues, boots and cap approaches from behind and covers her mouth with his left hand. In his right hand, he clutches a large knife with a black handle and an 8in blade. He proceeds to cut her throat from the middle, slicing from side to side.
Her cries — “Ah, ah, ah” — can be heard above the “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) intoned by the holder of the mobile phone.
Even then, there is no quick release for Bahjat. Her executioner suddenly stands up, his job only half done. A second man in a dark T-shirt and camouflage trousers places his right khaki boot on her abdomen and pushes down hard eight times, forcing a rush of blood from her wounds as she moves her head from right to left.
Only now does the executioner return to finish the task. He hacks off her head and drops it to the ground, then picks it up again and perches it on her bare chest so that it faces the film-maker in a grotesque parody of one of her pieces to camera."

But the monsters were not finished with Bahjat...

"She had nine drill holes in her right arm and 10 in her left, he said. The drill had also been applied to her legs, her navel and her right eye. One can only hope that these mutilations were made after her death. "

DRILL HOLES in her arms, legs, abdomen and head! What kind of animals are they?

Captain Ed wrote about the "cowardice" of the monsters that murdered Bahjat, Michelle Malkin called them "insanely evil" neither of which captures (for me) the revulsion that courses through me at the thought of what these animals did. I don't think that there is anything "insane" about this. It is pure evil.

John at Powerline reminds us that there are those who harp on US "abuses" all the while ignoring the real atrocties that aatrocities done in the name of Allah and the guys at Anti-Strib continue to remind us why Islam "stinks". However, this story, more than any other that I have seen so far, drives home (to me) the reality that was revealed to me when I read when I read the Koran a couple of years ago. It reminds me of my visceral reaction, my "gut feeling" to reading the words of "Allah". That feeling was fear. The writings of the "Prophet" scared me more than anything I had ever read in my life. Prior to my reading of the Koran, all I knew about Islam came from reading "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran - a book that was given to me as a gift (from a young man I was dating at the time). Until I actually read the words of the "prophet" I, like my President, thought that Islam was a "religion of peace". If that were an accurate representation, then the outcries of outrage from "mainstream Islam" against this kind of barbarity would be deafening. Instead the only cries of outrage we get are when someone "insults" Islam. I tried to convince myself that there were "moderate Muslims" out there and that they would indeed speak out against the atrocities. The silence was deafening. Meanwhile, Islams believers insult the Gods of other religions on a daily basis.

Until the rest of the "civilized" world, stands up with one voice and DEMANDS that Islam grows up and becomes part of the 21th century (as opposed to living in the 2nd century like they do now) we will continue to be at war with Islam. No amount of sugar coating by the press or the President will change that fact - I fact that I have finally come to admit.

UPDATE: Captain Ed and Michelle Malkin both report that there are those who are casting doubt on the veracity of this Times story. The video is accurate, but the victim may not have been Atwar Bahjat, but a Nepalese man who had been captured in 2004. Regardless, what was done in this video, be the victim male or female, is reprehensible and those that practice this should be dealt with swiftly and firmly.