PrintMay 26, 2010
Obama on beheading: 'It captured the world's imagination'
The Daniel Pearl Press Freedom Act, which authorizes the State Department to include information about attacks on journalists in its human rights reports, was recently signed by president Obama.
This is remarkable for two reasons: 1) Now, when asked whether there's anything Obama has done that I support, I can enthusiastically answer, "The DPPFA!" and 2) because of the president's remarks.
Speaking before Pearl's family, including the son who hadn't been born when jihadists killed his dad, the President uttered these words:
"Obviously, the loss of Daniel Pearl was one of those moments that captured the world's imagination, because it reminded us of how valuable a free press is."
Garbage. Pearl was beheaded, yet the President uses "loss" to characterize the result? Pearl wasn't lost. You lose sailors at sea. A thug taking a scimitar, drawing it across the trachea, and with a sawing motion, severing Daniel's head, is hardly a "moment" to capture the imagination.
Imagination is captured by triumph. Redemption. Beheading doesn't qualify, nor does it "remind us" of anything besides evil. The President's refusal to acknowledge evil empowers evil. What he should have said is, "The killing of this man of Jewish faith, this American, offended all who love freedom. It reminded us that liberty must be fought for and protected."
But we all know that he'd rather appease.
Greg Halvorson is the founder of Soldiers Without Boots, and hosts Freedom Warrior Radio on Blog Talk Radio.
