Hey folks,
I was listening to some talk radio last night and they were talking about how Americans have a "responsibility" to view the footage of American civilians being beheaded by terrorists. Fine, I thought, I'll check it out. Now I'm REALLY wishing I hadn't. I'm never all that grossed out by Hollywood violence, but seeing this was different. I'll respectfully spare you the details, suffice to say I was physically ill, and all day today I can't seem to get the images and the sounds (which were the worst part IMO) out of my head.
On the other hand, having actually seen the footage has made me reevaluate some of my opinions. I consider myself a moderate Democrat, who has been unpersuaded thus far by Bush's strategy for fighting terrorism. After seeing the video, though, I at least realize now that there is absolutely NO reasoning with terrorists. No amount of diplomacy or concessions will ever deter them. I think now that terrorists simply have to be hunted down one by one and eliminated. Liberals who think terrorism would disappear if we were just more diplomatic in our approach to the Middle East I think are rather naive.
I still don't think Bush is the answer. There needs to be a combination of diplomacy backed by a strong, aggressive military. Going into Iraq without more international support was stupid. Trying to defend the invasion of Iraq on the basis of faulty intelligence instead of gross violations of human rights was stupid (no matter what he says now, before the war, Bush talked about WMD's and terrorist connections, NOT the cruelty of Saddam Hussein, which would've been a lot more persuasive to the international community. I watch Powell's U.N. presentation before the war. It sure didn't convince me of anything). Giving all these rebuilding contracts to American companies rather than Iraqi companies was stupid. Flip-flopping on the 9/11 Commission was stupid. Not sending in an even stronger force to protect the civilians was stupid.
Still, one thing I had to accept after seeing the video of the beheading is that we do have to have resolve, which Bush does have (I just don't think he has the intelligence and sense to know what to do what that resolve).
Anyway, what do you all think? Do we owe it to ourselves to view one of these beheading videos? If you have viewed one, what were your impressions? Were you as traumatized as I was? If so, how long did it take you to get over it? Has it changed or colored your opinions of terrorism and what we're purportedly doing to stop it?
Just curious,
-JT
