iraq

David Aaronovich: We Must Stop Bolstering The Beheaders: Sept., 28, 2004

“If it is the objective of terrorists to drive people mad, then the Jordanian serial killer who kidnapped Kenneth Bigley and his two US colleagues, is doing a fantastic job on us. The media and large sections of public opinion currently seem to be intent on rewarding him for his extraordinary brutality. He calls, we lean towards him. He makes impossible demands and we indulge in recriminations about whether they can be fulfilled. Why, fellow Britons, do you think that Zarqawi slit the throats of two American civilians so quickly, but has hung on for so long before murdering our Liverpudlian? Sentiment? A liking for the Beatles? So we would do exactly what we have been doing. And somehow he knows we have been doing it. [...]

I am told, we have British journalists among others, monitoring the executional websites round the clock so that they can be the first with the news and the pictures. The severing of heads is then much demanded on the internet, the images of Zarqawi and his demands are given full play on stations like al-Jazeera, truncated versions appearing on British TV stations, and still images on newspaper front pages. If there is such a thing as the oxygen of publicity, then we are giving it, to this and other butchers by the tank-full. I think we should stop. If we don't exercise some self-censorship then the escalating kidnapping and killing of journalists will make our jobs impossible in any case. We will trade the ability to print the pictures of the men in masks for the ability to report from anywhere where such people may be operating. My proposal is that we should not broadcast images, appeals and statements that clearly vindicate the Nazi-like criminality of men like Zarqawi. Just the bald facts of the case and nothing more. We must stop being naive accomplices to exhibition killings.”
[Guardian]

Terror by Video: Robert Fisk: "How Chechnya Inspired the Iraqi Kidnappers": July 26, 2004

"The pictures are grainy, the voices sometimes unclear. But when Kim Sun-il shrieks 'Don't kill me' over and over again, his fear is palpable. As the heads of Iraq's kidnap victims are sawn off, Koranic recitations--usually by a well-known Saudi imam--are played on the soundtrack. At the beheading of an American, the murderer ritually wipes his bloody knife twice on the shirt of his victim, just as Saudi officials clean their blades after public executions in the kingdom. Terror by video is now a well-established part of the Iraq war. [...] the scenario has become grimly familiar. The potential victim kneels in front of three hooded men holding Kalashnikov rifles. Sometimes he pleads for his life. Sometimes he is silent, apparently unaware of whether he is to be murdered or spared. The viewer, however, will notice something quite terrible. When the hostage is to be beheaded, the gunmen behind him are wearing gloves. They do not intend to stain their hands with an infidel's blood. [...] All sides in Iraq have joined the video war. The first day of Saddam Hussein's trial was videotaped and handed to journalists by US military censors who initially tried to delete the soundtrack--something they succeeded in doing with the 11 Baathists whose arraignment followed shortly afterwards. [...] Videos, usually delivered to one of two Arabic-language television channels--al-Jazeera or al-Arabia--are rarely shown in full. But in an outrageous spin-off, websites--especially one that appears to be in California--are now posting the full and gory contents. One American website has posted the beheading of the American Nicholas Berg and the South Korean hostage in full and bloody detail. 'Kim Sun-il Beheading Video Short Version, Long Version' the website offers. The 'short version' shows a man severing the hostage's neck. The long version includes his screaming appeal for mercy--which lasts for at least two minutes and is followed by his slaughter. On the same screen and at the same time, there are advertisements for 'Porn' and 'Horse Girls.' [...] And where does the inspiration for all these ghoulish videos come from? More than six months ago, a video went on sale in the insurgents' capital of Fallujah, allegedly showing the throat-cutting of an American soldier. In fact, the tape showed a Russian soldier being led into a room by armed men in Chechnya. He is forced to lie down--apparently unaware of his fate--and at first tries to cope with the pain as a man takes a knife to his throat. His head is then cut off. It seems certain that this tape was intended as a training manual for Iraq's new executioners."
[Counterpunch]

Aljazeera Broadcasts Report with Video of Italian Journalist Hostage: August 24, 2004

Linked to here is full broadcast report from Aljazeera presenting the hostage video of Italian Journalist Enzo Baldoni. The video is from the DARPA TIDES Iraq Reconstruction Report. Baldoni had maintained a handsome weblogblog, Bloghdad, that regularly featured photographs.
[Clip is in Windows Media Player format]

Update: Sadly, hostage Enzo Baldoni was killed in Iraq on August 26, 2004. Aljazeera did not broadcast the video.

James Brandon: "I Heard The Terrifying Click Of The Trigger In My First Mock Execution": August 15, 2004

"I was blindfolded by a sheet soaked in my own blood and could see nothing. 'Who are you? What are you?' the Arabic voices snarled in broken English. 'Are you CIA? Are you an Israeli spy?' The voices, many of them, seemed to boom from all around the room. All I could feel was the cold steel of the muzzle of one of my abductors' pistols being pressed to my temple. Then came a chilling silence . . . broken only, seconds later, by the terrifying metallic click of the trigger being pulled. [...] I kept shouting "Sahafi, sahafi" (journalist). But they were raging. I was pistol-whipped. They screamed in my face, calling me an animal. They were an unreasoning mob, driven by hatred. At that point, after hours of fear and uncertainty about my fate, all I could think was: they are going to kill me. [...] It was in a corridor here that the video camera came out. I kept telling them that I was a journalist, trying to keep them talking. They tried to get me to kneel down on the floor, but I simply would not. 'Talk to the camera,' they ordered. They took quite a lot of footage before they staged the short sequence that would later be beamed around the world. 'My name is James Brandon. I am a journalist for The Sunday Telegraph. I just report what happens in Iraq.'"
[Telegraph]

Tanner & Grady: "San Franciscan Confesses to Beheading Video Hoax": August 7, 2004

"A tech-savvy young San Francisco man who staged his own mock beheading on the Internet duped international media on Saturday into believing Islamist kidnappers had executed an American hostage in Iraq. The video, which appeared on a Web site used by Islamic militants, showed a man who identified himself as Benjamin Vanderford appealing to the United States to leave Iraq. The Web format was that used by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and was introduced by a headline that said it showed Zarqawi killing an American. "If we don't (leave Iraq), everyone is gonna be killed in this way ... I have been offered for exchange for prisoners here in Iraq," the terrified-looking man said, rocking back and forth in his chair, his hands tied behind his back. The video showed a hand with a large knife apparently slicing through the neck of a limp body. But it was all a hoax. The blood was dye, the setting was a friend's garage, the Koran reading was a tape and the knife was held by a friend. Mutilated bodies and sound effects were edited in from photos on Web sites and the video was purposefully blurred to make it seem even more amateur, Vanderford said. A major motivation for his action, an unrepentant Vanderford told Reuters, was to see how the world media would react and to see if they would be fooled. "It really illustrates the potential that this kind of thing would happen," he said. [...] He said the video parody of actual beheadings of hostages in Iraq posted on Islamist Web sites was made and posted on the Web about three months ago, intended as an experiment into how quickly videos spread on the Internet. He was surprised at how long it took."
[Reuters]
[Audio interview with Vanderford: RealPlayer]

Computer Virus Disguised as Nicholas Berg Beheading Video: August, 2004

A group calling itself the Hackarmy is spreading a computer virus through an email message claiming to offer a link to the beheading video of Nicholas Berg. This same virus was circulated during July, 2004 in a message claiming to show evidence that Osama Bin Laden had committed suicide. Since "beheading" and "Nicholas Berg" are among the most frequent search terms, it is not surprising that these topics would be ripe for exploitation.
[BBC]

Turkish Truck Driver Executed by Pistol: August 2, 2004

Note: The kidnapping and execution of hostages in Iraq has unfortunately become increasingly common. In the future, Camera/Iraq will post on events such as these only when they involve new or unusual image practices.

"A Turkish construction worker was shot dead by militants in Iraq, Turkey's embassy in Baghdad said today, as concerns mount about other hostages and Turkish truckers say they'll stop ferrying supplies for U.S. forces. The identity of the worker, the first known Turkish national to be killed in Iraq, hasn't been confirmed, an embassy spokesman who requested anonymity said in a telephone interview. Two other Turks, both truck drivers, are still being held hostage in Iraq, the official said."

This appears to be the first execution by gunshot. Video of the event can be found at www.homelandsecurityus.com.
[Bloomberg]

Steve Prothero: "Beheading and Shock" [NPR]: July 1, 2004

"Commentator Steve Prothero reviews the history of the act of beheading in light of the several instances of such action against hostages in the Mideast. He says the practice is still done by the state in that part of the world, but "freelance" beheaders can still shock. He says at one time beheading was thought to be the more humane way to kill someone -- better than stoning or drawing and quartering."
[NPR's All Things Considered]

Iraq Hostage Video Of Three Kenya Men Released: July 22, 2004

"In response to the kidnapping, the government of Kenya asked all of its citizens to leave Iraq, a government spokesman said. [...] one of the Kenyans gives a short statement in English. 'I've been sent to Kuwait for working, but I've been sent off to Iraq, which is not good. Iraq is a dangerous zone,' he said. 'I wish to tell anyone not to come to Iraq.' At this point on the video, a voice can be heard off-camera, apparently reminding him of his next line. He then adds, '... to come to help Americans. Americans they are not good. Thank you very much.' Egyptian Muhammed Ali Sanad also issued a passionate statement, begging for his own release. 'I work for KGL and we were kidnapped -- release us,' he says in Arabic. 'It is wrong to help the Americans. It is wrong to come to Kuwait. We want to go back home. 'The Egyptians need to know that we were forced to work for the Americans and the Jews. We want to go back to my brothers. They feed us here and give us water until they decide what will they do with us. We will not come to Iraq or Kuwait again. Help us to get out of here.'"
[CNN}

Beheading As A Cultural Practice

"Background
Beheading with a sword or axe goes back a very long way in history, because like hanging, it was a cheap and practical method of execution in early times when a sword or an axe was always readily available. The Greeks and the Romans considered beheading a less dishonourable and less painful form of execution than other methods in use at the time. The Roman Empire used beheading for its own citizens whilst crucifying others. Beheading was widely used in Europe and Asia until the 20th century, but now is confined to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Yemen and Iran. Saudi Arabia publicly beheaded 52 men and 1 woman for murder, rape, sodomy and drug offences in 2003. One man was beheaded in Iran – the first for many years. Beheading was used in Britain up to 1747 see below and was the standard method in Norway abolished 1905, Sweden up to 1903, Denmark and Holland abolished 1870, and was used for some classes of prisoner in France up until the introduction of the guillotine in 1792 and in Germany up to 1938. China also used it widely, until the communists came to power and replaced it with shooting in the twentieth century. Japan too used beheading up to the end of the nineteenth century prior to turning to hanging. [...]

Saudi Arabia - the beheading capital of the modern world
Saudi Arabia uses public beheading as the punishment for murder, rape, drug trafficking, sodomy and armed robbery, apostasy and certain other offences. 45 men and 2 women were beheaded in 2002 and a further 52 men and 1 woman in 2003.  The condemned of both sexes are given tranquillisers and then taken by police van to a public square or a car park after midday prayers. Their eyes are covered and they are blindfolded. The police clear the square of traffic and a sheet of blue plastic sheet about 16 feet square is laid out on the ground. Dressed in their own clothes, barefoot, with shackled feet and hands cuffed behind their back, the prisoner is led by a police officer to the centre of the sheet where they are made to kneel facing Mecca. An Interior Ministry official reads out the prisoner's name and crime to the crowd of witnesses. A policeman hands the sword to the executioner who raises the gleaming scimitar and often swings it two or three times before approaches the prisoner from behind and jabbing him in the back with the tip of the sword causing the person to raise their head. Normally it takes just one swing of the sword to sever the head, often sending it flying some two or three feet. Paramedics bring the head to a doctor, who uses a gloved hand to stop the fountain of blood spurting from the neck. The doctor sews the head back on, and the body is wrapped in the blue plastic sheet and taken away in an ambulance. The body is then buried in an unmarked grave in the prison cemetery. Beheadings of women did not start until the early 1990s, previously they were shot. 33 women have been publicly beheaded up to the end of 2003. Most executions are carried out in the three major cities of Riyadh, Jeddah and Dahran. Saudi executioners take great pride in their work and the post tends to be handed down from one generation to the next."
[Capital Punishment - UK]

Filipino Angelo de la Cruz Taken Hostage: July 8, 2004

Angelo De la Cruz was taken captive on July 8, 2004. Shortly thereafter, a videotape circulated saying he would be released if Philippine troops were withdrawn from Iraq. After discussion within the Philippine government, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo agreed. On July 18, 2004 all troops hurriedly left the country in an effort to save De la Cruz. The both the Iraqi government and the U.S. objected: "This in my view and the view of the Iraqi government has set a bad precendent and sends the wrong messages. Terrorists won't be rewarded otherwise this will repeat itself," Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari said.

Martin Regg Cohn in the Toronto Star has a good backgrounder: "...the political culture of the Philippines is quite different, with Filipinos virtually unanimous in urging their government to do whatever it takes to save the life of overseas worker Angelo de la Cruz. That's because de la Cruz, a father of eight, is considered a national hero — not for anything this unassuming truck driver has done, but because of who he represents: the Overseas Filipino Worker, known as an OFW in local parlance. About 7.5 million Filipinos work abroad, amounting to roughly 10 per cent of the country's burgeoning population. The OFWs send home remittances of more than $10 billion a year, making them mythical figures for their families living in impoverished rural villages across the archipelago."

Point of interest: After the agreement, De la Cruz, still in captivity, noted that he was no longer in the orange jumpsuit that has become a key feature in the iconography of hostage videos.
[CNN]
[Short section of the original hostage video: CBS—RealPlayer]

Filipino Hostage Freed: July 20, 2004
Angelo de la Cruz is released on July 20. AP photo on the right shows his wife watching his release on TV.
[CNN]

Faisal Bodi: "Decapitation: Execrable, But Effective" [Al Jazeera]: July 3, 2004

"Until the shooting death in June of US soldier Keith Maupin, the insurgents had made a point of beheading their captives and disseminating the grisly scenes over the internet. Most people would recoil at the mere thought, but experts say that is precisely the aim. In war, ascendancy in the horror stakes can be a major battlefield gain. 'It gives people an enormous feeling of their own power that they can threaten this fate to their opponents,' believes Professor Ian Robins, a London-based traumatic stress psychologist who specialises in treating war prisoners. While it serves as a morale booster for the perpetrators, it has the converse effect on their opponents. [...] The captive himself becomes a weapon for his captors, a tool for the transmission of horror to the rest of the enemy, effective in proportion to the level of his fear. [...] The act also gives insurgents another advantage. In an age where wars are fought as much on TV as on the battlefield, they no longer need actual victories. The battle, says Meyerson, can be 'won with a single dramatic visual impact'. [...] By turning his family into celebrity anti-war campaigners the beheading of Berg became a political gain for his killers. 'The acts are a sure way of making governments look incompetent by showing they are powerless to stop them despite the fact that they might pour billions of dollars into the campaign,' said Professor Robins. Nothing succeeds like success and so long as the acts continue to put pressure on enemy governments there is little incentive for the perpetrators to stop, according to Robins. 'Behaviour is maintained or increased by its consequences. This [beheadings] gets an enormous amount of attention and scrutiny and therefore it is highly likely it will continue.'"
[Al Jazeera]

Joseph C. Phillips: "Beheading in Iraq": July 6, 2004 [NPR]

Phillips discusses the lynching of Afro-American Zachariah Walker, who in 1911 was pulled from the hospital by a hundred men and burned at the stake for killing a police officer. The crowd stood around the body in obvious delight, posing for a "Kodak moment," as Phillips suggests. Phillips compares this incident to the desecration of bodies in Fallujah and the beheading of Nicholas Berg. He notes how groups often have used violence to shock, frighten and intimidate others different from them.

Of this lynching Gode Davis and James M. Fortier write: "Walker was hurled onto the pyre, his body quickly enveloped in flames. The crowd roared its approval, and those close to the fire hunched forward, according to a newspaper report, 'eagerly watching the look of mingled horror and terror that distorted his blood-smeared face." [...] The following day, the Coatesville Record remarked on the politeness of the crowd: 'Five thousand men, women, and children stood by and watched the proceedings as though it were a ball game or another variety of spectator sport.' Boys had stopped for cold soda afterward at the Coatesville Candy Company to retell the story. Many returned to the site the next day to gather fragments of bone and charred flesh as souvenirs.'"

Camera/Iraq here includes the original picture of Walker that Phillips discusses—a reminder that recent acts of atrocity in the Middle East had striking parallels in our own country several decades ago.
[NPR's The Travis Smiley Show—RealAudio]
[Link to Phillips' essay in print]
["American Lunching," a film by Gode Davis and James M. Fortier]

US contractor Paul Johnson, Jr. Beaheaded: Highly graphic photos circulate on the web: June 18, 2004

Paul Johnson, Jr., a US citizen working for Lockheed Martin in Saudi Arabia, was taken hostage and executed a few days later.
[CNN: "Al Qaeda Militants Kill American Hostage"]
[Disturbing, graphic images showing the body and severed head of Paul Johnson are published at the Drudge Report.]

Pittsburgh Tribune-Riview Publishes Three Photos of Executed Paul Johnson: June 22, 2004
"So why publish it? Because the statement with its photos - issued so casually, like some bland press release - demonstrate compellingly the brutality, the inhumanity, and the deadly danger of the enemy we face. Words alone could not fully convey the cold-blooded savagery of this graphic declaration, with its gloating tone and its threat of more such acts. Americans must know without doubt, without flinching, without averted eyes, that threat's gravity and inhumanity. [...] The photos published in Saturday's edition should offend and horrify you."
[Frank Craig: "Why Publish Images of Death?"]

CBS News Footage of Paul Johnson
Emotionally difficult excerpts, but no graphic violence:
[CBS News]

Video of Paul Johnson, Jr.'s Beheading Posted On Islamic Sites: July 18, 2004
Video is posted on at least one U.S.-based site as well.
[Bloomberg]

Jin Hyun-joo: "Korea: Kim's Execution Video Banned": June 24, 2004

Jin Hyun-joo: "Korea: Kim's Execution Video Banned": June 24, 2004
"The government and Internet portal sites said yesterday they would take stern measures against the possible spread on the Internet of the video showing the beheading of the Korean hostage. [...] Yahoo Korea: "Considering Korean people's condolences toward the deceased, we are going to delete any pictures or video footage that show the killing of the Korean hostage...As the beheading of the hostage was not aired, it is less likely that the footage would proliferate on the Internet as it did in the Nicholas Berg case." [...] With its emergency monitoring system running for 24 hours, the Ministry of Information and Communication said it would advise Web sites to get rid of the clips as soon as they discovered them. "The Web sites that fail to follow through the instructions will be subject to shut-down or police investigation," an official at the ministry said."
[Asia Media]

South Korean Government Seeks to Ban Kim Sun-Il Execution Video: June 24, 2004

"The government and Internet portal sites said yesterday they would take stern measures against the possible spread on the Internet of the video showing the beheading of the Korean hostage. [...] Yahoo Korea: "Considering Korean people's condolences toward the deceased, we are going to delete any pictures or video footage that show the killing of the Korean hostage...As the beheading of the hostage was not aired, it is less likely that the footage would proliferate on the Internet as it did in the Nicholas Berg case." [...] With its emergency monitoring system running for 24 hours, the Ministry of Information and Communication said it would advise Web sites to get rid of the clips as soon as they discovered them. "The Web sites that fail to follow through the instructions will be subject to shut-down or police investigation," an official at the ministry said."
[Asia Media]

Jin Hyun-joo: "Korea: Kim's Execution Video Banned": June 24, 2004

"The government and Internet portal sites said yesterday they would take stern measures against the possible spread on the Internet of the video showing the beheading of the Korean hostage. [...] Yahoo Korea: "Considering Korean people's condolences toward the deceased, we are going to delete any pictures or video footage that show the killing of the Korean hostage...As the beheading of the hostage was not aired, it is less likely that the footage would proliferate on the Internet as it did in the Nicholas Berg case." [...] With its emergency monitoring system running for 24 hours, the Ministry of Information and Communication said it would advise Web sites to get rid of the clips as soon as they discovered them. "The Web sites that fail to follow through the instructions will be subject to shut-down or police investigation," an official at the ministry said."
[Asia Media]

South Korean Kim Sun-Il Beheaded: June 22, 2004

[Washington Post]

"Police assume either the Iraqi armed group distributed the tapes to the site or the site purchased them from other Muslim sites, considering the site put out an ad seeking videotapes of Kim Sun-il’s beheading since June 22. The videotapes contain a scene showing a masked man beheading Kim after declaring “Allah is great.” Netizens who saw the tapes showed strong emotional responses, saying, “It was too cruel and I couldn’t help myself from bursting out into tears. [...] Many netizens are holding a campaign not to watch the videotape at all. Opinions such as: “Please, let’s not watch the videotape even though it may be just us Koreans who don’t watch it. It is the same as allowing Kim Sun-il to be killed twice. Imagine how painful it would be if his family and friends watch it. Let’s not watch it and delete it even when it is in your hand,” have been posted on most Korean internet portal sites. Kim Ho-ki, Professor of Sociology at Yonsei University, pleaded with the government, citizens’ groups, and netizens to control unnecessary expressions of emotion and impulsive behavior, saying, “I am concerned that the videotape may provoke sentiment against Iraq and intensify the dispute on the army dispatch.”"
[Donga]
[Ogrish.com]

South Korean hostage Kim Sun-il is beheaded by captors who forward video of the event to Al-Jazeera television for broadcast: June 22, 2004
[Washington Post]

Video of Kim Sun-il Pleading for His Life
An hysterical Kim Sun-il pleads for his life. No violent images in this clip, but deeply disturbing.
[CBS News]

Nick Berg Execution Coverage

Survey of how 186 U.S. newspapers and 140 foreign papers handled the Nick Berg beheading story on their front pages. Including this amped visual rhetoric from the Of 186 U.S. front pages, 140 ran an image (more than a mug) with the Nick Berg beheading story. Of 125 foreign front pages, 28 ran an image. Philadelphia Daily News ran this bit of amped visual rhetoric.
[NewsDesigner]

Dennis Dunleavy: "The Making of an Iconic Image: Hostage Taking in the Middle East": June 21, 2004

"Iconic images are pictures that become embedded in our social, political and historic memory. In the visual stock agency that is the human brain, images are stored away for future reference through our experiences with them. This is why I can make a visual connection between the recent prisoner abuse and beheading images and pictures of African Americans between beaten or lynched throughout our history. More and more, the images showing hostages kneeling before a group of masked gunmen has come to signify a turn in public perceptions surrounding the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Pictures can be like a barometer signaling a society's political and cultural pressure points. The power of an iconic image extends beyond the meaning of its original occurrence to form an ideological benchmark in history. When we view the images of hostages threatened with beheading by militants a visual foreshadowing occurs and our minds paints a grisly conclusion for us."

Garry Baker: "A War of Pictures": May 16, 2004

"Photographs of war have been changing public opinion for a long time. But the internet has now made a picture worth millions of words. [...] Graphic television coverage of human conflict has been commonplace since the Vietnam War, but the intervention of the internet has changed the rules. Anyone with a digital video camera and a computer can spread whatever message they choose to millions of people, few of them in a position to know the full truth. [...] "One could hope that this increase in the circulation of images of human tragedy might make us more compassionate, but unfortunately that does not seem to be the case," says Richard Devetak. "It is not going to stop wars." Like many commentators, Devetak fears the Berg video will serve mainly to raise the rage in middle America and strengthen President George Bush's support and his resolve to continue, even escalate, the war in Iraq. "It is likely to heighten our sensitivity to the plight of our own soldiers on the ground and also make the war even nastier."
[The Age]

Matthew Stannard: Beheading Video Seen As War Tactic: May 13, 2004

"The nightmare video of an American civilian captured in Iraq being decapitated by his captors was anything but a random act of terrorism, experts say -- it was a press release, carefully designed for a global audience. [...] It was the kind of production, the experts said, that al Qaeda and other radical groups have repeatedly used in their global war on the West: an evolving form of confrontation that American institutions -- politicians, press, public and military -- are still struggling to understand and deal with effectively. [...] most experts said they doubted Berg's videotaped death was a result only of [Abu Ghraib] abuses. Several, noting that Berg apparently had been kidnapped nearly a month ago before he was killed, suggested that the prison scandal merely provided the terrorists with an opportunity to make a point. [...] Another goal, the experts said, is recruitment -- drawing new members to the cause by portraying the killers as defenders against anti-Muslim forces. [...] In fact, the power of information is so great that military policy experts describe it as an instrument of national power, like diplomacy, economy and the military, said Douglas V. Johnson II [...] "Terrorism, as I see it, is communications," said Nacos. "Without the media communicating what they want to say, terrorism doesn't really make sense. " [...]
[San Francisco Gate]