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]