Haunted by the Ghost of Daniel Pearl

I remember sitting in my office watching Khalid Sheikh Mohammed kill Daniel Pearl. Horrible images I chose to never revisit but stuck with me anyway. There was one image in particular that stuck with me more than the others. The disgusting sight of KSM himself, peering into the camera with the look of enjoyment in his eyes. He was still in the process of removing Danny's head and seemed to stop for a moment to relish in his own display of man's inhumanity to man. He then proceeded to take the dull blade back to his evil chore to complete his task.

Daniel died on February 1st 2002. I wonder, as a nation how much we have truly learned since then. Do we understand that not everyone in the world respects human life the way Americans fundamentally do? Because I can't think that on February 2nd 2002, this country would have ever stood by idly as our Commander in Chief decided to give the man responsible for planning the attacks of September the 11th, the same man that took so much pleasure in creating the Pearl snuff film, American Constitutional rights. This monster KSM, now has the same rights as an American citizen in our court system. Where is the outrage? The outrage is on the right where you would guess it would be. The 'right' that is daily bashed and marginalized by the new leaders of this nation and their tools in the media.

It seems to me that the current leadership's way of thinking on this issue is naive beyond reproach. At the very least it shows ignorance to the fact that we have now embolden the enemy by taking away severe consequences of fighting against the United States. To get 'three hots and a cot' for planning the murder of over 3,000 Americans (Al Qaeda stated they had hoped for a million to die) as a foreigner, in a foreign land, is a slap in the face to every American, whether they know it or not.

There are other reasons this is another amateur move by the Obama administration. In a post on her Facebook page, Sarah Palin points out:

"Criminal defense attorneys will now enter into delaying tactics and other methods in the hope of securing some kind of win for their “clients.” The trial will afford Mohammed the opportunity to grandstand and make use of his time in front of the world media to rally his disgusting terrorist cohorts. It will also be an insult to the victims of 9/11, as Mohammed will no doubt use the opportunity to spew his hateful rhetoric in the same neighborhood in which he ruthlessly cut down the lives of so many Americans.

It is crucially important that Americans be made aware that the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks may walk away from this trial without receiving just punishment because of a “hung jury” or from any variety of court room technicalities. If we are stuck with this terrible Obama Administration decision, I, like most Americans, hope that Mohammed and his co-conspirators are convicted.

I agree that we should "Hang ‘em high" but we should have hanged ‘em high in Cuba. KSM declared in a U.S. military tribunal that he “decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl,” and that if those in the court didn't believe him there were pictures online. I know the the pictures he's talking about.

Now that those military tribunals are over before they could come to an end, Daniel Pearls family has spoken out. In a statement released by his parents, they state:

"We are sorry to learn of the Justice Department decision to try KSM in a NYC Federal Court.

We are respectful of the legal process, but believe that giving confessed terrorists a worldwide platform to publicize their ideology sends the wrong message to potential terrorists, inviting them in essence, to resort to violence and cruelty in order to gain publicity.

We believe that justice is better served if the trial of KSM, the confessed murderer of Daniel Pearl, be held in closed session."

There seems to be a great divide between people that see these people as terrorists and those that see them as men worthy of American birth rights.

Judea Pearl, Daniel's father penned an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal in February of this year titled "Daniel Pearl and the Normalization of Evil." Judea seems to understand the liberal worldview of the president and his attorney general. He writes:

"But somehow, barbarism, often cloaked in the language of "resistance," has gained acceptance in the most elite circles of our society. The words "war on terror" cannot be uttered today without fear of offense. Civilized society, so it seems, is so numbed by violence that it has lost its gift to be disgusted by evil."

In that article, Judea Pearl goes through the litany on the left that seems almost apologetic for the terrorists. The government, the media, and academia have all given passes and excuses for the most violent jihadists in the world. I strongly recommend reading Judea's piece in it's entirety to understand how troublesome and systemic this worldview is. A worldview that, in my opinion is also responsible for allowing Nidal Malik Hasan to rant his jihadist rhetoric and do nothing to remove him as a danger to our service men and women.

It would behoove this president to look outside of his leftist ideology for one moment and realize that the safety of this nations people is in his hands. His job is not to make nice and befriend every evil dictator and zealot he can. His job is to keep this nation safe and secure.