Beheadings

There really are no words for the barbarity and cruelty displayed by these bastards, and it does lead to vengeance fantasies, such as those suggested lately by the new book from "Anonymous," of which more later.

Daily Kos thinks these types of actions are "bad PR" on the jihadists' part. I'm not so sure, as evidenced by the lack of outrage expressed on al Jazeera by even the most moderate Muslim in the region. Instead, they point to Abu Ghraib, or Najaf, or even the occupied territories as explanation for such a visceral piece of symbolism as the beheading of an innocent man. Unfortunately, it seems that the really bad act of PR would have been not doing it after threatening to behead the poor, terrified man. That seems to be what's happened in response to our backing off of Muqtada Sadr and his brigade. We look weak and feckless and Sadr, once a fairly marginal figure, becomes the second most important political figure in Iraq despite the fact that he very nearly brought the full and indiscriminate force of American military power down on the heads of the townspeople around him.

We are operating without a moral or cultural compass to guide us in Iraq these days, and no amount of GPS or night-vision goggles are helping us.