Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Moral equivalence watch: From whom did Islamists learn decapitation?
I, for one, do not give a rat's ass whether jihadis learned about decapitation from Napoleon or whether it has been embedded in the Muslim way of war since long before the French invaded Egypt. It is a criminal, vicious, disgusting method for slaughtering prisoners regardless of its etiology. Juan Cole, however, apparently believes that the origins of Islamist head-removal practices are very significant, so you would think that he would practice history with greater attention to detail.
3 Comments:
By 
GreenmanTim, at
Wed Sep 05, 10:30:00 PM:
The only thing "modern" about French beheading technique was its mechanization via guillotine during The Terror. Obviously the practice neither began nor ended with the French. It is decidedly not "modern" as practiced today as a method of state sanctioned execution in Saudi Arabia or by Islamic terrorists, which is one of the reasons many of us in other societies - even proponants of capital punishment - find it objectionable. The overwhelming number of state sanctioned executions reported in 2006 were hangings (319), of which 182 took place in Iran.
Much more than just about anyone would ever want to know about this topic at http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/overview.html and various internal links.
By Dale, at
Thu Sep 06, 12:39:00 AM:
Well, that could be handy. If enough useful idiots salute the idiot's flag it could become institutionalized.
Just think of the possibilities- Jews could start gassing Palestinians. Worldwide- mosques could be found to be as perishable as churches, etc. We could even wage jihad? Not in a bad way. We just want to improve ourselves through inner struggle. But sometimes that takes a little gunpowder, a sword, and some collateral damage.
By Dawnfire82, at
Thu Sep 06, 07:44:00 PM:
John Brown and his sons once decapitated some pro-slavery Kansas settlers. He was regarded as a hero amongst abolitionists.
Just remembered that. Nice to mention at the next 'Islamists are barbarians' convention, for some entertainment. Because the truth is, we're all barbarians to some degree. I think they're just better at it than we are these days.
