Danny Pearl (1963-2002)

Americans were stunned, and saddened yesterday when we heard of the death of kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl. Pearl was the ninth journalist, but the first American, killed since the war on terrorism started.

Journalists dying during wartime is not a new phenomenon - the country was similarly shocked in 1945, when beloved correspondent Ernie Pyle was shot by a sniper on Ie Shima island, near Okinawa. The death of Pearl, however, seems to have added a new grimness to our newfound national resolve.

Perhaps it is due to the barbaric way in which Pearl was murdered. According to various sources, the videotape obtained by authorities shows Pearl speaking with an off screen figure. Reportedly, Pearl says, “Yes, I am a Jew, and my father is a Jew.” With these words, another off screen figure pulls back his head, and slowly severs his throat with a knife, in an Islamic fundamentalist ritual called, “A Quesas”. In this sadistic ritual, the victim dies an agonizing death, gasping for air from his mangled larynx, blood spurting from his severed arteries. As he dies, his head is removed from his body - no doubt to be paraded around by the bloodthirsty fanatics who killed him.

Danny Pearl’s senseless murder has a dark underpinning. There are some signs that his investigative reporting might have been a little too efficient for his captors. The Washington Times is reporting that Pearl, the WSJ’s South Asia Bureau Chief, was working on enigmatic links between Richard Reid, the British so-called “Shoe Bomber”, and the Al Queda and Taliban organizations. Pearl supposedly had uncovered information on terrorist cells operating in Europe and the United States, including one nicknamed “Islamburg” in the U.S. Islamburg is reportedly linked directly to terrorist leaders such as Mubarak Ali Shah Gilani, a shadowy religious leader whom Pearl was trying to interview when kidnapped.

Shaikh Omar, now in custody, has admitted to kidnapping Pearl. Omar reportedly was in charge of the three terrorist cells used to snatch Pearl. The first cell was allegedly responsible for luring Pearl into the trap, the second was used to convey the kidnapper’s demands to officials and the third held him in captivity. None of the cell members knew who the other cell members were. Omar knows, but he’s not talking.

So far, Pakistani police have arrested 16 members of the first two cells, and none from the third. This might change if they can get their hands on terror suspect Mansour Hasnain, is believed to be one of the third cell members. Hasnain, a member of the militant Harkat-al-Mujahedin group, is believed to be one of the terrorists who hijacked an Indian Airlines jet in December, 1999, forcing Indian officials to free Omar and his accomplice Maulana Masud Azhar. Police believe that Pearl met with Omar and Hasnain, and that Omar masterminded and financed the kidnap while Hasnain carried it out. Pearl’s brutal beheading is a trademark of the Omar and Azhar run terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed, which also killed Norwegian Hans Ostro in 1995 and Rupen Katyal in December, 1999, in the same horrific manner.

Danny Pearl might have gotten a little too close to uncloaking the mysterious world of Islamic terrorism, but he was also killed because he was an American, and because he was a Jew. Fahad Naseem, another terrorist suspect, states that Pearl was kidnapped because, “he is a Jew working against Islam.” We have come to expect such stark and simplistic thinking from much of the Arab world, most of whom conspiratorially even believe the Mossad brought down the Twin Towers. Unfortunately, much of this unpleasant reality has been ignored by too many in our mainstream press.

September 11th sharply shook most Americans out of their 1990’s somnambulant haze - out of the time when we could indulge frivolity and entertain the fanciful imaginings of leftist theory. Instantly, on September 11th, most Americans suddenly realized that it was now a time for seriousness and maturity again. We had a revelation of America’s new duty - to save ourselves, and indeed the world, from this century’s dark fanatical menace.

Yet, many of those on the Left didn‘t seem to notice. Stuck in a pre-September 11th time warp, they’ve prattled on, preconceived notions intact. They’ve fretted fulsomely about inanities - such as the living conditions of Taliban prisoners at Gitmo - while the terrorists plot mayhem under their complacent noses.

Will the gruesome death of Danny Pearl finally shake them from their smug self-satisfaction? It’s difficult to say. The mainstream media and the universitat, being united in their opposition to Western culture, ideology and capitalism, have long harbored a secret - and sometimes not so secret - affinity for terrorists.

The unwillingness to realistically depict the ugly reality behind the militant Islamic movement has resulted in tiresome and predictably slanted coverage of events. How many Americans are aware of the pervasive and vile anti-Semitism preached throughout the Arab world and available in most of the mosques in our own country? Why is there no strident call for American Muslims - who have complained mightily about alleged “racial profiling” and uncommitted “hate crimes” - to speak out just as strenuously against terrorist acts committed on innocent civilians in the name of their religion?

The brutal murder of Danny Pearl, captured on videotape by his merciless captors, should cause all Americans to realized that we are dealing with a foe every bit as barbaric, fanatical and bent on world domination as the Nazis and the Japanese. They will unhesitatingly kill every single American they can find, unless we kill them first. That is the stark reality. Those on the Left will finally have to pick - on which side they will choose to fight.