(I’m disgusted that I feel like I should pollute my nice, happy blog with these thoughts, but… damn it.)

I don’t have enough humanity left in me to lose while watching the decapitation of Nick Berg. The text description (link also includes a link to the video, if you’re so inclined) was more than enough, for me. Key description:

The screaming and gagging is nightmarish. And it’s not quick.

What I’ve seen of the “torture” of Iraqi captives (Eric rightly points out we haven’t seen everything related to that) pales in comparison to this. And while that type of treatment is wholly unacceptable (one thing I’ve always wondered: who the hell was holding that camera, and why the fuck didn’t they do something?), and those who are guilty deserve everything that’s coming to them, it’s an entirely different ballpark from hacking up civilians and hanging their charred remains from a bridge.

Civilized methods only work with civilized people. And while I trust that the majority of the Iraqi population are “civilized people,” those errants—be them Iraqi, or, in the case of Berg’s killers, Al-Qaeda—also deserve what’s coming to them.