- Sep 14, 2004
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-Brutal Murder of Iraqi Journalist and Toddler Son Not Front Page News in Germany
http://medienkritik.typepad.com/blog/
These days, mere allegations suffice as front-page stories in the German media provided, of course, they involve some allegation of American wrong-doing. Take, for example, the allegations that a German citizen was kidnapped in the Balkans and flown to Afghanistan. Or take any story in which a US soldier is so much as accused of abusing someone. It's automatically front-page news on SPIEGEL and Stern even if it has no solid factual basis.
But guess what doesn't qualify as front-page news?: The brutal assassination of a pro-American Iraqi journalist and his three year old son. http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/02/09/iraq.main/index.html This simply wouldn't fit into the German media's view of Iraq. How could any Iraqi, after all, support the United States and democracy and reject Al-Jazeera and European relativism? How could it be that someone would be willing to face death for these causes?
Rest in Peace: Hussein Khazaal Died Fighting Terrorists and Al-Jazeera's Hate-America Propaganda. His three-year old son was also gunned down and died on the way to the hospital.
Hussein Khazaal's murder will not be widely reported in the German media because he proved, in life and in death, that the European "elites" were wrong about the Iraqi people. Had we listened to them, Saddam Hussein would still be shoveling people like Mr. Khazaal into mass graves by the scores. Now only angry outcasts of the Baathist regime and a handful of Islamic fanatics continue to murder the innocent. But, as the Iraqi people proved on election day, the days of the terrorists and of the Saddam assassins are numbered. And the Iraqi people cannot be ignored forever.
The irony of it all is this: After World War II, many believed that Germans were incapable of democracy. The German people proved them wrong. Yet today, many of the same Germans look down on the Iraqi people and condescendingly declare that they are incapable of democracy and that they are doomed to a fundamentalist state. Perhaps Germany has become so bogged-down in a sense of collective pessimism that it is difficult for most of the people to imagine the power of hope and freedom in Iraq today. Perhaps it has become difficult for them to comprehend someone as brave as Hussein Khazaal.
