The Picture Says it All

The Picture Says It All
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
By John Gibson



Giant Among Giants
February 24, 2005
The picture Wednesday says it all, doesn't it?

This is the picture of an American soldier comforting a child — as the wires put it — a fatally wounded child after one of those insurgent bombings in Iraq.

Once again, an insurgent bombing in Iraq kills dozens of people, including women and children, all Iraqis, all innocent.

What did this kid do to the insurgents? Nothing other than having the bad luck to have a parent who brought him or her to exactly the wrong spot at the wrong moment. And what did that parent do? Nothing, just happened to be there.

This kid didn't pick up a gun against Al Qaeda (search).

Yet Al Qaeda killed him or her.

This kid didn't choose between Sunni or Shia.

But the insurgent suicide bomber decided he had to take a few kids with him when he went to heaven to hook up with his 72 virgins.

There isn't much to say about this picture except, "I wonder if al-Jazeera (search) is going to run it? Wonder if the BBC is going to run it? Wonder if French TV is going to run it?"

Think any of those people who like to blame crossfire deaths of Iraqis on the Americans will admit that maybe these sainted insurgents are on the wrong track?

Think those people who hate us for trying to help the Iraqis, who think it's OK to cut off the heads of Americans while they wail in fake pain over Abu Ghraib (search) — think they will scream about this one?

Don't turn up your hearing aid. You're not missing any screaming. They're silent. To object to this might seem to be the same thing as supporting the Americans. All kinds of kids can die before any of those people would be caught dead doing that.

I just checked al-Jazeera again before starting My Word.

Big news coverage of the bombing in Irbil that claimed the life of this child. But, in keeping with the sympathetic treatment they give bombers, no worries that the picture of the dead kid and the American soldier will bother their fellow jihadis. It's officially a secret in the Arab world.