CARE worker pleads for her life

Margaret Hassan, Irish director of CARE International in Baghdad is married to an Iraqi.
She is also the next in line to have her head sawed off by Muslim Psychopaths.

In the video aired Friday by the Arabic-language TV channel, an unblindfolded Hassan is speaking to the camera, sobbing and crying.

"Please help me, please help me, these might be my last hours.... Please help me, please British people ask Mr. (British Prime Minister Tony) Blair to pull the troops from Iraq and not bring them to Baghdad.

"Please, please I beg of you, the British people, to help me. I don't want to die like (Kenneth) Bigley. I beg of you, I beg of you."

Can you imagine the type of person it takes to make a woman this scared, to torture her with the prospect of a death as gruesome as Bigley's, or Berg's, or Perl's? They probably showed her the video of the atrocity, and I don't mean the heavily compressed, small-enough-for-Internet version. She will have seen the master copy. Most people will break down when faced with a threat like that.
And Margaret Hassan

is credited with helping the poorest and neediest Iraqis.

"She's not involved in any politics or religion," Tahseen Ali Hassan said at a news conference. "She's serving this organization for over 12 years. It was really a shock to me."

I can imagine. If she's not involved in any religion, am I to infer she has not converted to Islam? Perhaps now's a good time. After all, it's either that, become dhimmi, or have your head sawed off.

Or we can just kill all the psychotics. Before we start rebuilding Iraq, perhaps it would be a good idea if the country was made ready to accept and embrace the efforts of people like Margaret Hassan. Currently, I don't understand why people bother. Or, if you think the cause is worth the risk, why complain when Al-Zarqawi bites you in the ass?

Update: BBC now also reports on Mrs Hassan's plea. They quote some interesting statements from the video:

"Please help me. The British people, tell Mr Blair to take the troops out of Iraq and not bring them here to Baghdad.

"That's why people like myself and Mr Bigley are abducted, and we might die."

Of course, it's almost a certainty that her words were dictated to her. She may or may not actually believe that the presence of British troops were the cause of Mr Bigley's death. For the record: Mr Bigley's death was caused by the sudden unexpected (well, unexpected by his body, if not his unbelieving eyes) separation of his head from his body. A separation effected by a sawing motion of a medium-sized knife, handled by one of the world's sickest individuals. To place the blame on anyone else but the murderers is plain deluded.

But if Al-Zarqawi and his copycats are less than 100% responsible, the remaining percentage falls squarely on the shoulders of the victims themselves. After Nick Berg, no one but members of the armed forces have any business there, unless adequately protected. To assume immunity from the depravity of insane Arabs like Al-Zarqawi is arrogant or naive, or both. To subsequently place the blame for your predicament on your government can reasonably be excused. But an excuse it remains.