January 15, 2007

In the first two years of the war, Saddam Hussein's forces, al-Qaeda, and the Iraqi insurgency would tape-record the torture, murder, or decaptitation of abducted Western soldiers and contractors, then disseminate the ghoulish scenes across the Web. Now, clandestine cell-phone videographers are taking hand-held execution videos (the most recent tape purportedly shows the decapitation of Saddam's secret-police chief). Saddam's hanging was an online sensation, presumably videotaped with the tacit consent of the Iraqi government (which controlled access to the executions) and presumably dispersed by Saddam loyalists (hoping to assure his martyrdom and to undercut the al-Maliki government). This week's decapitation has yet to hit the Net, as far as I know, but I have no doubt it will soon be coming to a Real Player or Quick Time window near you.

The footage of decapitated Westerners elicited relatively little outrage in the Arab world--though the clips were viewed and e-mailed with abandon. The current decapitation, before it has even been glimpsed, has triggered a torrent of outrage, everywhere, as did Saddam's hanging, which generated even more downloads than the grisliest clips from the early days of the war.

Perhaps the point is that such acts of savagery in this senseless conflict are now beyond politics, beyond taking sides, beyond reason. They are now the stuff of snuff. We surf for a peek and send the links along to friends. We have become the faint shadows of the savages we disparage, thanks, in part, to the medium that has us in its thrall.