Time's Tales of A Jihadi
No, that's not the real title of the Time article. Time calls their artcle "A Jihadist's Tale - How a young Jordanian left his American life and died an insurgent in Iraq." It's Time's version of the Hilla bomber's story. The same bomber who by killing 125 sparked Shi'a outrage against Jordanian and other Sunni Muslims who continue to support the attacks in Iraq.
Time has again glorified the ignoble. Scott MacLeod, who authored the article, would have us believe that Ra'ed al-Banna was a good 'ole boy who loved America until we turned our backs on him by in 2003. By the account of this tale, al-Banna was turned away at Chicago's O'Hare airport and returned to Jordan where he began the course that would lead to his "martyrdom."
This column, like so many others, pays little attention to those of values and character and instead profiles a man who possessed little character and eventually killed himself as a final testament to a perverted view of the world. The best line of the column turns up near the end when al-Banna's family claims that their obituary proclamation of his death as a martyr is nothing more than a testament to his dying in a foreign land. In a world where "martyrs" are no longer men of character but instead assassins and murderers, the utter lack of intellectual honesty, even in discussing the death of one’s son, is shameful. Nearly as much so as the supposed reporting that ignores the stories of the 125 killed in Hilla, those who’ve taken to the streets in opposition to violence or those who’ve stood to defend the freedom of Iraq.
