31 ルールはすべての民間人に適用されるべきだ （現地時間 2004年05月12日 01:36:20発 日本時間 13日 12:16:49受信）
"While nothing justifies the murder and
torture of civilians, the rule must be the same for all,"
民間人を拷問したり殺害することは、どのようにしても正当化できない。そしてこのルールは、すべての民間人（アメリカ人であろうとイラク人であろうと、パレスチナ人であろうとイスラエル人であろうと）に、等しく適用されるべきなのだ。
というのが、Aljazeera英文サイトの、アメリカの民間人殺害に関する、アラブ世界の反応を書いた記事の結論部分です。第一報は事実だけを書いたニュートラルなものでしたが、この第二報は少し違う。いろんな反応を書いている。
アルジャジィーラには書かれていませんが、殺されたアメリカ人はユダヤ人です。ニューヨークタイムスの記事によれば、彼の家族は、彼がユダヤ人だから選ばれて殺されたのではないか、と疑っているとのこと。私は、そうだと思う。
朝日新聞は、
――今回の事件は０２年１月、パキスタンで起きた米紙ウォールストリート・ジャーナル特派員ダニエル・パール記者の惨殺と手口が似ている。パール記者の夫人は「暴力の連鎖」への懸念を示したという。――
と書いているが、これではなんだか分からない。どこかの英文のニュースソースを読んで書いたのだろうが、パール記者はユダヤ人だということで、殺されている。だから、パール記者のケースと似ているのです。
以下に、アルジャジィーラの記事です。
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Arabs react to Berg decapitation
Wednesday 12 May 2004, 20:15 Makka Time, 17:15 GMT
Arab public opinion over the decapitation of an American
hostage in Iraq has varied, with many calling it barbaric while others see it as
a natural response to US violence.
An Islamist website on Tuesday carried a video clip of the
decapitation, with a statement saying a group linked to al-Qaida carried it out
in revenge for the abuse of Iraqis by US troops.
"That man went to help rebuild Iraq. I am very sad that he
was killed but his stupid government put him there...If his family are looking
where to put the blame, they shouldn't look further than the White House," Cairo
office worker Mansur Muhammad said.
"This action was bad because it makes Arabs look like
barbarians but that's what the Americans think anyway. My fear is that now
Americans will feel Iraqis deserve the torture," said Mamduh, an Egyptian
pharmacy student who did not want to give his full name.
Killing criticised
Some Arabs said Abu Musab Zarqawi, a leading al-Qaida figure
who is alleged to have led the decapitation, had failed the very people he said
he was avenging by strengthening Washington's hand in Iraq.
Others said the killing was against the teachings of Islam.
"Zarqawi is an enemy of the Arab and Muslim nation because he
distorted their image and portrayed Islam in an incorrect manner," said Hasan
Ahmad Jar Allah, 41, a Saudi government employee, who had seen the tape on the
Internet.
"What religion or sect condones such a barbaric act? This is
abominable, God curse Zarqawi," he said of the tape which showed masked men
sawing
Berg's head off with a large knife and holding it in the air.
Counter-productive
One Gulf analyst, who did not want to be identified, said the
killing would prove counter-productive for Iraqis.
"This strengthens the position of Americans in Iraq. American
people are going to start asking their government when it will retaliate," he
said.
To others Berg's beheading was an appropriate response to
what they see as US abuses against ordinary Iraqi civilians as well as
prisoners.
"This was a justified retaliation. The Americans had
committed very ugly actions against the Iraqi people in general and Iraqi
prisoners in particular," said Muhammad al-Barguti, a 24-year-old security guard
in the West Bank city of Ram Allah.
'Tit for tat'
Mutaz, a Syrian taxi driver working in the United Arab
Emirates, went further:
"The Americans deserve even more than this for what they are
doing in Iraq. Every American should watch this tape to see what is coming to
them, or are they the only ones allowed to kill?"
Writer Jamal Ghitani suspects the American intelligence
agency CIA of "having fabricated and put the (Berg) images on the Internet to
make people forget the scandal of torture in Abu Ghraib prison and hide the
roots of evil which lie in the occupation, oppression and extermination of man
in Iraq and in Palestine."
He told AFP: "Violence generates violence. The region is in
this infernal cycle. I reject these visions of horror. But to stop the violence
is the responsibility of the strongest."
Khalid Ayman Abd al-Fattah, a 24-year-old journalism student,
criticised what he called the orchestrated indignation of the West over the
killing
of an American or Israeli and its "silence on the atrocious crimes" committed in
Iraq.
"While nothing justifies the murder and torture of civilians,
the rule must be the same for all," he said.
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室 謙二