HDS Greenway, writing today in the Boston Globe, reminds us of the story of the severed head that was sent to Washington from Afghanistan last year. The head was sent by Afghan tribal chiefs, who were trying to collect on the 25 million dollar reward for the capture, dead or alive, of Ayman Al-Zawahiri.

The Americans, needing proof, asked Egypt for a DNA sample from Zawahiri's brother, whom the Egyptians were holding.

According to Ron Suskind's account, in his "The One Percent Doctrine," the Egyptians offered to cut off the brother's arm and send it to CIA. Just a vial of blood will do, said a stammering CIA man.

The severed head turned out not to be Zawahiri's, and the skull was shipped to a warehouse in New York's Staten Island, according to Suskind. George Tenet, CIA director, got to keep the tin box it came in.

When George Bush first heard of the head, he is reported to have said jokingly, "So if it turns out to be Zawahiri's head, I hope you will bring it here." This, of course, is the man who famously asked terrorists to "bring it on," and who has bragged about his desire to enact cowboy justice on any of our enemies. Greenway contrasts the way the current administration has acted in this case with the outcry that arose in Britain over a hundred years ago, when another Muslim enemy's skull was used as a trophy of war.

Kitchener had the Mahdi's tomb destroyed and his bones cast into the Nile, so as to leave nothing for the Mahdi's followers to rally around, he would later explain.

But the Mahdi's skull -- "large and shapely" as it would be described -- was presented to Kitchener, perhaps as a souvenir drinking cup. Kitchener suggested sending it to the College of Surgeons in London, where he thought Napoleon's intestines resided.

When the word got out, there was a howl of fury from the British press, unfriendly questions in parliament, and a condemnation from Queen Victoria herself, who said that removing the Mahdi's skull was "too much like the Middle Ages, " according to Kitchener biographer, Philip Warner.

In 1898, the skull was buried in a Muslim cemetery, apologies were offered and the barbarism was roundly denounced. Today, we send the skull to Staten Island, the box it came in is held by the (now former) chief of the CIA, and no one even blinks. Perhaps, as time moves forward we are heading even closer to the barbarism of the Middle Ages. What's worse, we seem to enjoy it.

codyp

Camarillo, CA

January 2006

APR 04, 2007 05:10 PM

I think that still deserved 25 million.

SignalNoise

Chicago, IL

February 2004

APR 04, 2007 06:53 PM

I get that Presidents have to play tough and what not. But it's obnoxious that "tough" is now perceived through some "frat boy" lens. I mean, John Wayne wouldn't carry some dead dude's head around, I'm pretty sure.

cupcake

I'm lost

July 2002

APR 04, 2007 07:28 PM

Well, John Wayne wasn't insane, now was he?

chikinhammr

Orlando, FL

April 2006

APR 04, 2007 07:56 PM

Ooooh, that IS so much worse than chopping off the heads of American journalists and posting the video on the web.

Chainlink

Dickeyville, WI

August 2005

APR 04, 2007 08:12 PM

chikinhammr said:
Ooooh, that IS so much worse than chopping off the heads of American journalists and posting the video on the web.

Nope, it's pretty much the same.
Not very good company to be seen with is it ?

SignalNoise

Chicago, IL

February 2004

APR 04, 2007 08:17 PM

chainlink said:
Nope, it's pretty much the same.
Not very good company to be seen with is it ?

Exactly. I tend to think that getting into a game of oneupsmanship with crazy, vile folks sounds like a pretty bad, long-term strategy. But that's just me maybe.

Roethke

SUICIDEGIRL

California, USA

APR 04, 2007 08:27 PM

chainlink said:

chikinhammr said:
Ooooh, that IS so much worse than chopping off the heads of American journalists and posting the video on the web.

Nope, it's pretty much the same.
Not very good company to be seen with is it ?

Precisely.

ghostina

Tampa, FL

July 2002

APR 04, 2007 08:42 PM

chainlink said:

chikinhammr said:
Ooooh, that IS so much worse than chopping off the heads of American journalists and posting the video on the web.

Nope, it's pretty much the same.
Not very good company to be seen with is it ?

+2!

Chainlink

Dickeyville, WI

August 2005

APR 04, 2007 08:50 PM

noirkiss3

Minneapolis, MN

April 2006

APR 04, 2007 09:06 PM

Caveat:I Hate BUSH (and Co.)

Although there are many ugly parts to the story, there is a big difference between a US official decapitating a corpse and sending the head, and the completion of deeds by a regional faction.

The trophy aspect of the container is gross,but not unheard of (read Killing Pablo) but the out cry would be different if a US general or operative had done so.

Aside from that, I must say, only the Democrats could be handed so much political ammunition and only manage to shoot themselves in the foot.

chikinhammr

Orlando, FL

April 2006

APR 05, 2007 09:12 AM

Roethke said:

chainlink said:

chikinhammr said:
Ooooh, that IS so much worse than chopping off the heads of American journalists and posting the video on the web.

Nope, it's pretty much the same.
Not very good company to be seen with is it ?

Precisely.

I think Daniel Pearl would beg to differ, If he were still alive that is. Daniel Pearl was not suspected terrorist. He was an innocent civilian doing his job. Are you saying it was okay for him to be beheaded?