I have seen the Beheading video. It was particularly grizzly. Shell said it seemed fake, and I thought that she might have a point, but I felt it was probably real. I mean, have wee seen anyone beheaded before?

The interesting thing is, that I just took it at face value, and thought to myself "oh, now that Al Quida is involved in the Iraqi (already been won) war, things are only going to get messier." I just assumed that the video was real, and that the masked men were Arabs, and that the victim was alive, and then dead.

Maybe Not. Yes that link is a little Get-my-tin-foil-hat-on, but there are questions that are raised. Interesting questions. This is not the only article that is questioning the validity of the video either, there are more. The thing is, lots of people are discussing it, but a lot of the discussion seems rather stilted. In fact, a lot of the discussion on the War on Terra is fucked.

There is a tendency to Dichotomize (is that a word?) the issue. "If you are not with us, you are against us." someone once said. This is very scary. Certainly the Pro-War fanatics are like this. But even the other wide can get like this. What is wrong with saying "Hey, you know, this beheading doesn't quite add up? what is going on here?" or "hey, maybe, just maybe the reams and reams of video, and photos taken at Abu Ghraib are a little much, and maybe there is something to Copper Green?" without having an agenda? Why is it that using Occams razor makes you an appologist? Why is it that even questioning these things instantly lands you in the "conspiracy theorist" jail?

It's not like the United States government is beyond such things. There were the CIA experiments with LSD. There are instances of government conspiracies. It isn't that far off the mark. But the second you use the dirty "c" word, bam! Crackpottery!