Al Jazeera and other Arab television stations are never shy about showing their viewers graphic images of Americans and our allies being humiliated or brutalized. So you may have wondered why they didn’t show the video of Italian hostage Fabrizio Quattrocchi being executed?
Their explanation that the video was too graphic rang hollow in light of their previous willingness to show brutal images. But Michael Ledeen, writing in National Review online may have found an answer. When Mr. Quattrocchi’s captors decided they would execute him, they put a hood over his head and ordered him to kneel so he could be killed. According to those who have seen the tape, Mr. Quattrocchi struggled to remove the hood and bravely yelled at his executioners: “Now I will show you how an Italian dies.”
According to Michael Ledeen, this is precisely why Al Jazeera refused to show the video:
“The scene was a propaganda disaster for them… It was terrible, but not in the way Al Jazeera wanted us to think. It showed Western bravery, not Arab domination, so they couldn't show it.”
And that’s the Asman Observer.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox