The VigilanceVoice

VigilanceVoice.com
Wednesday--July 31, 2002—Ground Zero Plus 322
 

The Art Of Killing Whales & Terrorists

by
Cliff McKenzie
Editor, New York City Combat Correspondent News
 

       GROUND ZERO, New York City, July 31--Terrorism takes many forms--sometimes it's killing whales.  Sometimes, it's killing people.
       I was torn this morning between writing about the euthanization of a pod of beached pilot whales on Cape Cod, and the muffled Voices of American Muslims who fear speaking out against the treatment of  Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged 20th highjacker facing a death penalty.  Moussaoui awaits trial in a Virginia federal courtroom in late September.
      First, the whales.  

       Yesterday, in an act of "humanitarianism,"  a group of people executed 55 pilot whales because they became disoriented, beached themselves, and were unable to find their way back to sea.  Rescue attempts to get them "back on track" seemed futile.   So, they were killed, or, put in softer, gentler terms, euthanized.
       All signs indicate we are heading on the same tack with Zacarias Moussaoui.
Some might think of the difference between killing beached whales and executing a suspected Terrorist as apples and oranges.   However, after looking closely at the two scenarios, the difference might not be as great as we think

       Moussaoui is on trail for becoming disoriented.   If he indeed was one of the major cogs in the plot to ram jetliners into the heartland of American security, and in the process kill indiscriminate amounts of innocent people, then he certainly had to be disoriented.  His moral radar was out of whack.  And, like the pilot whales who follow the leader, even to their death, he may have been just one of the Terrorist pod members, blindly beaching himself on Terrorism Cove.
      For those of you who can't imagine the similarity between a Terrorist blowing up a building full of innocent people and a beached whale, consider this.   A number of the pilot whales were pregnant.   They were mothers, following a leader.   Inside them were innocent unborn baby whales.   While the mother was drawn to her need to follow, another urge existed within, that of any mother to protect her child.  But the moral difference, if such can exist between humans and creatures, wasn't considered in the whale equation.  No one singled out the mother whales and locked them up for trial for following the leader while their children suffered.

         Moussaouri is locked up in solitary confinement.  He claims he followed the leader, Osama bin Laden, but that he had nothing to do with the events of September 11.   He is being isolated.  No one is coming to his rescue.  No one is shouting for his rights.  No one is trying to rescue him off Terrorism's Beach.
      Muslim and Arab Americans are afraid to speak out in behalf of his treatment for fear they will be accused as being  Terrorist sympathizers and bring the wrath of the U.S. government upon them.   They worry the U.S. is using Moussaouri to fuel the anger among citizens toward the Middle East.   Any contact with Moussaouri goes under the scrutiny of the FBI.
       In a way, Moussaouri is a beached whale.   He can't move from his cell.  He can't communicate.  He's lost in a system of Justice that shifts when the winds of war decide from whence to blow..   And, 300 million people are waiting for his trial to revenge the Terror inflicted upon America.

      The pilot whales floundering on the beaches of Cape Cod were not unlike Moussaouri.   Somewhere in their brains, a twisted message was sent that led them to act with the same insanity as Terrorists do.    They became suicide whales.   They killed the innocent--the unborn baby pilot whales.  The instinct to "follow the leader" overpowered the responsibility to protect the innocent within   

     No one knows why the 55 pilot whales, ranging in size from 8 to 16 feet and weighing upwards of 1,800 pounds, became marooned near Chapin Beach, or, after rescuers helped move them out to sea, they came ashore in Bog Creek, a rugged marshland that required rescuers to walk two miles to render aid.
      After Herculean efforts, both professional and volunteer rescuers gave up and killed the whales, executed them, put them out of their misery.   They called it an "act of humanity."  

The whales, indeed, were suffering.  Their disorientation would only end up in fatality, the experts said, for if they escaped Bog Creek, they would surely "drown" from exhaustion.  One veterinarian who executed the whales carved the word "DEAD" into the creature's dried, cracked skins to distinguish them from others struggling for life.  
      A 10-year-old boy at the scene, David Brand, of Scarsdale, N.Y. was affronted by the words carved into the whales' blubber.  "I don't like it when they write 'dead' on it," he said.
      Moussaouri, in a symbolic way, has the word "DEAD" carved on his chest.

      His trial slated for late September, on the heels of the anniversary of 9-11, is to some, a matter of a modern lynching.   "Someone has to pay!" is the "call of the wild."
      Anyone who has listened to, or read Moussaouri's tirades in the courtroom, or followed his accusations that the U.S. government was at fault more than he for not warning Americans of an impending threat, or examined egotistical attempts to defend himself, would agree that his "pilot brain" was about as out of tune as those of the squadron of whales who beached themselves in Cape Cod.
       We have a Terrorist Whale in jail.  We're going to nail him to the cross.   We're going to sate our hunger for revenge. 

       But we do we have that right to kill anyone or anything based on some judgment about their "right to live."

       I thought about the young boy, David Brand.   He didn't like the carving of the word DEAD into the whale's bodies, and I wonder if he would feel the same about Moussaouri's body.
       I consider the boy's comment a Vigilant Voice even though it may be only a mere grain of sand on a bloated beach.  While he could protest the marring of the killed whales, none of the Arab-Americans dare speak out in protest of Moussaouri's rights.  They are far too Terrorized by the "rush to judgment."
       Fortunately, in David's  mind, killing anything--a pilot whale or a person--is a "bad thing."   Especially, killing creatures that are helplessly lost, hopelessly disoriented.     

       Moussaouri seems to fit the category of a disoriented pilot whale.   He seems to have beached himself on the shores of American Vengeance, and whether guilty or innocent, should enjoy the same rights as any other individual.
       But then, we didn't offer any "human rights" to the pilot whales.   After becoming exhausted in the rescue attempts, an arbitrary decision was made to kill all the whales--to put them out of their misery.
      I wondered how those who made the decision absolutely knew that one of the mother whales beached in the muck might not have used some extraordinary effort to find her way back to the sea, or, how they could be sure she would have drowned as those in charge presumed she might?   Human mothers have been known to lift burning cars off their children.  Mother Nature may supply similar energy to those seeking survival for their children. 

       Little David should consider shouting out his disdain for the treatment of Moussaouri.  He could be the Voice of those frightened to protest the government's heavy-handiness.
      Vigilance is about conjuring the Courage, Conviction, and taking the Right Action to smother Terrorism.   Terrorism operates from Fear, Intimidation and Complacency.   In the equation of Terrorism, we give up searching for Vigilant solutions and "kill the whales."
       I have no idea whether Moussaouri is guilty or innocent of the September 11 attacks.  I do know he is an admitted Terrorist.  And, I have no doubt his mind is twisted, just as twisted as any mass murderer, or zealot who follows their leader to destroy themselves or others.
      It wasn't too long ago Jim Jones had his followers drink poison, or a group of Haley's Comet believers destroyed their lives in hopes of riding on its tail, or that a man snatched a five-year-old girl from her front yard, raped and killed her.
      People who act in such a way end up bloated on beaches, like the whales.  Inside their minds are twisted wiring, not the Devil.    Killing them won't remove the bad circuitry in human nature, or animal nature.

     I can't say for sure that any of the mother whales who were killed in acts of "humanity" would have made it to sea, or survived to give birth to the next generation.   But I do know that I would have no right to carve DEAD on their blubber on the assumption that they couldn't make it.
     I also think Moussaouri should have every right we give mass murders.    To some, the "humanitarians" who killed the whales might fall into that category.    To remain silent on the issue is a far more frightening crime than speaking out.
      David spoke out.
      Hopefully, his Voice will be heard by Goliath.
     

Go To July 30--Godzilla--Terrorist Turned Parent Of Vigilance

©2001 - 2004, VigilanceVoice.com, All rights reserved -  a ((HYYPE)) design

The Pledge Of Vigilance