Dead Pan

--Crucifixion, Matthias Grunewald 

~You fired me because I violated the Constitution

~How impetuous of me! 

--Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, John  LeCarre

 Boy, you're gonna carry that weight

Carry that weight a long time

--Carry that Weight, The Beatles

 ~English soldier: Is there someone else up there we can talk to?
~French soldier: No!! Now go away,  or I shall taunt you a second time! 

--French soldier, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

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The French are getting a piece of the action in the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©).

It is about time since colonialism led to many of the grievance of terrorists in former French colonies. (Ditto the British.)  In fact, one theory traces all terrorism back to the centers of British and French excesses during their colonial periods of exploitation.  Ah, but how France's American cousin treats the story is telling.

The Associated Press reports on the "gruesome display" by Somali militants of a dead French soldier on an al-Shabab-run Twitter account:

"In a gruesome display that included a taunt of France's president, Somali militants on Monday posted photos of what appeared to be a dead French soldier surrounded by weapons and gear."

The gruesome display of one dead French soldier is meant to rouse us from our impending public opinion rout eleven years on into the PWOT ©.  But how is this more gruesome than the United States press featuring the tortured corpses of Qusay and Uday Hussein, or the military putting the bust of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on display following his assassination?  What about the "leaked" camera shot of Saddam Hussein's botched hanging, or the film of Libya's former leader Qaddafi being murdered while being sodomized with a stick?  Gruesome is as gruesome does, to paraphrase Mr. Gump.

Where does civilized end and gruesome begin? Is it as simple as, if we do it, it's civilized; if they do it, it is barbaric?

What about some of our iconography: Isn't Jesus hanging on the cross gruesome?  What about the depictions of the Stations of the Cross? But since these images have inspired religions, they get a pass, and have even been raised to the sublime.

Speaking of religious figures brings Ranger to the Crusades, murder most faithful. It is strange that the U.S. is assisting the French in their African ventures since the French have been killing, mutilating and torturing Africans since the days of the First Crusade, almost 1,000 years ago.  Why do they need help from the U.S.?  Let the French carry their own weight.

The U.S. has lost enough soldiers since 1918 cleaning up their messes; let's keep out of their fights.