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Well, you said it! Did you, or anyone else read the VFW magazine issue for Sept. 2002? There is an acticle that starts on page 28, that is really good, and talks about terrorism in the Middle East. It tells about terrorist acts that have targeted Americans since about 1785. It describes the enslavement and torture of Americans starting with the Barbary Coast pirates. In the very early 1800's, the first decade, the American sailors were seized in Tripoli.

The article goes on to describe the way the captors treated the captives, and to read it, you may lose your dinner! It sounded like a nineteenth century Bataan death march and more! There were even cases where some supposedly converted to Islam, thinking they would get better treatment. Well, their fellow Americans went to get them out, and take them home, and the terrorist leader told them that if they wanted to denounce their new faith, and go home, they were welcome to.

Only one stayed, the four others apparently gave it up. What happened then? Well the terrorist leader got insulted when the four did that, and marched them off to Lord knows where. And their fellow Americans who were watching, they didn't say a word. Although one Marine told someone that the look on their faces was one of fear and despair(not exact quote). The four weren't heard from again! They must have been considered and turncoats, or something!

It's a really interesting article that goes on to tell about other terrorist incidents throughout the years, going up to the present day. The point the author was trying to make was simple. He says that there was so much to say about the treatment of the Al Qaeda prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, and never a mention of the way these same people would be treated in many places in the Middle East, if they were Americans, or one of the Allies. Including the serviceman who got killed after falling off the helicopter in Afghanistan.

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