generalspeaking

Death By Butchery

"Children, the poor and the needy, those are where he [Kenji Goto] is coming from. He just wants to meet children in conflicted areas and tell the rest of the world their suffering."
Toshi Maeda, free-lance journalist, Tokyo

It's debatable now whether the abducted Kenji Goto will ever again report from Syria on the toll the complex conflict is taking on the civilian Sunni population, tens of millions of whom have become refugees internally and externally, in a desperate attempt to escape the bloody attacks of their own government, and the depredations of the foreign Islamists who have taken territory and the initiative from home-grown Syrian militias.

The freelance journalist who responded to a perceived need to report to the Japanese public on refugees and children held in war zones is now facing a miserable end. He and an acquaintance, Haruna Yukawa, who took himself to Syria for an entirely different reason, as a man fascinated with weapons and aspiring to become a purveyor of military weaponry are both now threatened with death by beheading if the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe fails to buy their freedom at a cost of $200-million.

Representing the very sum that the Japanese government cited it was prepared to extend in the fight against Islamic State, in aid of the work being done by the U.S.-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State in its marauding progress through Syria and Iraq. A video showing the two Japanese men kneeling in orange jumpsuits with the familiar masked, knife-threatening figure above warned they will be killed if the government spurns the offered exchange of $200-million ransom.

The 42-year-old Haruna Yukawa has had anything but a charmed life; his capture by ISIS simply extends a misfortune in experiences that the man appears to have experienced along his life-path. Bullied as a child, homeless when a business failed, attempting suicide, illness and loss of family life. He thought, perhaps, he might find meaning in Syria. He joined a rebel group at one juncture, pictured holding a Kalashnikov rifle riding in a pick-up truck

He posted his adventures on his Facebook page, and his blog spoke of visits to Iraq and Syria, featuring videos of himself along with scenes of bloody carnage from the region he visited. Kenji Goto, on the other hand had his own video news company, Independent Press, where he covered conflicts, poverty, refugees and children living in war zones. He worked with UN groups, including UNICEF and the UN refugee agency.

Mr. Yukawa was captured toward the end of July and in August a video was released to YouTube by Islamic State showing him identifying himself as Japanese, and not a spy as charged by ISIS. It was in October that Mr. Goto, returning from Japan to the Mideast, was taken by ISIS. The time that ISIS gave Japan to respond to their threat to behead the two men has now elapsed, with no response yet from Japan.

Likely, like the United States and Britain, Japan will choose not to negotiate with murdering terrorists taking their nationals hostage. And yet another two people who were caught in the crossfire of deadly conflict will become part of the historical narrative of deadly brutality through a gruesome death.

Labels: Conflict, Islamic State, Japan, Syria

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, January 22, 2015