Even though I haven’t written anything about the horrible video of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi beheading Nick Berg, I have been thinking about it, a lot. There just wasn’t much for me to say about the beheading (I confess that I have not watched the video). We already know that the Zarqawi group was willing to kill Iraqis with bombs, their willingness to brutally murder an American merely confirms their depravity. The questions that has really plagued me since the video was released has been, what was the purpose of releasing the video? None of the explanations that I’ve seen so far have really satisfied me.

The Bush administration line on it makes the least sense — given American reaction to previous terrorist attacks, the idea that it was intended to intimidate is us certainly incorrect. If anything, Americans have shown that we are generally angered by violence against us, not intimidated. I also don’t believe that the video was intended to provoke a disproportional response that would further divide Americans from Iraqis. I think that the key to answering the question of why the video was made is figuring out the intended audience for the video.

The video was originally released when someone posted it on a message board at alansar.biz (a site that’s now gone), where it would be seen by people who are interested in al-Qaeda web sites. It seems to me that the video was intended to be used as a recruiting tool for prospective terrorists — Zarqawi wants to reach out to people who feel humiliated by the fact that Americans are in Iraq (and are torturing Iraqis), and who feel powerless to do anything about it. The video is intended to demonstrate that he is willing to do something about it.

At a time when sentiment was running against America because the images of torture showed that we talk the talk but don’t walk the walk, the Zarqawi video serves as a reminder to everyone in the world that while we are capable of making horrible mistakes, our ultimate enemy is implacable, barbaric, and ruthless. The only audience that Zarqawi could have been aiming at is one that appreciates and is attracted to barbarity and ruthlessness. As long as he can find a continuing supply of terrorists willing to die for the cause, the other public relations costs are irrelevant.

Want to help out children in Afghanistan? Send them some pens.

File this under Web sites you don’t want to have to look up: Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac Information Center. I hate itching.

An industry research firm reports that Eclipse usage is spreading like wildfire. That’s hardly surprising. Eclipse is already great, is becoming even better rapidly, and is free. What’s not to like? I’d love to know what IBM’s strategy behind commoditizing the Java IDE industry is. Is it to provide a compelling, free alternative to Visual Studio to buoy the war between Java and Microsoft, or is it to drive other companies out of the Java business?

Is it just me or is Muqtada al-Sadr’s Army of the Madhi turning into Iraq’s version of Hezbollah?

I’m playing with WordPress today. Not necessarily to replace my home grown blogging software, but rather for a secondary project. However, if things go well I might consider switching to WordPress here as well. It looks pretty hackable, which is the main criteria.

Philip Kennicott in the Washington Post: A Wretched New Picture Of America

Design notes for the new Blogger.

Update: Eliot notes that the redesign wasn’t a bed of roses for everyone.

Want to know why voting for President Bush in November would be a horrible mistake? This is why. I’m certain I’m sounding increasingly shrill over the past couple of weeks, but honestly the events of 2004 have me shockingly depressed about the current state of my country and its future. I haven’t liked Bush, ever, but I hope that nobody would ever have wished for him to fail so spectacularly. If John Kerry does win the election, I feel bad for him because I’m certain that the problems he will inherit doom him to one term in office.

Donald Rumsfeld lies.