World Humanitarian Day 2012- Honoring Aid Workers Who Risk Their Lives

Today is World Humanitarian Day honoring and celebrating all those who selflessly give of themselves to help those in need in countries most of us would never think of visiting. And not only do they have to deal with unusually harsh conditions, they now have to worry about their own lives. In the past 10 years more than 800 people involved in humanitarian work have been killed, and more than 1300 wounded or held captive. NGO aid workers are no longer safe; hey are subjected to threats of violence, death or kidnappings in countries like Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and certain African countries that are dealing with Islamist extremists like Somalia and Sudan.

They deserve to be honored, because if it was my decision, I'd pull them all out of those regions with Muslim extremists.

August 19th was chosen to also commemorate all those killed in Iraq when the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad was bombed on August 19, 2003.

Money The Root Of All Jihad: Khalil Dale Beheaded For Not Paying Ransom

For all their claims that their holy jihad is against foreign invaders, most Islamist extremists are nothing more than low down, barbaric, common criminals. Supposed holy warriors don't attack innocents, they don't attack people who are in their country to help, and they certainly don't kill someone because a ransom wasn't paid. But it happens alot. 

Ironically, the kidnapped Scottish Red Cross nurse who was found decapitated, dumped by the side of a Quetta, Pakistan road covered in plastic with a note attached saying “This is the body of Khalil who we have slaughtered for not paying a ransom amount” was a Muslim convert. 60-year-old Khalil Rasjed Dale (fka Ken) converted to Islam 30 years ago.  I wonder if he ever envisioned having his head chopped off by fellow believers?

Dale had been working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) when he was kidnapped on January 5th. He was driving with two others, a Pakistani doctor and a driver, but there was no interest in those two because obviously there was no monetary gain to be had. Foreign aid workers are often targets because they are potential cash cows. 

In spite of  "tireless efforts" to gain Dale's release by the British government (working in tandem with the ICRC), the fact that no money exchanged hands effectively secured his death sentence. Both Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague and the ICRC's Director General Yves Daccord condemned the act:

“The ICRC condemns in the strongest possible terms this barbaric act. All of us at the ICRC and at the British Red Cross share the grief and outrage of Khalil’s family and friends.”

“This was a senseless and cruel act, targeting someone whose role was to help the people of Pakistan, and causing immeasurable pain to those who knew Dale,” Hague said in the statement.

Dale had been shot and beheaded, but who knows if he was still alive when they sliced his head off.  According to Safdar Hussain,the doctor who examined his body, “A sharp knife was used to sever his head from the body.”  Not surprisingly, there's a video of his beheading that the butchers have threatened to release, but the ICRC has asked the Pakistani  media to not air it. Who knows if they will comply. 

It's time aid organizations pull out of that whole region.


Sources: Guardian UK, Al Arabiya, Daily Mail