Excellent read.
Sorry it was yanked. I for one am passing it around to friends. Couldn't agree more.
I personally didn't find one ounce of anything that should have been edited or censored.

That's probably because you have ice running through your veins. The mans corpse is barely cold and already he is being ridiculed. Sometimes i wonder if you people are living on the same planet? Here's a suggestion, if there is another hostage situation, (god forbid) why dont yourself(Debra) and Steyn trade places with the hostages. I would love to see your stoicism whilst facing such a grizzly end.

You missed the point. Mawkish sentimentality wasn't the point. Strategic coherence was. Figure it out. Nex

Excellent article by Steyn; Its sad that the Italian Hostage's story never made it to the MSN media. How much more heroic can one be compared to the English hostage. Should note that the death of the late Mr. Bigley was a tragedy, irrespective of his late actions.

"...the media is playing right into their hands."

Vincent Bugliosi, attorney and writer, once said of the news media: "They are a group who can always be counted on to use a minimal amount of intelligence."

I concur.

Jim, I disagree. A "minimal amount of intelligence" is nevertheless a non-zero amount. I've seen no evidence that the amount they use is non-zero.

James...Spare me here. the article speaks truth. Why would you want to sugar coat it? I don't have ice water running through my veins..Not at all. I just happen to think that he has the right to his opinion and if his job includes puttin it in print then he should not have been censored.
I don't need you or anyone else to tell me that I should trade places with Mr. Bigley or anyone lese for that matter. I HAVE been held against my will and I HAVE been in a situation where I did not have control over what happens to me. I may not have had the threat of being beheaded hanging over me but I did feel the fear and incertainty of my fututre at the hands of a barbarian. Don't preach to me about trading places my dear. I am a more compassionate person than I ever could have been without having gone through it.
You would stifle one mans opinion because he speaks the truth without whitewash? I pity you James.
Mr. Bigley's pleas for his life were playing right into the hands of the terrorists. The Italian gentleman who took a stand against the inevitable showed true courage. I too agree that it should have been reported on far more than what it was. Shameful that the liberal media couldn't have done more with it then bury it the same day it happened.

Debra....I am sorry that you were once held against your will and I mean that in all sincerity. I hope that it never happens to you again and that the culprit was dealt with appropriately.

Of course Steyn is entitled to his opinion. However if his employers deem his article inflammatory then they have every right to refuse to publish it. Every paper reserves that right, otherwise the role of the editor would be redundant and every crackpot columnist would be free to publish at will. Steyn's articles are inflammatory at the best of times, and if anything he is now regarded as nothing more than "agent provocateur" . He has a chip on either shoulder, whether it's because he is Jewish, I dont know.

Making comparisons between how one man meets his fate against anothers shows a complete lack of compassion for the victim's family and is utterly reprehensible. We can agree to disagree on this point.

By the way I am not a liberal nor do I read the "liberal" press. I read the Daily Telegraph, otherwise known as "The Torygraph" as its readership is almost entirely comprised of conservatives, as in the UK political party.

Accepting the views ver batim of columnists like Steyn et al is all to easy. Public opinion in the States is all too easily swayed when politicians and their hack friends prey on peoples fears. Question your government. Question your own beliefs as to the real reasons for going to war. Be safe

Thank you James. My apology to you for assuming.
The grief the families go through fuels my anger something awful when it comes to these barbaric terrorists. I truly feel that the only way to make people take off the blinders is by not whitewashing the truth. To mask the truth does a diservice. That is why my opinions are so strong against censorship. I understand your point about the responsibility of the editor. I came away with a different opinion that you when I read the article.
That's ok too.

We do disagree. That's ok...

Debra.....they say the first casualty in war is the truth. Whatever reportage we are getting from the frontline, you can be pretty sure will have been censored. There are things going on that perhaps we will never know or even want to know. But Steyn's comment's are not news or reportage. They are one man's opinions and that is all. In the same way that the owner of this site has the rigt to ban comments that he deems inflammatory so does a newspaper.

James...Your comments are acknowledged...
I do know first hand about the civilian community being considered on a "need to know basis" I served 2 enlistments in the military and distribution of sanitized information to the general public about instances that I had first hand knowledge of existed then as I am sure it exists now.

Debra....exactly. But can you distinguish between the views of a columnist and the reportage from a jounalist? I am not trying to be facetious or a smart arse! Excuse my French

Yes James...I T H I N K I can..
Is there really that much difference? A reporter tells the story and in his/her own words based on fact and is allowed to slant just as a columnist is able to but with opinion added..
hhmmm....
Don't read that with a smartass tone..Not meant that way at all.

Debra.....There is a vast difference. A reporter is reporting the news, hopefully the truth. A columnist is expressing an opinion which can be far removed from the truth. Therefore opinion does not constitute news.

A columnist takes fact...distributes it and adds opinion...A reporter may not add opinions blatently but slants it to serve his/her own liberal or conservative agenda. We see it all the time. Omissions of whole or partial statements by reporters is done quite often.
Columnists are more often opinionated but I see a distinct similarity.
I do think that we have probably exhausted this don't you?
I will give you one....."opinions do not constitute news"