WHY DECAPITATION

Chopping off heads has become routine for ISIS. They kill many. Not all by decapitation, however. Significantly more are shot to death than lose their heads.

It used to be that severing the head from the body was done by a swift swing of a sword or ax. Then there was the guillotine. 

ISIS today uses a small knife. The perpetrator saws through the victim's neck. It is not a swift procedure. Takes about a minute.

We live in a digital age. The terrorists are then able to flash a video of the execution world wide.

Why this method of execution? Why not a shooting? Why not the swift swing of a sword?

Terrorist experts suggest three reasons.

The first is that ISIS wants attention. Prior to head chopping / neck sawing, terrorists relied on plane hijackings, car bombings and suicide bombings. The three events became so commonplace that the world wide media was giving less and less attention to them. Less attention to the act meant less attention to the cause.

The second reason is that the Koran mandates decapitation. This is questionable. However, there are a few brief passages in the Koran to support the position. The most relied on can be found at Sura 47.4.....When you meet unbelievers, smite their necks. Perhaps also the basis for when Christians are captured and given the choice to convert or die.

The third reason is sick. Some of those sawing away at the victim's neck actually relish the act. It is emotionally pleasing. The reaction has been described as an intimate moment.

The United States and the Western Democracies view with horror the decapitations. Middle East societies become more fearful of ISIS.

Certain terrorist experts believe that if decapitation were to become as common place as hijackings, car bombings, and suicide bombings and receive less media attention, that ISIS will be responsible for less and less beheadings.

Let us hope so. May we get there sooner than later.