The Mourned and the Un-mourned!

Undoubtedly, it was a horrific death for Lee Rigby, who was a soldier in the British army; Totally uncalled for and purposeless. And the whole world stood in shock as it received the details of what happened to that soldier. Published, was a step by step breakdown of the final minutes, that led to his death and what happened afterwards when the police were called. A film was shown of the petrified police woman, who was the first to arrive at the scene and the film continued to show the police firing at the two assailants Michael Adebewale and Michael Adebolago(both from Muslim backgrounds)                                   .

Obama was quick to comment on the incident that happened in South East London (Woolwich) calling it horrific and talking about the fight against terror .

David Cameron also spoke to the media condemning the horrific act saying that the act would not divide Britain, but rather make it stronger . People paid tribute by laying flowers near the place Lee Rigby was murdered – sorrow and disbelief etched on all their faces .

In short the whole world mourned Lee Rigby – a drummer in the British army . Even the Queen acknowledged his death privately, by meeting with those who formed part of his chain of command . The Muslim Council of Great Britain said its thoughts were with the victim’s family following the “truly barbaric act “.

And so he should be mourned !

And it is only right that he be mourned that way !

But why then, do the thousands upon thousands of Syrian soldiers who die just as ”atrocious” if not more, never get mentioned, and when they are mentioned, then they are mentioned as a number and remain nameless.

Why do the tears of their mothers and wives never get the attention that they deserve while the whole world saw Lee’s mother’s tears flowing down her face, talking about her son .

An officer in the Syrian Army, nameless up till now, except in close circles had his head chopped off and then barbecued on top of a grill . A YouTube video of this was released. His mother, from the country side of Lattakia, has no tears to show the world. She offers only her silence and it speaks the world ! Another Syrian soldier had his heart and other organs eaten by his killer and documented by that same killer who said that his cannibalistic action could be mirrored by others like him – or yet another officer who had his head sawed off , by a twelve year old child , to the encouragement and acclaim of those around him .

A question arises . Where was Obama and Cameron when all this happened? Why was there no condemnation coming from them ? Why did the world resolutely ignore these deaths and deny them the right of being grieved over ? Is it there dark skin or dark eyes that don’t merit the attention- or their religion which ironically, is a part of their reason for being killed – considered by the fundamentalists who kill them as not being Muslim enough – or not being the  right brand of Islam!     

Reem Haddad