Scroll down for update.

How do we win a game if we are the only team playing by the rules? Our players are in regulation uniform, playbook in hand. They know what they are and are not permitted to do. If they break or bend a rule, the rest of the team or even the hometown fans in the stands call them on it, and they are punished. But like Alice trying to play croquet with the Queen of Hearts, our team can never get ahead if the other team has permission to change the rules.

And then the Lord he called for one more card,
but he drew the diamond eight,
And the Devil said to the son of God,
"I believe you've got it straight,
So deal me one for the time has come
to see who'll be the king of this place,
But as he spoke, from beneath his cloak,
he slipped another ace...

Ten thousand souls was the opening bid,
and it soon went up to fifty-nine,
but the Lord didn't see what the Devil did,
and he said "that suits me fine",
"I'll raise you high to hundred and five,
and forever put an end to your sins",
But the Devil let out a mighty shout, "My hand wins!!"

And I said "Lord, oh Lord, you let him win,
The sun is down and the night is riding in,
That train is dead on time, many souls are on the line,
Oh Lord, don't let him win..."

I felt the bile rising in the back of my throat when I read this.

A large man dressed in military fatigues, boots and cap approaches from behind and covers her mouth with his left hand. In his right hand, he clutches a large knife with a black handle and an 8in blade. He proceeds to cut her throat from the middle, slicing from side to side.

Her cries - "Ah, ah, ah" - can be heard above the "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) intoned by the holder of the mobile phone.

Even then, there is no quick release for Bahjat. Her executioner suddenly stands up, his job only half done. A second man in a dark T-shirt and camouflage trousers places his right khaki boot on her abdomen and pushes down hard eight times, forcing a rush of blood from her wounds as she moves her head from right to left.

Only now does the executioner return to finish the task. He hacks off her head and drops it to the ground, then picks it up again and perches it on her bare chest so that it faces the film-maker in a grotesque parody of one of her pieces to camera.

The voice of one of the Arab world's most highly regarded and outspoken journalists has been silenced. She was 30. [emphasis mine]

The enemy we deal with are not human. Their "god" is the devil. And the devil doesn't play by the rules. Some days, when I read stories like this one, I want to just give up and cover myself in a chador. Let them have me, I don't care. I'm tired of fighting. No one can win a game with corrupted rules. We'll all be under their damn boots soon enough.

But I can't give up. I don't know why. I just can't. Maybe it's faith. Maybe stubborness. Most likely it's spite - I don't want to let the bad guys win. I want to hurt and humiliate them on the field, as they've done to us. I no longer want to play like Alice. But how can we, as a civilized people, reconcile ourselves to what has to be done? Our holy books teach love and tolerance, not hate and murder. If we are to get to Heaven, we must turn the other cheek, and allow ourselves to be murdered, our churches co-opted, our history to be destroyed. Is it worth it to have a handful of us forsake the chance of Heaven in order to guarantee safety and religious freedom for future generations? Does it qualify as "just war"? I can't see how it wouldn't.

I spoke to my cousin-in-law today. A very religious Evangelical. She is one of the most giving, accepting people I have ever known, but even she has had enough. She said that every night in her prayers, she asks God for an answer for what must be done to stop the evil. The Muslims must be stopped. She has two young children. I can see why she is anxious. I told her that if he answers, could she call and let me know? I'm pretty anxious myself.

And far away in some recess
The Lord and the Devil are now playing chess,
The Devil still cheats and wins more souls,
And as for the Lord, well, he's just doing his best...

We've got to win.

UPDATE: From Something... And Half of Something

The Jawa Report can reveal that the Times and Halal Jabar, the author of the article, are victims of a hoax. The video actually shows the gruesome murder of a Nepalese man by the Army of Ansar al-Sunna in Iraq from August of 2004. The man was one of 12 victims executed by the terrorist organization--the other 11 were shot (original story, video, and images of 12 Nepalese murdered in Iraq here).

Still, it doesn't change the fact that Atwar Bahja is dead, it justs adds another gruesome murder to the list of murders by the followers of the Prophet of Doom.