The death of Alan Henning

[David Johnson]

Over the weekend, there were a couple of things that moved me about aid worker Alan Henning's death.

First there was a moving tribute by the Muslim leader of the aid convoy which Alan helped on a number of occasions. He was obviously distraught and said that no Muslim had helped him with the convoys as much as Alan had and that Alan was closer to him than his own brother was.

For me it shows that the things that join us e.g. humanity and care for others are more powerful than the things that divide us.

Secondly the Bishop of Manchester described Alan as a martyr. The word "martyr" has become "owned" by Muslims, but the Christian faith itself is built on the martyrdom of Jesus Christ. Alan gave his life, helping others which is a true act of martyrdom.

There is something epic and noble about an ordinary working bloke, a taxi driver, travelling thousands of miles to help those less fortunate than himself. He displayed a selflessness and kindness to others which the majority of us will never do.

Rest in peace Alan Henning. You are a true British hero.

[andy at handiwork]

Very true DJ. What I noticed over the w/e was the storm of indignation aimed at Naomi Klein who has completely misjudged the public sentiment for Alan Hemming and others by drifting from scepticism to outright bonkers conspiracy theory. After wondering why so many of the western victims of the fascist IS were ex-army,(ignorant of the fact that military training often instils in people a desire to help others in some way, she clearly thinks they are spying and are then legitimate targets) , she speculated that Alan Hemming had not really been killed.

[Panties]

I think you will find that it is Naomi Wolf not Naomi Klein who has been writing about Alan Henning. Apart from that I agree that the theory is bonkers.

[Sam Slater]

The sad thing is that there are Iraqi, Kurd, Turk and other Alan Henning's out there who've also been murdered by this bunch of religious murderers. He won't be the last either.

[andy at handiwork]

You are quite right. My mistake in haste.

[David Johnson]

Where would we be without conspiracy theories? Jeez.

The Muslim leader of the aid convoy which Alan Henning helped regularly, put it in a nutshell. ISIS knew that Alan was an aid worker. They knew he had been selflessly helping Muslims who could not help themselves. In short, it was just a cruel, vile game to ISIS.

[Arginald Valleywater]

There is a simple moral to all do-gooders. Stay at home with your families and do good in the UK. Henning is dead because he chose to leave his loved ones and put himself in harms way. Nobody forces you to go abroad and try to reason with savages. That his family expected the government to risk special forces soldiers lives on someone who chose to go to the middle east in the current situation is selfish.

[Sam Slater]

Henning wasn't going over to deal with savages. He was their to distribute aid to the Syrians caught up between Assad and ISIS and was taken hostage within 24 hours of entering the country and was no where near the combat zones.

[andy at handiwork]

A bit of detail about her ridiculous nonsense on the hostage executions, and other examples of her bat-shit theories.

[Arginald Valleywater]

Current political situation then.....the "it won't happen to me denial syndrome" is not going to help you being a white British Christian in a Muslim land...I recall Terry Waite was told in no uncertain terms not to go back to Beirut. Hence why we never sent in the SAS to extract him.