By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – As one can glean from the title, the subject of Path of Blood is not pleasant, but for those who are not Islamic extremists, the insights it provides are necessary to learn. Documentary film maker Jonathan Hacker utilizes captured Al Qaeda footage along with video from the Security Service of Saudi Arabia, to tell the story of how Osama bin Laden’s minions in the first decade of the 21st Century tried to topple the Saudi government and kill as many non-Muslim “infidels” living within the kingdom as possible.
Set for national release in mid-July, Path of Blood is memorable for Al Qaeda’s training camp footage in which teenagers are taught that for true followers of Islam, the only alternative to victory against non-Muslim “Crusaders” is martyrdom, for which shahids will be rewarded in heaven with sexual favors from 72 virgins. The Al Qaeda movies are amateur productions requiring many retakes. The outtakes show us how terrorists interact with each other. Their jocularity and casualness can be jarring.
It’s clear from the Al Qaeda footage that the teenagers and 20-somethings recruited to the cause are often far from intellectual heavyweights; it’s adventure rather than theological fundamentalism that appeals to them. They relish the attention they receive from their Al Qaeda handlers. When they are not practicing to blow themselves up, or to slit someone’s throat, they play soccer, horse around with each other, and act like boys almost anywhere.
In the documentary, we see the results of car bombings, individual assassinations, and suicide bombings. One Al Qaeda fighter, who pretended to recant his ways so he could meet a Saudi prince, even agreed to hide explosives in his rectum to be detonated by an Al Qaeda cell phone call. The prince somehow survived but the young man’s body was blown to bloody pieces.
The question, of course, is what can we really learn from this? I suggest that we need to rid ourselves of the cartoon-like concept of sinister-looking terrorists. In fact, their faces may seem to be those of angels even as their brains have become filled with poison.
In this documentary, we see that the victims of terrorism more often than not are fellow Muslims. Some have been condemned by the jihadists because they work for the Saudi government, or are somehow otherwise connected to the United States and its allies. Other Muslims, many others, in fact, simply are innocent bystanders.
*
Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com