Yahoo! News - Aid Worker Hassan Believed Slain in Video

How revoltingly senseless. The kidnapping and execution of civilians in Iraq by militant thugs is repulsive enough, but what on earth can they possibly hope to gain by murdering a woman like Margaret Hassan - an Irish woman who had converted to Islam, held Iraqi citizenship, and was the director of CARE, a humanitarian agency working to bring relief to the Iraqi people? Here is a woman who was in solidarity with the people of Iraq in every way... how could slaughtering her accomplish anything but bitter outrage against such a crime?

I believe, contrary to much popular opinion, that terrorists are generally the preeminently rational actors, following the logic of asymmetrical warfare to its gruesome outcome precisely because it accomplishes their purposes. Terrorists would not commit these crimes if they did not affect a desired outcome, however reprehensible that outcome may be.

But this cannot affect any favorable turn of events for these militant brigands. Of all the hateful executions the world has witnessed since this whole mess began, this is the one that most breaks my heart - because in a land of senseless violence, this is perhaps the least comprehensible slaying of them all.

Rest in peace, Margaret Hassan. God have mercy on your killers - they have snuffed a precious light shining in their stricken land, butchering a friend and ally in the process.