The Case of the Missing Honor Killing

Psychologically, we tend to believe that what we see with our own eyes, especially if it is “acted out” for us, is the “truth.” Our brains are wired so that visual images assume a permanent reality-even if that reality is a computer-generated or photo-shopped Big Lie. Mohammed al-Dura did not die in his fathers’ arms even though that carefully staged image was seen round the world. Israel did not massacre anyone in Jenin even though that Big Lie has also taken on a life of its own.

I’m glad that America’s Most Wanted chose to dramatize the honor killing of Sarah and Amina Said in Dallas on Jan 1, 2008 by their father Yaser Abdul Said, who has been missing ever since. I hope the program helps aid in his capture. I applaud on-camera narrator John Walsh, who has turned his own grief at the loss of his child into something positive for so many others.

However, the dramatization was oddly, perhaps even purposefully misleading…Continue reading on FrontPagMag.com >>

The FBI Was Right. Why They Stopped Calling Yaser Said an Honor Killer.

Ten months after their deaths, the FBI finally described Yaser Abdul Said’s murder of his two daughters as an “honor killing.” I wrote about it HERE. Fox News also did. However, within ten-twelve days, the FBI deleted this description from their Most Wanted poster. Once again, Fox News wrote about it. Most kindly, Fox’s journalist, Maxim Lott, interviewed me for both articles.

At the time of the deletion, several people told me that the “FBI had flip-flopped” and that “I should take them on and take them down.” Oh yeah. Instead, I sat down and thought it through…Continue reading on Chesler Chronicles >>

Honor Killings Are Also Hate Crimes: The FBI and Yaser Abdul Said

On October 4, 2008, for the first time ever, the FBI described the double homicides of Sarah and Amina Said in Dallas as an “honor killing.” This language accompanied the photo of Yaser Abdul Said on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. On January 1, 2008, Said took his Egyptian passport,and $9,000.00 and, with his wife Tissy’s help, shot and killed both his daughters in his taxi cab. He has not been seen since then.

The Dallas representative of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was outraged by the description of this crime as an “honor killing.” He was quoted as saying: “Until motive is proven in a court of law, this is just a homicide.” Great-aunt Gail Gartrell told me that an Imam also took to the airwaves in Dallas to express his outrage.

By October 16, 2008, the FBI had deleted the phrase “honor killing” from their description of Yaser Abdul Said on their Most Wanted list…Continue reading on Chesler Chronicles >>

Another Kind of Terrorism: An Honor Killer On The FBI’s Most Wanted List