Daniel Pearl’s Final Story

Asra Nomani wrote a gripping story on her coming to terms with the murder of her friend and colleague Daniel Pearl. It’s a long read and definitely worth the effort. It not only details vividly how Pearl was brutally beheaded at the hands of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but it details her investigation into identifying everyone involved and seeing them to justice. What you think will be a straight up detective story becomes something more personal, how different people handle grief.

I had become a ghost myself. One of my favorite uncles died and I didn’t cry. Then my grandmother died—it was the same. Shibli fell on the playground, smashing his forehead on a bolt protruding from the jungle gym. Most moms would have flipped out. I just looked at him. We went to the hospital, where I videotaped him getting stitches. Shibli was nonplussed. It never occurred to me then that the effects of posttraumatic stress could be passed on.

How I came across this story yesterday, I don’t know. Social media was still abuzz about Justin Bieber, so even though I didn’t really care about it I was still bombarded with the news. I guess that’s something.