Mariane Pearl Issues Statement

ByABC News
February 22, 2002, 3:48 PM

Feb. 22 -- The following is a statement issued today by Mariane Pearl, wife of the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and killed while on assignment in Pakistan.

From the bottom of my heart, I would like to express my gratitude to all of the people throughout the world who have given Danny and me support andencouragement.

The messages I have received from the five continents have shown me that alot of you who don't even know Danny personally have come to understand himas a man. Not a hero, not a spy, but an ordinary man and great journalistwho has traveled the world to reveal facts and seek the truth a value forhim as sacred as freedom itself.

Danny's principles were steadfast: He never accepted an opinion at facevalue nor submitted to those who tried to silence or pressure him, regardlessof their power or nationality. All of this can be seen in the work he hasproduced over the last 12 years as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. Avideo has been produced of him forced to read a statement and then showinghim dead and stabbed in the most cruel and cowardly manner.

From this act of barbarism, terrorists expect all of us to bow our heads and retreat as victims forever threatened by their ruthlessness. What terroristsforget is that they may seize the life of an innocent man or the lives ofmany innocent people as they did on Sept. 11, but they cannot claim thespirit or faith of individual human beings.

The terrorists who say they killed my husband may have taken his life, butthey did not take his spirit. Danny is my life. They may have taken my life,but they did not take my spirit.

I promise you that the terrorists did not defeat my husband no matter whatthey did to him, nor did they succeed in seizing his dignity or value as ahuman being. As his wife, I feel proud of Danny. I trust that our strugglewill ultimately serve the greater purpose of resisting those evil peoplecasting a shadow upon our world. This responsibility rests with each one ofus no matter our age, our g ender, our nationality, our religion. Noindividual alone will be able to fightterrorism. No state alone will be able to wage this battle. We need toovercome cultural and religious differences, motivating our governments towork hand inhand with each other, perhaps in an unprecedented way.