Mariane Pearl Issues Statement

Feb. 22, 2002 -- 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.

I think we are now all aware that terror is not a problem facing one countryalone, not Pakistan, not the United States. It is the worldwideresponsibility of governments and we as journalists, professionals of allkinds and human beings — mothers and fathers, daughters and sons. We areall going to needcourage and commitment. Let us inspire each other to goodness.

Revenge would be easy, but it is far more valuable in my opinion to addressthis problem of terrorism with enough honesty to question our ownresponsibility as nations and as individuals for the rise of terrorism.

Myown courage arises from two facts. One is that throughout this ordeal I havebeen surrounded by people of amazing value. This helps me trust thathumanism ultimately will prevail. My other hope now — in my seventh month ofpregnancy — is that I will be able to tell our son that his father carried theflag to end terrorism, raising an unprecedented demand among people from allcountries not for revenge but for the values we all share: love, compassion,friendship and citizenship far transcending the so-called clash ofcivilizations.