The following is the editorial published in the WSJ after it was confirmed that journalist Daniel Pearl was indeed murdered: We now believe, based on U.S. and Pakistani sources, that our reporter Danny Pearl was killed by his captors in Pakistan. His murder is a tragedy for his family, especially his pregnant wife Mariane, and for all of us who knew him as a friend and colleague. We are heartsick at his loss.
We would like to thank the many people, especially American government officials and some in Pakistan, for their help after his kidnapping almost a month ago. We are grateful, too, for those who helped to publicize Danny`s capture and called for his release.
Danny`s death is a terrible reminder, like so many others since last September 11, that evil still stalks this world. Danny was no soldier or spy, as his killers claimed in their e-mails. He was a noncombatant, an American journalist trying to understand and explain the Islamic world to his readers. His death is an act of barbarism for its own evil sake. His killers claimed to be Pakistani nationalists striking out at the American and Pakistan governments. But they had to know his killing would do nothing to further their goals. Instead it will bring only shame to all genuine Pakistani patriots, and contempt from all civilized corners of the world.
There is of course no rational justification for this sort of nihilism.
Terrorists seek to kill innocents merely because they are innocent. In this sense, Danny is no different from the thousands of Americans who died on September 11. They too were innocents going about their daily work. And, like Danny, they were vulnerable because of the very openness and tolerance of our society. As a journalist for an American newspaper seeking answers in a foreign country, Danny was merely in the vanguard of that openness. At the Journal, we should add, we have felt this terrorist assault in an especially personal way. The World Trade Center attacks knocked us out of our headquarters and killed many of our neighbors. Now it has murdered one of our colleagues. In this of course we only feel more acutely the deep sense of violation felt by millions of other Americans since September 11.
As we remember Danny in the coming days, we will also take pride in his life`s work as a reporter. Danny was a gentle personality for a journalist, not as crusty as some of us, but he was as intrepid as any. His death reminds us that journalism is dangerous work. But his life reminds us that it is also noble and vital work, all the more so in this complex age where different faiths and different parts of the world are trying to understand each other. Danny Pearl committed his career, and has now given his life, to uncovering facts that would let the world better see the shape of its own dilemmas. That includes, perhaps especially, the Islamic world that often lacks a free press and is thus more vulnerable to propaganda. Danny was not some thrill seeker out to cover a war zone. He was someone who believed, as nearly all journalists do, that by exploring the truth about events the world will be better able to confront and solve its problems.
The terrorists who attacked America on September 11 thought they would cower a nation into retreating from the world. Instead they made Americans more resolute than ever about protecting themselves and their values around the world. The killers of Danny Pearl may think they will intimidate American journalists into retreating from their job of reporting on the world. They will discover that they are equally mistaken.