[xm177e2]

1) Berg was not a "mercenary"; he did not do military work for a government outside of normal military/CIA employment.

2) Berg was PRO-WAR. His dad is anti-war, but Nick Berg was PRO-WAR. He supported the liberation of the Iraqi people. If he granted an interview to Michael Moore, it was probably only to share his idealism with a camera.

[norton]

With all due respect;
you are citing what has been reported in the mainstream media, neither you nor I knows what Nick Berg's beliefs were.
BUT, he grew up listening to his daddy - and that's enough for me to doubt the "Pro-Bush" reports we have seen so often and seen without any means to confirm them.

As to mercenaries;
"Contractor" does not equal mercenary.
Contractors are the same today as for generations past: someone has a job to do in a backwater neighborhood and someone else is willing to risk his butt to do the job for big bucks and a kind of a buzz.
"Adventure" ain't "Mercenary".
Moore ain't much of a journalist;
more like Andy Kaufman on carbohydrates.

The real mercenaries today are the NGOs and the for-hire ex-military who infest the bureaucracy built up around reconstruction and all the in-fighting that might entail.
Makes you miss Mike Hoare and the good old Agency listening post days.

[Objective Reality]

1) Berg was not a "mercenary"; he did not do military work for a government outside of normal military/CIA employment.

I never said Berg was a mercenary. I was paraphrasing Moore's general opinion of innocent Americans randomly murdered, burned, mutilated and hanged from bridges in Iraq. That general opinion being, bluntly, "f--- 'em." All except for Nick Berg, apparently, who gets special treatment from Moore. Like being interviewed by him. And having his interview kept from the public, and given only to his family.

2) Berg was PRO-WAR. His dad is anti-war, but Nick Berg was PRO-WAR. He supported the liberation of the Iraqi people. If he granted an interview to Michael Moore, it was probably only to share his idealism with a camera.

Not to be brusque, but what evidence is there of this? What written record of Nick Berg's longstanding status as a supporter of the Iraq war, and by extension, of George W. Bush? What checks to the Bush campaign committee? What FreeRepublic user name? What posts anywhere, what statements to close friends and colleagues? What statement other than that of his father, a certified signatory member of International A.N.S.W.E.R., who I have NO doubt would sell out his son's integrity in a heartbeat if he thought it would further his radical agenda? This is a man who described the men who slowly beheaded his son, while he shrieked and wept, as only being "maybe about as bad" as Bush and Rumsfeld. What kind of credibility is he to be afforded?

What evidence do I have, to the contrary? Very little, but it's a different standard to prove a negative. I point only to the circumstantial evidence of:

1. His father is such a remorseless A.N.S.W.E.R. crackpot, far beyond the huge majority of the most radical DU and Usenet vermin one would ever encounter online, that it strains credulity that he would have spoken so highly of his son's status as a "friend" of the men who murdered him, if he had supported the "regime" that was supposedly "oppressing" them due to "racism." More likely, he would have expressed bitter regret that his son never learned the "truth" about Bush, and the Iraq war, before it got him killed.
   
   
2. He was interviewed by Michael Moore, and filmed with the apparent intent of including in a documentary. Is there ONE other 26 year old Bush / Iraq war supporter EVER to have been?
   
   
3. He went to Iraq, alone, unescorted, with no prospects or apparent means of support. Honestly, do you know of anyone, in any of the circles in which you travel, no matter how young, brave, foolhardy, idealistic, or hard up for a job, who would ever even consider such an insane idea? The only people I can imagine would be the same sort who previously offered themselves up as "human shields" before the war. I believe this the exact same sort of syndrome, only with a "fight the occupation" mindset, rather than "stop the war."

[arasina]

Who, other than Nick Berg's father, said he was PRO-WAR? Hmmm?

[Gigantor]

"Berg was PRO-WAR."

Is there any proof of this?

[Ann Archy]

We've only been told by his father that Nick was Pro-War....you really have NO idea unless you knew him.