Berg Died for Bush, Rumsfeld 'Sins' - Father

Reuters ^ | Thu, May 13, 2004 | Reuters

[TSgt]

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The father of Nick Berg, the Pennsylvania contractor beheaded in Iraq (news - web sites), on Thursday directly blamed President Bush (news - web sites) and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for his son's death.

"My son died for the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. This administration did this," Berg said in the interview with radio station KYW-AM.

In the radio interview from outside his home in West Chester, Pennsylvania, a seething Michael Berg also said his son probably would have felt positive even about his executioners until the last minute.

"I am sure that he only saw the good in his captors until the last second of his life," Berg said.

Then, referring to his son's executioners, he said: "They did not know what they were doing. They killed their best friend."

Two days after the publication of a video showing the execution of his son by five masked men, Berg attacked Bush administration for its invasion of Iraq and its sponsorship of the Patriot Act, which gave increased powers of surveillance to the federal government.

Berg described the Patriot Act as a "coup d'etat." He added: "It's not the same America I grew up in."

[Phantom Lord]

Arp, why of course that is the amazing Phantom Lord!

Lurking, go and look at the pic again. See if you notice anything.

[Charles Martel]

You have to give the guy a break, Insane with grief is believeable. He just lost his son.

I'd like to go along with that, but given the evidence of Michael Berg's personal ideology, I just can't assign this behavior to grief.

[Arpege92]

That cute guy's hand is on Ann's butt?

[Taffini]

In the radio interview from outside his home in West Chester, Pennsylvania, a seething Michael Berg also said his son probably would have felt positive even about his executioners until the last minute.

"I am sure that he only saw the good in his captors until the last second of his life," Berg said.

Then, referring to his son's executioners, he said: "They did not know what they were doing. They killed their best friend."



The words of a true moron. The stupid are, apparently, allowed to breed.

I wonder if the son shared the father's opinions? The story is getting rather strange. HOW can he say that his son was "their best friend"? WAS he? What is the deal with the email?

[Lurking in Kansas]

That cute guy's hand is on Ann's butt?

LOL, sharp eyes!

[Arpege92]

Am I right? Did the hand travel too far down south on Ann?

[sweet_diane]

"This looks especially bad when you consider that the FBI warned Berg to leave Iraq, and now we learn that the US even offered to fly him out. He refused, and then was murdered. What else would they have the gov't do?"

the only thing the administration could do to please Mr. Berg, before or after his sons murder, was to drop dead and crown ALgore President, IMHO. it appears the Berg's hate Bush regardless and they are part of the ABB crowd.

it bothers me terribly that he said "They killed their best friend."... something is very wrong with that statement.

i have a feeling there is much more to this, i just hope it doesn't come out that Nick Berg &/or his family rejoiced at the idea of him being martyred for the demoractic party! it's getting THAT weird to me!

[ShandaLear]

"They did not know what they were doing. They killed their best friend."

It just floors me to consider that Michael Berg thought that if his son's captors had only known of the warm feelings he had for them, they wouldn't have murdered him. The fact that they did murder him is an object lesson he obvioulsy doesn't get.

[tiredoflurking]

I just watched the clip at Foxnews.com that shows this statement. The full quote is actually "They didn't know that they were doing. The Al Qaeda that killed my son didn't know what they were doing. They killed their best friend. Nick was there to build Iraq, not to tear it down. He was there to help people, not to hurt anyone." The anchor then clarifies by saying Berg didn't mean that his son was literally Al Qaeda's best friend, but that he was a friend of the Iraqi people.

It sounds like Mr. Berg is speaking as someone who believes terrorists are just frightened people on the defensive who believe all Americans are out to hurt them and therefore don't know any better than to murder an unarmed bystander.

A few other bits of information I learned from the report (and I apologize if all of this has already been posted):

Nick Berg helped set up equipment at the GOP national convention in 2000.

He had made several trips to third world countries. He once traveled to Africa to help a poor village and taught villagers in Ghana how to make bricks.

It sounds like he was just a guy with a heart for helping people. It chills my bones to read some others saying he died because he was stupid. He died because he was murdered. He may have made some foolish choices in Iraq, but if foolishness carried a death sentence there'd be a much smaller world population.

[Taffini]

I thought it was wierd that Berg's family was out in the grass, crying and carrying on



It reminded me of a kennedy moment. they always have to give the press their photo op. i can't imagine my mother out in front of my house giving the press a mag. cover op, unless she was hooked up with ANSWER of course

[Tailgunner Joe]

"They killed their best friend."

Leftists are always surprised when the terrorist maniacs they champion chop their heads off.

[Phantom Lord]

Bingo! I didn't even realize it until I saw the pic.

[Phantom Lord]

Where you at in NY? I grew up in Endicott and went to college in Buffalo.

[r9etb]

antaresequity made an interesting comment from another thread:

There is more to Nick Berg than this writer has looked into.

Nick Berg traveled to Iraq sometime in December, and hung around til some time in February, and then left. He went to Iraq unvetted, and did not have a job.

Nick Berg is a telecommunications worker, and ostensibly was looking to freelance work in Iraq. He never found any.

Nick Berg has twice before gone to war torn or ravaged countries in Africa, also as a freelancer.

Nick Berg returned to Iraq, and supposedly looked for work again. He never did find any, and according to his parents, 'went traveling'.

In April he was picked up by coalition authorities and was questioned by among others, the FBI for two weeks. Uncertain as to who Nick Berg really was, the FBI paid a visit to Berg's parents stateside.

Nick Berg was released, and immediatly dropped off the radar again. According to his parents, he was trying to get home.

Today Nick Berg turned up on video, had his genitals burned, his head chopped off and his body dumped on a bridge.

There is much more to this story than meets the eye, and both the right and left spin on this will be false.

He is not a poor contractor trying to rebuild Iraq who got swept up in the wake of the prison scandal fallout...nor is he a greedy American war profiteer whose death was a justifiable retaliation for 'alleged' abuse at the prison.

Dilligent reporters with feet on the ground in Iraq could answer the question: Who was Nick Berg, and Why was he in Iraq?

Don't hold your breath sports fans.

Interesting speculation ... I really do think there's more to Nick Berg than his dad is letting on. Note also that the person saying that Nick Berg "supported Bush" was ... Nick Berg's dad. Something fishy here...

[Piranha]

why am I a troll if I speak my say??? I have been a Freeper for over a year????

You're a troll because you lie about the amount of time that you have been here and you bring up crazy conspiracy theories straight out of DU and similar sites.

[Piranha]

I am going to say this once......... We resigned up because our computer crashed, and we had to do all new information. we reformated the whole OS. Even givin the the reformat, It should say at least May of LAST year...

I get on FR from lots of different computers, and have no trouble signing in and using my name. Why is it hard for you? What name did you use when you joined?

[Skywalk]

Arabs read from transcripts ALL THE TIME. have you actually watched one of those videos?

White hand? Have you seen Zarqawi? He's not dark brown.

The time lapse could easily have been them making previous tapes on other days.

And GET OFF THE SITE YOUR TROLL.

[Skywalk]

Why are you bashing Nick Berg? Jesus, it may not have been the brightest thing but if you watched the interview with a businessman that knew him, you'd find out that there are more freelance businessmen there than the CPA admits.

Are you going to bash them all too?

[Arpege92]

The Hudson valley area....New Windsor, Newburgh and Cornwall area.