Posted on 06/29/2004 4:36:57 PM PDT by Max Combined
LONDON (Reuters) - The father of an American civilian beheaded in Iraq (news - web sites) accused President Bush (news - web sites) and the U.S. media Tuesday of ignoring the "horrible face of war."
"People like George Bush and (U.S. Defense Secretary) Donald Rumsfeld (news - web sites) don't see the pain that people have to bear -- they don't know what it feels like to have your guts ripped out," Michael Berg told a news conference.
The decapitated body of Berg's son Nick was found by a roadside in Baghdad and a grisly video of his beheading was posted on an Islamist Web site in May.
"What I'm trying to do is show to the American people and the British people ... that war has a wretchedly horrible face," said Berg's father.
The elder Berg was in London to speak at a demonstration against the foreign troop presence in Iraq Wednesday, which had been scheduled to coincide with the planned U.S. transfer of power to the Iraqi people.
Nick Berg, 26, traveled to Iraq several times looking for work in the reconstruction effort before going missing on April 9.
"He thought he was supporting the Iraqi people and the Bush administration by going over there, not with a gun but with his engineering tools," Michael Berg said.
Bush and the American media have ignored the "true horrors," added Berg senior, who has blamed Bush and Rumsfeld for his son's death in previous interviews. He said he believed anti-war sentiment was now very strong in the United States.
"There are 11,000 plus Iraqi citizens that are dead and each one's family is as affected as I was, but the American media doesn't cover these people. It doesn't cover the people who are suffering the most."
Nick Berg was one of dozens of foreigners kidnapped in early April as U.S. forces launched an offensive on the restive city of Falluja, west of Baghdad.
He was believed to have been beheaded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an al Qaeda supporter.
Since his death, militants have also beheaded U.S. hostage Paul Johnson in Saudi Arabia and South Korean Kim Sun-il in Iraq. All three men were videotaped wearing orange jump suits similar to those worn by prisoners in U.S. detention facilities like Guantanamo Bay.
"This is not a game that people in Washington get to play," Michael Berg said. "It affects people the way it's affected me and my family and the families of Paul Johnson, Kim Sun-il and the thousands of Iraqis."
"Observing someone's pain just makes you think just how can they (Bush and Blair) possibly do this. There isn't enough money in the world that could ever make this worthwhile."
True. This was not done for money, this was done to make Americans safer. This is costing us a lot of money and blood, but it will be worth it in the end.
Bush did not send Berg to Iraq. He went there on his own, so it is stupid for his leftist father to blame Bush for his death.
These creep acts like he is sorry for the Iraqis killed in the war, but it is not like the Iraqis were not being killed while Saddam was in power.
Leftists really suck.
This man is giving Ron Reagan competition for capitalizing on the death of a "loved" one.
What a Clymer!
I was hoping that we had heard the last of Nosferatu.
If your son was beheaded by some heartless nazi would you still toe the line? His lefty dad is soft but under these circumstances it's understandable. That's why all Americans in Iraq need to be armed to the teeth, Iraq is no place for unarmed white men.
This scumbag is no better than his son, who was looking to be recruited by al-Qaeda. If the cause of America is so bad and unjust, then deport this bastard to Syria and call it good.
He had my deepest sympathy now he has my heartfelt disgust! Following his 15 minutes of fame he has now chosen to extend it to whatever the media whores can garner out of it..........
Michael Berg is an idiot!
"He thought he was supporting the Iraqi people and the Bush administration by going over there, not with a gun but with his engineering tools," Michael Berg said.
Yes, and if memory serves, your son went over into a war zone on his own, under the impression he was to be hired on the spot with no references, no security and backed by no contractor, firm or company, (which seems to be the requirement over there) or any inkling about what he would find there. He might as well have hung a sign around his neck that said "KIDNAP ME".
This a-hole doesn't deserve a son.
Berg doesn't seem to comprehend the simple truth that our country is based on.
Freedom isn't free, and sometimes you have to fight to preserve of gain it.
Iraqis are finding this out for the first time. I think they will do well in freedom. A freedom bought with American, British, Pole, Italian blood. They won't forget that anytime soon.
Berg never got it and never will. How very sad.
So Bush forced this man to go to Iraq? And these people weren't willing to kill Americans BEFORE the Iraq war?
This man is in major denial and in need of some grief counseling. Pronto.
We saw that face on 9/11. This man is a blithering idiot, his son probably was too.
Berg's father is completely irrational. I would like to say that it is because of the trauma he sufferred at his son's beheading, but he was completely irrational before then too.
The torture of Iraqis by Saddam does not even enter his mind at all. Apparently the agony of the loved ones of these victims doesn't matter to him at all. Nor does the agony and torture of the victims of 911. What a phony.
Nick berg was NOT part of any civilian group our government allowed to be in Iraq to work.
Nick Berg was NOT a member of the press,nor T.V. crew.
Nick Berg was just some civilian,who went to Iraq on his own,mat have been working for Michael Moore,refuse help from the military,and his father is a faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar lefty POS,who hasn't ever " toed the line"...whatever that means.
How exactly is President Bush to blame for getting rid of a murderous tyrant? I'd say he is to Thank...btw, it sounds like Berg Jr. had a lot more sense than his old man.
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