Posted on 05/17/2004 7:21:01 AM PDT by Fintan
THIS ISN'T going to be easy. But some things need to be said to Michael Berg even as he grieves the loss of his son. It would have been more appropriate to let the dust settle before this discourse began, but that is no longer an option where he has turned this tragedy into a morbid blame game.
First and foremost, civilized people everywhere mourn for your family. Nick Berg was, by all accounts, a fine son - smart, ambitious and with an independent spirit for life. Twenty-six is way too young to die. No father should have to endure what you must be going through.
But...
George Bush did not kill your son. Nor did Donald Rumsfeld. And, quite frankly, you are the one politicizing his death when you introduce their names into the same breath as his obituary.
Furthermore, it's just not accurate for you to say "Nicholas Berg died for the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld." Your son died due to the sins of unholy people acting through some misguided and irrational vision of their faith. And, frankly, you give your son's murderers the credibility they so desperately lack when you say otherwise.
Here is the bottom line, sir.
Your son's death was far more complicated than a simple case of an unwarranted detainment. The Iraqi police and/or FBI would have been derelict in their duty if they did not take a long, hard look at an American voluntarily in a strange and unsafe part of the world, who had some connection - however bizarre and apparently unintentional - to a 9/11 suspect and, dare I say, particularly where that man's father has a documented record of opposition to what we are doing in Iraq.
The picture that has emerged is one of a young man placing himself in harm's way and remaining so on his own accord against the advice of many around him, including his government, which you now blame for his death. He was not there fighting for his country. He was there seeking business opportunity, which displays a gritty sense of American individualism, but ought not to be equated with the actions of those putting on a uniform.
You have also stated that you "would like to ask George Bush a question... [is it] true that al Qaeda offered to trade my son's life for the life of another person?"
Well, I think I can answer that for you. While any father would understandably hope that such negotiations would be entertained for the life of his son, any outsider is in a far less emotional place to better understand why this can never be the case. Negotiations for the life of Nick Berg would only have guaranteed that more negotiations would have followed. Do you really believe that the men who did what is displayed on that tape are the sort with whom you can - or should - bargain?
"This is an administration that allows something that they arrogantly called the Patriot Act to strip away American to make America not the America that I grew up in" is another of your recent pronouncements.
The America that all of us grew up in no longer exists. But that is not attributable to the Patriot Act, nor any other effort to combat the lawlessness that changed the world on 9/11. You are blaming D-Day for the attack on Pearl Harbor. If you wish blame someone or some group for the disappearance of your America, may I suggest you start with al Qaeda?
Nick Berg didn't die because librarians are at risk under the Patriot Act. He didn't die because he was sent to war by the president and secretary of defense. He didn't die because of the absence of negotiations. He died because some sick SOB with an insatiable hatred for all that is good and decent in this world took his life. The sooner all Americans unite against our common enemy, the sooner we will return to the America in which we were all reared.
It's ludicrous that anyone would even have to argue that Bush did not iill Nick Berg.
This article hits the nail right on the head and should be read and passed on by everyone who reads it.
Great posting.
One suspects that as Mr. Smerconish wrote this, he might have smacked Michael Berg across the chops, had he been within arm's reach. And I'm not sure I'd disagree -- sometimes a good smack is what's needed to bring a fellow back to his senses.
Also we might add, Bush did not force Kerry's daughter to expose herself in public.
bttt
Exactly. Like the protests last year that emboldened Saddam again the UN, "Biggest protest in Europe against US" Yeah, I`m sure those headlines did nothing to his moral.
Very, very well said.
Thanks for posting this -- this needs wide dissemination!
Excellent!
Finally, finally a paper allowing clear uncensored reporting.
Very hard to find in a media obsessed with anti Bushism.
This article needs both of your pinging attention IMHO.
But people like Mr. Berg have an ANSWER for everything.
So, go ahead and ask - you just won't get a straight and logical ANSWER.
Spot On!
George Bush shows FAR more respect for Nick Berg than Nick's father, Michael, does .....
Berg's sister is married to an Iraqi, he was carring the Koran, and some anti-Semitic book, and he sported a Moslem beard. He also refused to leave when the FBI offered him a ride out of Iraq. Berg was either a Moslem, or a CIA. If he was a Moslem, then he is going to heaven with 72 virgins, so we should not worry about him. If he was a CIA agent, that another indication of why we are losing this war. To employ Jewish blond guy as a spy in a country that hat America, specially Jewish American is a stupid mistake. There are thousands of olive skin Christian Arabs all over the US, and Europe. They speak the language, they know the culture, and perhaps have friends and families still living in Iraq. George Tenet will have to pay for such stupidity. No blond Jews are too dangerous, and Moslems are not to be trusted to spy for the US. Olive skin Arabs; Jews or Christians are the best candidates for CIA agents.
Somebody had to say it, I'm glad Michael Smerconish did, because he did it so well.
However, it is well stated - diplomatic but direct - and needed to be said.
This journalist seems to get it.
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