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George Bush never looked into Nick's eyes (His dad rants on)
guardian ^ | Friday May 21, 2004 | Michael Berg

Posted on 05/21/2004 1:57:18 AM PDT by dennisw

George Bush never looked into Nick's eyes

Even more than the murderers who took my son's life, I condemn those who make policies to end lives

Michael Berg Friday May 21, 2004 The Guardian

My son, Nick, was my teacher and my hero. He was the kindest, gentlest man I know; no, the kindest, gentlest human being I have ever known. He quit the Boy Scouts of America because they wanted to teach him to fire a handgun. Nick, too, poured into me the strength I needed, and still need, to tell the world about him. People ask me why I focus on putting the blame for my son's tragic and atrocious end on the Bush administration. They ask: "Don't you blame the five men who killed him?" I have answered that I blame them no more or less than the Bush administration, but I am wrong: I am sure, knowing my son, that somewhere during their association with him these men became aware of what an extraordinary man my son was. I take comfort that when they did the awful thing they did, they weren't quite as in to it as they might have been. I am sure that they came to admire him.

I am sure that the one who wielded the knife felt Nick's breath on his hand and knew that he had a real human being there. I am sure that the others looked into my son's eyes and got at least a glimmer of what the rest of the world sees. And I am sure that these murderers, for just a brief moment, did not like what they were doing.

George Bush never looked into my son's eyes. George Bush doesn't know my son, and he is the worse for it. George Bush, though a father himself, cannot feel my pain, or that of my family, or of the world that grieves for Nick, because he is a policymaker, and he doesn't have to bear the consequences of his acts. George Bush can see neither the heart of Nick nor that of the American people, let alone that of the Iraqi people his policies are killing daily.

Donald Rumsfeld said that he took responsibility for the sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners. How could he take that responsibility when there was no consequence? Nick took the consequences.

Even more than those murderers who took my son's life, I can't stand those who sit and make policies to end lives and break the lives of the still living.

Nick was not in the military, but he had the discipline and dedication of a soldier. Nick Berg was in Iraq to help the people without any expectation of personal gain. He was only one man, but through his death he has become many. The truly unselfish spirit of giving your all to do what you know in your own heart is right even when you know it may be dangerous; this spirit has spread among the people who knew Nick, and that group has spread and is spreading all over the world.

So what were we to do when we in America were attacked on September 11, that infamous day? I say we should have done then what we never did before: stop speaking to the people we labelled our enemies and start listening to them. Stop giving preconditions to our peaceful coexistence on this small planet, and start honouring and respecting every human's need to live free and autonomously, to truly respect the sovereignty of every state. To stop making up rules by which others must live and then separate rules for ourselves.

George Bush's ineffective leadership is a weapon of mass destruction, and it has allowed a chain reaction of events that led to the unlawful detention of my son which immersed him in a world of escalated violence. Were it not for Nick's detention, I would have had him in my arms again. That detention held him in Iraq not only until the atrocities that led to the siege of Fallujah, but also the revelation of the atrocities committed in the jails in Iraq, in retaliation for which my son's wonderful life was put to an end.

My son's work still goes on. Where there was one peacemaker before, I now see and have heard from thousands of peacemakers. Nick was a man who acted on his beliefs. We, the people of this world, now need to act on our beliefs. We need to let the evildoers on both sides of the Atlantic know that we are fed up with war. We are fed up with the killing and bombing and maiming of innocent people. We are fed up with the lies. Yes, we are fed up with the suicide bombers, and with the failure of the Israelis and Palestinians to find a way to stop killing each other. We are fed up with negotiations and peace conferences that are entered into on both sides with preset conditions that preclude the outcome of peace. We want world peace now.

Many have offered to pray for Nick and my family. I appreciate their thoughts, but I ask them to include in their prayers a prayer for peace. And I ask them to do more than pray. I ask them to demand peace now.

· Michael Berg is the father of Nick Berg, the US contractor beheaded on video in Iraq this month by a group believed to be linked to al-Qaida. This is an extract from his message of support for the Stop The War Coalition's demonstration, End the Torture - Bring the Troops Home Now, which will be held at 11am tomorrow at the Embankment in London


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: blitheringidiot; nickberg; restinpeace
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1 posted on 05/21/2004 1:57:19 AM PDT by dennisw
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To: dennisw

I want to remind all that *dad* is a retired teacher. One of our underpaid, saintly educators.


2 posted on 05/21/2004 1:59:39 AM PDT by dennisw (Koran teaches: "Cut off their heads, and cut off the tips of their fingers." (Sura 8:12))
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To: dennisw
I really do not have words for how much this revolting, politically-driven vermin disgusts me:

-The Berg Beheading- some links--

3 posted on 05/21/2004 1:59:54 AM PDT by backhoe (--30--)
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To: dennisw

"He quit the Boy Scouts of America because they wanted to teach him to fire a handgun."

Maybe he would not have been captured if he had a handgun in his posession.

My heart goes out to his family. But, his dad is a treasonous nancy boy.


4 posted on 05/21/2004 2:02:36 AM PDT by Jet Jaguar (Who would the terrorists vote for?)
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To: dennisw
"He quit the Boy Scouts of America because they wanted to teach him to fire a handgun."

Had he learned, perhaps he'd still be here today.

5 posted on 05/21/2004 2:05:29 AM PDT by DB (©)
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To: dennisw; sauropod

Okay. I have officially reached the end of the slack I've been giving Michael Berg.

He can kiss my ass and go to hell, in that order.


6 posted on 05/21/2004 2:09:57 AM PDT by hellinahandcart
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To: hellinahandcart

"Even more than the murderers who took my son's life, I condemn those who make policies to end lives..."

This man is a publicity whore, using his son's carcass as a prop. He blames Bush more than the terrorists? This illogic completely discredits him.


7 posted on 05/21/2004 2:14:24 AM PDT by Arthur Wildfire! March (God bless Rush, using liberal amounts of shampoo, just to make it fair.)
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To: DB

"Nick, too, poured into me the strength I needed, and still need, to tell the world about him...."

Ralph practicing a speech in the Honeymooners, "I'm hum...ble... "


8 posted on 05/21/2004 2:16:09 AM PDT by Arthur Wildfire! March (God bless Rush, using liberal amounts of shampoo, just to make it fair.)
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To: dennisw
The sympathy I had for this man's loss has now evaporated.


9 posted on 05/21/2004 2:16:20 AM PDT by rdb3 ($710.96... The price of freedom.)
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To: dennisw
I am sure, knowing my son, that somewhere during their association with him these men became aware of what an extraordinary man my son was. I take comfort that when they did the awful thing they did, they weren't quite as in to it as they might have been.

I heard the audio. I don't think it's possible for them to have been any more "into it" than they were.

I am sure that they came to admire him. I am sure that the one who wielded the knife felt Nick's breath on his hand and knew that he had a real human being there. I am sure that the others looked into my son's eyes and got at least a glimmer of what the rest of the world sees. And I am sure that these murderers, for just a brief moment, did not like what they were doing.

I am sure that when they looked into his eyes, they saw an American Jew, which accounts for their near-orgasmic chanting as they held him down and sawed his head off.

No wonder this demented man is associated with ANSWER. His need to justify the terrorists and bring down the United States comes screaming through in every sentence.

You'd think he was the martyr in this situation.

10 posted on 05/21/2004 2:21:34 AM PDT by hellinahandcart
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To: rdb3

bump

Right after his son's death, I chalked up his anguish and outrage to that, but now, he's showing what another partisian hack he really is.


11 posted on 05/21/2004 2:22:14 AM PDT by Gillmeister
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To: alaska-sgt

But don't you see? Guns kill people, not people. And there weren't any terrorists before Bush went into Iraq and began torturing Iraqis.

"Michael Berg is the father of Nick Berg, the US contractor beheaded on video in Iraq this month by a group believed to be linked to al-Qaida."

Linked with al-qaida? Why is al-qaida mad that we are distracted by Iraq? Can't the left get things straight? It was the glow sticks that led to the Twin Towers, which were Bush's fault, and it's all about oil in ANWR and on the moon. It's the most incredible plot, even involving Halliburton getting exclusive drilling rights in Mars. These tortures are part of some elaborate Skull-and-Bones ritual to bring the Antichrist back to Babylon. Elvis Presley will rise from his grave and take over the UN.


12 posted on 05/21/2004 2:23:22 AM PDT by Arthur Wildfire! March (God bless Rush, using liberal amounts of shampoo, just to make it fair.)
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To: backhoe
I really do not have words for how much this revolting, politically-driven vermin disgusts me

I'll loan you some. I have plenty to spare!

13 posted on 05/21/2004 2:25:01 AM PDT by hellinahandcart
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To: dennisw
"I am sure that the one who wielded the knife felt Nick's breath on his hand and knew that he had a real human being there."

And that's just why they did it. Just like running planes into buildings or blowing up resturants in Israel. These people don't care. He's sadly mistaken if he thinks these people have any compassion.

14 posted on 05/21/2004 2:25:07 AM PDT by HarleyD (For strong is he who carries out God's word. (Joel 2:11))
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To: hellinahandcart
He can kiss my ass....

Don't want to be that close to this vermin.

15 posted on 05/21/2004 2:32:22 AM PDT by sistergoldenhair
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To: Arthur Wildfire! March

First off, we need to register all knives. Then we need to understand why they hate us. < sarcasm off/>

16 posted on 05/21/2004 2:37:43 AM PDT by Jet Jaguar (Who would the terrorists vote for?)
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To: dennisw

This guy's grandstanding is beginning to smell of communist apparatchik. Maybe simply an ANSWER apparatchik.

Oh. They're the same.


17 posted on 05/21/2004 2:42:23 AM PDT by steveyp
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To: dennisw

Although nobody should have to undergo what Nick Berg did, at the end of the day he was a profiteer, an opportunist present in Irag for his own enrichment. He died as a result of his own stupidity - an unarmed Jew in Iraq who ignored US warnings to leave - obviously inherited from his father.


18 posted on 05/21/2004 2:47:54 AM PDT by KevinB
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This guy just needs to SHUT-UP!


19 posted on 05/21/2004 2:52:25 AM PDT by Rocket1968 (Democrats will crash and burn in 2004.)
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To: dennisw
Surely even Guardian readers will choke on the logic here. Nick wasn't in the military, wasn't attached to a contractor, didn't actually have work, voluntarily up and travelled to the most dangerous spot on the planet alone, with a jewish last name, a prayer shawl and an Israeli stamp in his American passport.

I watched the tape. It's appalling. But you'd be nearer the mark blaming Darwin than Bush.

20 posted on 05/21/2004 2:52:57 AM PDT by prion
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