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Berg's Dad: Why I Blame Bush (Major barf - Michael Berg goes off the deep end!)
Houston Chronicle ^ | 5/26 | Michael Berg

Posted on 05/27/2004 12:48:40 AM PDT by GOPcapitalist

When I eulogized my son, Nick, I said that he was my teacher and my hero. He was the kindest, gentlest man I know — no, the kindest, gentlest human being I know or have ever known. Did you know that 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 in the fact that when they did the awful thing they did, they weren't quite as into 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 upon 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 just 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.

But 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 nor that of my family or the world who grieve for Nick, because he is a policy-maker, and he doesn't have to bear the consequences of his acts. George Bush can see neither the heart of Nicholas nor the American people — let alone the people his policies are killing daily.

Donald Rumsfeld said he took the responsibility for the sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners. How could he take that responsibility when there was no consequence? Nick took the consequences of the policies both stated and given with a wink and a nod by the Bush administration. And, 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 was a soldier. He had the discipline and dedication of a soldier. But Nick Berg was a soldier of peace in Iraq (who went) to help the people without any expectation of personal gain. The trouble was he was only one man. But through his death he has become many.

So what were we to do when we in America were attacked on Sept. 11, that infamous day? I say we should have done then what we never did before: Stop speaking to the people we labeled our enemies and start listening to them. Stop giving preconditions to our peaceful coexistence on this small planet, and start honoring and respecting every human's need to live free and autonomously, to truly respect the sovereignty of every state whether it be Israel, or Palestine, or Iraq. 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. That detention immersed my son in a world of escalated violence (and) were it not for his 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 to 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 life was put to an end, but his work still goes on. Where there was one peacemaker before, I now see and have heard from thousands of peacemakers. And for every one of them there are thousands more who can't find the words but feel the same way. 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 from our government about Nick's detention and we are fed up with the lies from our government about the reasons for this war. 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. Many people 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. I ask them to do more than pray. I ask them to demand it from the politicians and leaders in the White House and in the statehouses across the world and in the mountain camps where they may hide. And let them know that if you don't get it, they aren't going to work for you as their leaders any more.


TOPICS: Editorial
KEYWORDS: 2004election; 2004electionbias; agitprop; alqaeda; alqaida; answer; antiamericanism; antiamericanwar; antibush; anticonservative; antirepublican; antiwar; antiwarmovement; berg; bushhater; canswer; chroniclebias; election2004; filledwithhate; hatesthepresident; houstonchronicle; houstonchroniclebias; houstoncomical; iraq; iraqiterrrorism; justdoesntgetit; lovesterrorists; mediabiasm; michaelberg; nickberg; nickbergvideo; pennsylvania; presidentbush; projection; propaganda; saddamite; terrorism; terrorists; uglyontheinside; zenemywithin
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This column appeared in today's Houston Chronicle. I thought for certain it would be on FR but I did several searches for the title and variations of it and to my surprise I found nothing. My apologies if its already posted somewhere else, but I thought this one needed to be seen.

This Michael Berg guy has truly lost it as this is one of the most offensive, hate filled, condescending leftist rants I have ever seen. This guy makes the Wellstone funeral look tame!

1 posted on 05/27/2004 12:48:43 AM PDT by GOPcapitalist
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To: GOPcapitalist
I wonder if it ever occurred to this whazoo-aperture that his son may have gone to Iraq to get away from being subjected to sh*t like this at home...
2 posted on 05/27/2004 12:52:53 AM PDT by Keith in Iowa (Life's a beach, and liberals are the sand in your swimsuit that can't be washed away.)
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To: Keith in Iowa

I know. The hate and vitriol this guy spews makes some of the mohammedans look tame. I am truly angry that Nick Berg was so brutally executed and think it's terrible that it happened, but his father is one sorry piece of human refuse. I no longer have even the slightest sympathy for the dad as he is one of the nastiest, crudest, hate filled left wing kooks to emerge in decades.


3 posted on 05/27/2004 12:57:50 AM PDT by GOPcapitalist
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To: GOPcapitalist; MeekOneGOP; PhilDragoo; potlatch; ntnychik; Happy2BMe; onyx; Smartass


Everyone is finding Mike Berg is a nutcase.

Berg is a lifelong Commie screwball.

Berg's A.N.S.W.E.R. membership and financial support come from his son Nick's bloody neck.

That BS about Nick being pro Iraq War come from his daddy's mouth.

Afraid to fire a pistol so he quit the Boy Scouts?

That does not line up with pro Iraq War or pro Bush.

Mike is a sick deluded loser and his son's death is the result of the way his idiot parents raised him.

MoveOn Mike!

You are over!





4 posted on 05/27/2004 1:00:57 AM PDT by devolve (````````````````` [..........................Hello from Sunny South Florida.........................)
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To: GOPcapitalist
I no longer have even the slightest sympathy for the dad as he is one of the nastiest, crudest, hate filled left wing kooks to emerge in decades.

He seems to have gotten inspiration from the death of Rachel Corrie.

5 posted on 05/27/2004 1:06:36 AM PDT by weegee (NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
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To: GOPcapitalist

I don't have an ounce of sympathy for Michael Berg. He has demonstrated that his politics outweigh his feelings for his own son. This guy is a Grade A Leftist Nutbag.


6 posted on 05/27/2004 1:08:06 AM PDT by kenth
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To: GOPcapitalist

It also appeared in the Boston Globe under a different headline. That thread is here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1142403/posts

This is the first time the full text of Michael Berg's rant was posted here, as far as I can tell. There is nothing else under the Keyword "Berg."

Everything I've seen indicates that Nick Berg died in Iraq doing what he wanted to do in support of rebuilding Iraq after a war he thought was just. I understand that Michael Berg is grieving, but he is doing more dishonor to his son's legacy by engaging in this rant and continuing to blame President Bush instead of just his killers. And by keeping up these attacks, he's fueling the conspiracy theorists who think Nick Berg was working with the terrorists.


7 posted on 05/27/2004 1:09:05 AM PDT by conservative in nyc
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To: GOPcapitalist
Donald Rumsfeld said he took the responsibility for the sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners. How could he take that responsibility when there was no consequence? Nick took the consequences of the policies...

His son was kidnapped prior to the release of the Iraqi POW photos. I still have not heard if the terrorists were reacting to the fake rape photos (from a US porn site), the Daily Mirror's fake posed photos, or the genuine CBS photos.

Germans just got caught taking photos of their abuse of prisoners in Kosovo. Will we hear equal global outrage? What about the rape that goes on in American prisons every week?

To put things in perspective, let me share this thread from a newpaper in Lebanon:

To Saddam's Prisoners, US Abuse Seems 'a Joke': Some feel past crimes have been forgotten

Speaking about one incident of interrogation/torture, a prisoner at Abu Ghraib gives this chilling, sickening description:

"This is when they brought out his wife, who was five months pregnant. One of the guards said that if he refused to talk he would get 12 guards to rape his wife until she lost the baby. Amer said nothing. So they did. We were forced to watch. Whenever one of us cast down his eyes, they would beat us."

"Amer's wife didn't lose the baby. So the guard took a knife, cut her belly open and took the baby out with his hands. The woman and child died minutes later. Then the guard used the same knife to cut Amer's throat." There is a moment of silence. Then Idrissi says:"What we have seen about the recent abuse at Abu Ghraib is a joke to us."

I'll also share this one that got little attention yesterday:

Iraqi amputees meet with Bush

How much contact has Michael Berg had with the families of victims who were imprisoned or executed under Saddam Hussein? None? How can he feel their pain?

8 posted on 05/27/2004 1:15:38 AM PDT by weegee (NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
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To: GOPcapitalist
The hate and vitriol this guy spews makes some of the mohammedans look tame.

Maybe he's waiting for some Islamonazi front organization to give him some of that money that goes to the families of homicide bombers. His son was a kidnap victim but his dad is playing the part of a bomber's grieving parent.

9 posted on 05/27/2004 1:18:48 AM PDT by weegee (NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
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To: All
-The Berg Beheading- some links--
10 posted on 05/27/2004 1:19:08 AM PDT by backhoe (The 1990's? The Decade of Fraud(s)... the 00's? The Decade of Lunatics...)
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To: GOPcapitalist
"So what were we to do when we in America were attacked on Sept. 11 Dec. 7, that infamous day? I say we should have done then what we never did before: Stop speaking to the people we labeled our enemies and start listening to them."

This man thought it was good policy too:

Visualize World Appeasement.

11 posted on 05/27/2004 1:23:04 AM PDT by weegee (NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
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To: GOPcapitalist
FACT CHECK:

"That detention held him in Iraq not only until the atrocities that led to the siege of Fallujah, but to 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."

Can someone confirm the date of his release from custody?

The date that the was captured by terrorists?

The date that the news of the photos was released?

If you can provide sources, please contact this website:

ChronicallyBiased.com

12 posted on 05/27/2004 1:27:14 AM PDT by weegee (NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
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To: GOPcapitalist
Like the rest of us wouldn't enjoy a peaceful world? Evil exists and must be dealt with.

These people need to go spend some firsthand, quality, time with those they think only need to be listened to.

13 posted on 05/27/2004 1:29:46 AM PDT by MarMema (“The church is a very narrow stream of clean water.” Aleksandr Shargunov)
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To: GOPcapitalist
Why blame President Bush? Heck, I don't know... because you don't want to admit that you raised an imprudent dumba$$?
14 posted on 05/27/2004 1:31:10 AM PDT by broadsword (Liberalism is the societal AIDS virus that helps Islam to wage war against human civilization.)
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To: MarMema
These people need to go spend some firsthand, quality, time with those they think only need to be listened to.

Uhhh... that's exactly what Nick did, but I get your point.

Too bad the father is too much of a brainless, spineless, liberal idiot to get it.
15 posted on 05/27/2004 1:33:11 AM PDT by broadsword (Liberalism is the societal AIDS virus that helps Islam to wage war against human civilization.)
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To: GOPcapitalist
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.

AntiSemitism fuels that conflict. It won't be "over" until Israel is out of the hands of the Jews. Christians, Jews, Buddists, Hindus, and people of other faiths are not free to practice their faiths in a number of countries over there. Even in Asian regions, Christian missionaries are kidnapped and executed. It is not President Bush's policies that fuel such actions (they even preceded his presidency). It is a perverted ideology that preaches superiority (much as Shinto Japanese and Aryan Germans professed leading up to WWII). They commit brutal attrocities. Some governments sponsor terrorism. There can be no peace without regime change.

I do not claim that every Islamofascist must be killed to accomplish peace. Germans and Japanese promised to fight to the last man; it did not take that.

Cowering in a corner and hoping everyone will just "make nice" is a fairy tale.

It WILL NOT HAPPEN.

All it does is let these people who pretend they are still living in the 1400th century pound on their chests and say "we have defeated the Great Satan". Bill Clinton offered no response to far too many terrorist attacks, it only made them strike bigger and bolder. On 9-11-2001, the new Commander In Chief took notice.

16 posted on 05/27/2004 1:37:15 AM PDT by weegee (NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
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To: broadsword
Uhhh... that's exactly what Nick did

I wonder if his father's beliefs about some innate goodness in all people or the non-existence of real evil in this world isn't what actually contributed most to the horrid death Nick suffered.

17 posted on 05/27/2004 1:45:56 AM PDT by MarMema (“The church is a very narrow stream of clean water.” Aleksandr Shargunov)
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To: weegee
Hmmmm... Weegee gets it.

Human civilization had better wake up and get as serious about its survival as the seventh-century savages of Islam are about our annihilation!
18 posted on 05/27/2004 1:46:02 AM PDT by broadsword (Liberalism is the societal AIDS virus that helps Islam to wage war against human civilization.)
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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 in the fact that when they did the awful thing they did, they weren't quite as into it as they might have been.

These people kill babies without thought and use their own children and women as human shields, you jackass. What makes you think your son, a Jew, changed the black hearts of these sick bastards?

19 posted on 05/27/2004 1:47:14 AM PDT by twgiles
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To: MarMema

Tragic for the son, either way, but the dad is a flaming a$$hole who STILL does not get it.


20 posted on 05/27/2004 1:47:19 AM PDT by broadsword (Liberalism is the societal AIDS virus that helps Islam to wage war against human civilization.)
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