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.
If I said what I think of this POS I'd be banned from FR
sympathy for this poor soul, however, the media is exploiting a horrifying event...i will also wager, absent the event, and given the opportunity of a public forum, the elder berg would be excoriating bush and the war...
and a headless one at that, sad to say. What father would do this?
Berg SR is an F'n idiot, I wonder if he is F'n French as well.
Berg or Ber'ge
He is an angry stupid man. He needs to pick a side and wear the uniform of that side and take the greif that, that stand will dish out, as it is he seems to be able to motor his mouth without bearing the appropriate load.
(ie Alligator Mouth, Hummingbird Ass) JMHO
TT
What a shame the headless one is not the elder.
He's at it again.
No doubt. This guy could have e-mailed his resume to any of a few dozen construction companies and would have been picked right up for a job. Instead he chose to go wander around a war zone without knowing what the hell he was doing. Berg had rocks in his head the size of Gibraltar.
He has succeeded into turning my sympathy into loathing.
I think this man (?)has a guilty conscience for getting his son involved in whatever they WERE involved in. And I would love to know exactly what that was.
He is lashing out at everybody except the terrorists who did the act, and he makes no sense at all. It would be good to be able to blame it all on his grief, but that won't work, as he seems to have been this way for a long time. I think he was responsible for his son being there, and now, either he can't stand the guilt, or he's just taking advantage of the publicity, and really doesn't care much at all, except for whatever he can gain for his "cause."
People like this father and liberals in general suffer from stunted growth and lack maturity and wisdom to understand what it takes to defend freedom. They're like children.
No sympathy for this disgusting little slime.
He's a perfect picture of the left's anti-patriotism,
immaturity, and cowardice. Make him a poster boy. He asked for it.
He is a traitor.
I was very touched by and so respectful of the neighbors and family members who stood guard and so vigilante around the home the of grieving family members of Paul Johnson.
Mr. Berg Sr is not only that unloved; his own allies in the Dem-run presses seem only too happy to not even be looking out for him. Bunch of vultures. No dignity themselves. And all for a dime, and political power. That's friends? NOT!
(1) I am sorry he lost his son. But the terrorists killed his son, President Bush did not.
(2) His son chose to go to Iraq. No one sent him. The President did not even encourage him.
(3) Why would Reuters think this is news? Hundreds of Americans have died in Iraq. Thousands died on 9/11. Only the Bush Bashers are quoted in the media.
Close enough, anyway. He makes me puke.
sorry. mr. berg, your 15 minutes have expired...
Yes, but look on the bright side. This one-note-johnny is the only one the media can find. He's the media's living, breathing, Abu Ghraib prison photo.
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.
His father has NEVER towed the line,
unless it's the Marxist line you reference.
Ask this man why he chose to consort with the likes of Michael Moore?
Michael Berg and his son Nick apparently had a prior relationship with Michael Moore before Nick went to Iraq.
Why would Michael Moore interview a struggling young apparent contractor when there were millions of Americans that he could have interviewed.
Michael is up to his eyebrows in relationships with those who killed his son and are now trying to blame the president.
Michael, you are a lunatic lefty and a POS as a father before and after your son's beheading by those Islamofascist Terrorists whom, you and Michael Moore support.
I'm sure Mr Berg's grief is overwhelming but exploiting his son's death is a shameful way to memorialize his life. President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld did not send Nick Berg or Kim Sun-il to Iraq. Both were civilians who traveled independantly to a dangerous war zone, both were well aware of the risks as were their families. They were not killed by soldiers in combat, they were slaugthered by islamic barbarians.
Islamic terrorists are without conscience or respect for any life. They would just as soon butcher an innocent muslim child as an "infidel" if it served their purpose. These perverts intend to take over the world and wherever they go there is death, destruction and misery. Nick Berg's brutal murder was a horror that civilized people will never forget. Nor will we forget that in the aftermath, Nick's father refused to let him rest in peace by continuing to pursue a political agenda that his beloved son did not agree with.
Exactly -- and when MICHAEL MOORE and his ilk scream that Iraq's Saddam Hussein NEVER harmed one American, leftists easily "forget" that Hussein attempted to assassinate former President Bush. Not only is President George H.W. Bush an American, he's one damn fine American at that.
Re;your tagline,it's amazing that someone's hairy palms don't get entangled in their keyboard when they post articles.
It is not understandable, except in terms of gross immaturity, brainwashing, and cowardice.
Mr. Berg should be full of rage at the Islamo-fascists, and at least tolerant and respectful of the president who fights them.
I think the father still deserves an exemption from criticism at this juncture. I can't imagine his pain. Can someone provide a link to the Moore connection? I've never heard that before......
Old Man Berg Alert!
There's been HUGE threads chronicling both father and son's activities.Nick Berg met with Michael Moore before he went to Iraq.This is NOT a rumor.The father is a proud,active member of A.N.S.W.E.R. and has used the beheading of his son,as a stick,to beat President Bush and revile this country.
If his son had been serving in the military,been with the media,or a civilian contractor,then maybe,he'd deserve some sort of consideration...if he were able to keep his foul mouth shut.
soccermom, you need to be prepared to do a lot of reading. Several of us found some very interesting connections to Mr. Berg and Michael Moore. You will really begin to wonder about Berg after you read the thread. Caution, though, it is very long.
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