Posted on 04/30/2006 10:19:15 AM PDT by jmc1969
Michael Berg has come to terms with his son's murderer. But to most Americans that man is still enemy No.1, writes Martin Daly in New York.
In the darkness, when the pain becomes too great, Michael Berg pulls out a chair for the man who decapitated his son and talks to him about compassion and forgiveness.
Michael Berg has cried publicly many times for his dead son but he has forgiven Zarqawi, considered by the Americans to be the premier threat to peace in Iraq, but who remains free despite a $US25 million ($33 million) bounty on his head, and the huge numbers of personnel and technological resources being used to track him down.
In offering forgiveness to a man who this week told the world he planned to continue killing, Berg has had to go down dark, complex paths and has had to come to terms with an horrendous loss that has become public property.
(Excerpt) Read more at smh.com.au ...
The forgiveness has to come from the son, does it not?
Never trust a potential politician who so lightly gives away what is not his to give.
One must forgive or go mad from hate.
Idiot. Would your dead son would forgive him? I sure as hell, wouldn't.
This dolt and Sheehan would make a perfect couple.
He blames Bush. So I suppose that makes it easier to forgive Zarqawi. What a fool.
It's easy for him to make his peace with savage murdering terrorists far away who sawed off his son's head - it's only Republicans in the USA that he hates. Terrorists who murder countless thousands of helpless innocents are OK - it's only evil Republicans who want to stand up and fight back that are bad, bad, bad....
The man is a certified crackpot.
Did he ask for forgiveness?
His son died to provide amusement for third world trash.
Correct - the choice is obvious, but some people choose to go made from hate.
This is the guy whose wife wouldn't allow the news media in her house. At least she's sane.
Did Zarqawi ask for his forgiveness? If not, it cannot legitimately be given. Otherwise, he is saying that Zarqawi was right to behead his son. Does he realize that?
Just what the USofA needs, another Kontempible Kook in Kongress.
"In the darkness, when the pain becomes too great, Michael Berg pulls out a chair for the man who decapitated his son and talks to him about compassion and forgiveness."
Man thanks Michael in an emotional moment, then proceeds to decapitate him too.
I'm not so easily duped by this man's "compassion". He's no better than Cindy Sheehan.
A liberal hero, for sure.
More evidence that the Left has gone completely insane.
Interesting. A man forgives the man who killed his son. That's not an easy thing to do, I'd imagine. I've seen it happen a few times in horrible murder cases.
Yet, it's what Christians are called upon to do. It's a rare person who can manage it.
I will say nothing bad about a man who can bring himself to follow his beliefs that far.
I'm a parent, and I think not.
There is a middle ground between forgiveness and hatred. That is the pursuit of justice.
You have to get on with your life, yes. You may give up the desire for revenge. But that does not mean that you offer your forgiveness to the murderer. Especially if he has not asked for it. If he does, well, Christ commanded us to forgive, so you'd have to make the effort, I guess.
But suppose the murderer intends to kill other men's sons? Only a complete moral leper would consider forgiving him. And a moral leper is what Mr. Berg is.
I AM a parent, and I can assure you that I would without hesitation prefer the latter.
Too bad he could not exchange himself for his son's unfotunate fate..
Had someone done this to my son I would not have ever been able to recover my sanity. When my kids get sick with the flu I freak out like a little old fretful granny.
The cult of Islam itself is monstrous, of course, and breeds the Attas and Bin Ladens and Zarqawis. Still, I lived abroad, and know many muslims who I count as friends, Sunni, Shite and Druze, and they are not massively screwed up, nor savages. Nor do they want to kill me or trample on who we are.
I feel deeply sad for this man; more, I feel compelled to excuse him his lunacy, and understand entirely his hope that muslims might see reason. There is no such thing as false hope (from Milton to presnt day individuals throw this term around -one may either hope, or have no hope). He is hopeful, and I would not begrudge him that, especially given the horror he's faced.
I have hope. Or perhaps more accurately, I have not lost hope: that we will win, that we will achieve peace, that the middle east will find a non-violent, non hateful way forward.
Sorry for the tender moment.
"Hell! It wasn't MY head!"
Nor will I.
I agree with him on this point.
Couldn't get past the first page. Berg is disgusting. Sure, he's gone down some dark paths because he encouraged Nick to go over there and sneak around with the thugs. Do you not remember that? He's only forgiving the murder because he can't live with own involvement. If all is forgiven, then he's off the hook as well. But then again, making this a public matter instead of keeping it within himself will gain him some publicity for his congressional run. He's more dispicable than Cindy.
"Nor will I."
Thanks. On the other hand, that doesn't mean I'd vote for this guy for elected office.
Crazy as a crack house rat
=================================
I'm with ya.
One can forgive but still hold someone accountable.
this surprises anyone??
Immediately after that horrific video Berg's old man was running in front of every camera possible saying his son "died because of the sins of George Bush and Dick Cheney"...
it was never Zarqawi's fault...always the fault of the US President!
Did Zarqawi ask for forgivess, say he was wrong to do it, sorry, or regretted it?
Great reply, Chesley. In today's cloud-cuckoo world, ideas may be declared evil, but the people who hold and generate such ideas must be "understood."
Yet actions (or inactions) inflicted by people are what really cause suffering.
There really is no difference between the sin and the sinner, except that the sinner has the ability to understand and then regret and disavow the sin.
If Berg's father wishes to embrace that which it is evil, it makes him as evil as those who commit such acts.
This will not be said any place but FR since to do so would be to force people to confront the contemptible lies by which they avoid contemplating the consequences of their actions.
McVey
If America is evil then the enemy of America must be good - even if that enemy has beheaded your son. Liberals believe that they do good. What they really do is support causes that lead to the deaths of people by the millions. Recall that famous saying by Lincoln Steffens who visited Russia in 1919 and when he returned in 1921 commented, "I have seen the future and it works." Yes indeed - it worked to kill 30,000,000 people. Michael Berg is just one of the more recent in a long series of ignorant do-gooders.
I can understand not wanting to live with a raging hatred eating up one's insides, but I hope that he understands his offer of forgiveness is contingent upon Zarqawi repenting--which of course requires him recognizing what he did was wrong. I don't see that happening.
That goes without saying.
Many of the politicians I happily support are most likely small-minded, bigoted, mendacious and venal. But they help push an agenda I agree with, so I overlook their personal failings in favor of longer-term goals.
Where I hold him in contempt is his willful obstruction of people who are trying to prevent other such murders and outrages.
Sorry, as a Christian myself, I think he is selectively and misguidedly forgiving a horrid shadow of a man who continues to slaughter innocents for world conquest and power, a man who before he is justly killed will likely never know he did anything wrong in his bloodlust.
"He is the No.1 symbol of what Americans should fear and because we fear him, we should turn over all our rights and support the war," says Berg, who blames George Bush as much as anyone for the death of his son because he started and perpetuated the war. But he has, he says, forgiven Bush too.
Gee. Thats nice.
"But this man won't forgive President Bush, even though he had nothing to do with the beheading. It is delusional selectivity. "
I have no idea what his attitude is toward President Bush. I don't know if he blames Bush or much of anything else. I am commenting solely on his stated forgiveness of the man who killed his son.
Beyond that, I have no comment.
Precisely. He never blamed Zarqawi in the first place. He's always blamed Bush. Did he offer Bush forgiveness? No. So he's not forgiven anything. This is all for show. He's a hypocrite, a liar and a fool.
WWJD
Personal forgiveness is one thing, and God bless Michael Berg if he's been able to find such grace and compassion in the depths of his soul. But he cannot speak for all Americans and certainly not for the US govt.. To claim that right he endangers this country and every single US citizen.
Quite frankly, I don't care.
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