Philly contractor beheaded by Islamic militants

[Tinks]

I just to turned on Fox news to get a report on this and it sickens me. The report is very gruesome. I truly do NOT think they had to report this poor man's death in such graphic details. Now I'll have nightmares

I can't even begin to tell you how I feel about this. I wish we could wipe people like this off the face of the earth, even if we took out a few innocent, too.

 

[Tuffcookie]

After what I have just heard on the news about Berg's execution, no further action should come to those who mistreated Iraqi prisoners!

TC

 

[kpgclark]

Gee what's worse. Having a naked photo of yourself taken or having your head chopped off? Hmmmmm tough choice.

 

[Tuffcookie]

But we must be humane!!!!

TC

 

[Shutterbug]

I hope there are congressional hearings on this,
people made to testify,
make examples of persons

Oh wait....we only do that when the ENEMY is mistreated

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by Tuffcookie
After what I have just heard on the news about Berg's execution, no further action should come to those who mistreated Iraqi prisoners!

TC

----------------------------------

That's about the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a long time..

So in other words, WE should sink to the same level as the scourge of the earth? If that's the case, then the American "soldiers" who abused and humiliated those Iraqi prisoners shouldn't be imprisoned for their actions but instead placed in the same disgusting positions as the Iraqi prisoners - abused in the same manner - have hundreds of photos taken - and then have them shown worldwide - right?

Yep - that would certainly be something for this country to be "proud" of............

 

[MeanLaureen]

I'm going to get flamed here I'm sure but here goes...

Of course I am sickened by what happened. There is absolutely NO recourse we can take that is strong enough against these sick twisted savages in Iraq.

I do have to say though that I hope that these soldiers think that their little bit of fun, posing the prisoners in different sexual poses, taking pictures, stripping them naked and female soldiers pointing and laughing at them naked, was worth this man's life. I hope they can sleep tonight. WTH were they thinking? What country are they from anyway? Since when do United States Soldiers conduct themselves in this manner? For God's sake a good part of the world thinks we don't belong in Iraq anyway and we go and have soldiers behave like this??? Anyone with half a brain knows that these savages in Iraq will take ANY reason to retaliate against us - why give them fuel???

Yeah, the media is playing it to death but as some have mentioned it had already started circulating world wide.

 

[curlyjbs]

Originally posted by C.Ann
----------------------------------

That's about the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a long time..

So in other words, WE should sink to the same level as the scourge of the earth? If that's the case, then the American "soldiers" who abused and humiliated those Iraqi prisoners shouldn't be imprisoned for their actions but instead placed in the same disgusting positions as the Iraqi prisoners - abused in the same manner - have hundreds of photos taken - and then have them shown worldwide - right?

Yep - that would certainly be something for this country to be "proud" of............

That scourge of the earth has committed far worse crimes against the US & other countries as well as their own. In my perfect world naked pictures would be the least of their problems! I AM VERY PROUD OF OUR AMERICAN SOLDIERS, A LITTLE DISAPPOINTED IN THE FEW WHO CROSSED THE LINE.....BUT I'll get over it.

This is just my humble opinion and I am entitled to it. I don't want to debate/fight about it.

My heartfelt prayers go out the Nick Bergs Family and all the other families who have lost a loved one during this horrible time.


curly

 

[Grog]

I'm going to get flamed here I'm sure but here goes...

No flames here.

Although the terrorists didn't need any excuse to execute Berg, they were smart enough to use the excuse a handful of scum, who are unfit to wear the uniform of our Armed Forces, gave them. I wonder how they will sleep tonight

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by MeanLaureen
I'm going to get flamed here I'm sure but here goes...

I do have to say though that I hope that these soldiers think that their little bit of fun, posing the prisoners in different sexual poses, taking pictures, stripping them naked and female soldiers pointing and laughing at them naked, was worth this man's life. I hope they can sleep tonight. WTH were they thinking? What country are they from anyway? Since when do United States Soldiers conduct themselves in this manner? For God's sake a good part of the world thinks we don't belong in Iraq anyway and we go and have soldiers behave like this??? Anyone with half a brain knows that these savages in Iraq will take ANY reason to retaliate against us - why give them fuel???

Yeah, the media is playing it to death but as some have mentioned it had already started circulating world wide.

----------------------------

Guess I'm going to get flamed as well because I totally agree with this part of your post..

 

[Aristocath]

I feel horrible for this young man's family. However, why did he go over there? To make money, regardless of the risk to his person. I am very sorry this happened but he should not have been there, IMO.

I feel like I have taken the bait on this one, but I think the American public needed to see those photos of our soldiers and Iraqi detainees. We need to know what is going on and what was tolerated. Do I blame the President and Rumsfeld for what happened? No, but I hold the Commander in Chief accountable because he is the Commander in Chief, he sets the tone. I think it will take a long time to sort out this mess but our military should have been a role model for all Iraqis about how to police and how to treat prisoners in a democratic society. I would think this would be a priority for anyone in command.

 

[Dan Murphy]

And I do believe he would have been killed, as have other civilian contractors, working to rebuild that hell hole of a country, regardless. He was captured weeks ago, well before the prisoner abuses were made public. Those slime bucket religious fanatics wait for their opportunities to mold the minds of 'the Satanic westerners', using the media well to their advantage. And the media sure does help them in their evil.

 

[shatzjsl]

Originally posted by Dan Murphy
And I do believe he would have been killed, as have other civilian contractors, working to rebuild that hell hole of a country, regardless. He was captured weeks ago, well before the prisoner abuses were made public. Those slime bucket religious fanatics wait for their opportunities to mold the minds of 'the Satanic westerners', using the media well to their advantage. And the media sure does help them in their evil.

Well said, Dan.

 

[two4ruff]

Agreed.

 

[CRB#33]

MeanLaureen. No flames here. I said exactly the same thing.

Dan, wasn't he in the custody of our military and then released? It's been news in this area that he hadn't been heard from since the military released him. He was supposed to come home. I'm not sure of the dates.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Berg attended Cornell and Drexel universities, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oklahoma, where he got involved in rigging electronics equipment while working for the maintenance department, his father said. He helped set up equipment at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 2000.

While at Cornell, he traveled to Ghana to teach villagers how to make bricks out of minimal material.

Friends and family said his going to Iraq fit with Berg's free-spirited ideology. They said he supported the Iraqi war and the Bush administration.

Because Berg was a U.S. citizen, the FBI has jurisdiction to investigate the case as a criminal matter. A senior law enforcement official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the FBI would probably get involved so long as adequate security is provided by the military for investigators to do their work.

Suzanne Berg, the mother of the victim, said her son was in Iraq to help rebuild communication antennas. He had been missing since April 9, she said.

“He had this idea that he could help rebuild the infrastructure,” she said.

Family last heard from Berg in April
Berg, who was in Baghdad from late December to Feb. 1, returned to Iraq in March. He didn’t find any work and planned again to return home on March 30, but his daily communications home stopped on March 24. He later told his parents he was jailed by Iraqi officials at a checkpoint in Mosul.

“He was arrested and held without due process,” his father, Michael Berg, told the Daily Local News of West Chester recently. “By the time he got out, the whole area was inflamed with violence.”

The FBI on March 31 interviewed Berg’s parents. Jerri Williams, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia FBI office, told The Philadelphia Inquirer the agency had been “asked to interview the parents regarding Mr. Berg’s purpose in Iraq.”

On April 5, the Bergs filed suit in federal court in Philadelphia, contending that their son was being held illegally by the U.S. military. The next day Berg was released. He told his parents he hadn’t been mistreated.

The Bergs last heard from their son April 9, when he said he would come home by way of Jordan, Turkey or Kuwait. But by then, hostilities in Iraq had escalated.

 

[Son of the Morning]

This is indeed tragic, but not unexpected.

Those who shed tears and speak out in rage: There are 10,000 more who deserve your sympathy as well. Just a friendly neighborhood reminder... If you mourn the loss of American life but don't react to a similar degree to the loss of innocent foreign life, you are <b>not</b> a humanitarian: You're a nationalist.

So, if crying's your thing, be sure to shed your tears for her, today, as well... buried next to her mother, killed by a US bomb:

Another example of human life that has been lost

 

[Pugdog007]

And for those that still contend that al Qaeda and Iraq are not working together and one is autonomous from the other:

WHAT EXACTLY WILL CONVINCE YOU?

From the CNN article:

An al Qaeda-linked Web site posted video Tuesday of an American man in Iraq speaking briefly before being beheaded by his masked captors.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Originally posted by Son of the Morning
This is indeed tragic, but not unexpected.

Those who shed tears and speak out in rage: There are 10,000 more who deserve your sympathy as well. Just a friendly neighborhood reminder... If you mourn the loss of American life but don't react to a similar degree to the loss of innocent foreign life, you are <b>not</b> a humanitarian: You're a nationalist.

So, if crying's your thing, be sure to shed your tears for her, today, as well... buried next to her mother, killed by a US bomb:

Another example of human life that has been lost

I do think there is a significant difference between slicing the head off of a tied up captive, innocent civilian, and then holding that same head up to a video camera, that taped the whole beheading event and then putting the whole event on the Internet, purely for its vengeful, terrorist impact and innocent civilians killed, in error, in a bombing attack. Yep, both civilians, BIG difference in how and why they were killed and what was done with the aftermath of each. Both mourned by many, certainly by myself and I would think virtually everybody here. Don't speak for me, or them, don't put words in my, nor their mouths.

Get with it, SM.

I react, and I think most have reacted pretty similarly in their revulsion of the purposeful abuse of coalition held prisoners and Berg being beheaded. Both intentional, both wrong, though the prisoners are still alive, albeit humiliated and abused, but still with their heads attached. The little girl, her mom, and 100's, or 1000's, are dead too. Mangled, blown apart, maimed for life, casualties of war. I think I would say the folks here, on this board, this thread, and in the United States, and the world at large, are humanitarian, the reason for their revulsion of all acts like this. I can also speak for myself, and say I am a nationalist, if your definition of one is loving your country you are a national of. For me, that is the United States of America. Not sure where your heart lies, I know where mine lies.

BTW, your clip in your signature will be deleted by the moderators if left as is, it is too wide for their rules.

Dan Murphy

PS: Your self stated occupation in your profile would seem to fit you well, and I do hope the moderators delete your web link to your personal site, its language entirely inappropriate for a nice site like the DIS. Trash. JMO

 

[Pugdog007]

AMEN Dan.

Give me a break SM.