Put yourself in the shoes of Nicholas Berg's family if you can. There he was, looking understandably terrified as his captors read their statement to the world, painting themselves as reasonable political actors. In the next moment, his throat was slit and his head was separated from his body.
Can there be anything more horrible than watching your loved one beheaded by members of the same group responsible for 9.11? And to listen to them blame their calculated act of senseless, brutal violence on the US government?
An al Qaeda-linked Web site posted video Tuesday of a man who identified himself as an American and then was beheaded.
His captors said the United States refused to exchange him for prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison.
The captors also issued a direct statement to President Bush: "The worst is coming and, God willing, the tough days are still to come. You and your soldiers will regret the day that you touched the ground of Iraq."
In the video, a man identifies himself as Nicholas Berg, 26, of Pennsylvania and is shown sitting in an orange jumpsuit in front of five armed, hooded men.
The one standing directly behind the American reads a statement identifying himself, and then Berg is pushed to the floor.
Berg is heard screaming as his throat is cut. One of the captors then holds up his severed head.
How anyone with even the smallest degree of humanity can reasonably call this a political statement is beyond comprehension. This was a cold-blooded murder, plain and simple. To hear these terrorists compare the murder of an innocent man to the horrors of Abu Ghraib was truly sickening.
There is nothing that can justify the actions of American soldiers at Abu Ghraib. The torture and abuse of Iraqi civilians goes against everything we stand for. That is what separates us from the troglodytes in this video. We at least recognize the inhumanity of the acts committed by American soldiers in Abu Ghraib, and we have pledged to ensure that it does not happen again. For these al-Qaeda thugs, this video was just another day at the office. Killing an innocent man was simply their way of making a statement. The fact that Nicholas Berg was simply a civilian entrepreneur helping to rebuild Iraq's communications system matters not a whit.
The Islamofascism practiced by these inhuman trolls has no relation to the true values of Islam. These are murderers- period, end of story. If there is any justice in this world there will be a special place in Hell for them and those like them. My heart goes out to the family of Nicholas Berg. They- and he- deserved better.
For those of you who feel the need to see for yourself what true Islamofascism is about, you can see the video of Berg's murder here (the video's availability was questionable when last I checked). I think I'll pass.
