Upon first hearing of the news of Nick Berg, besides being angry and nauseated... I felt a loss... I had a feeling of grief.

How can such evil exist? I just can't understand it....it is very upsetting and horrifying to learn how he died and just being a mere American.

As Joe Gandelman pointed out... as soon as he was in their hands, he was doomed. I can barely deal with this I feel so sad and sorrowful... I can't even imagine how his family is doing... Bless Them.

My feeling upon reflection of the news:

These are unlawful combatants and have no rights under any law.

NO QUARTER GIVEN; NONE RECEIVED

Actually, they singled out Nick Berg for public, televised murder not because he was an American, but because he was an American Jew. That's precisely why the Moslems murdered Daniel Pearl, the news correspondent kidnapped in Pakistan last year.

The barbarism of these animals was displayed again in Gaza, when Hamas paraded around the city with parts of the bodies of six Israeli soldiers they blew up with a roadside bomb.

The Israelis, at least, ought to understand that the only way they will have even a modicum of peace and tranquility for their society is to expel all the Arabs across the Jordan river or into Eqypt. So that at least one small desert separates them from what I am coming to see as large pack of howler monkeys pretending to be human.

As for encouraging young Americans of any background to go among these Arabs and risk their lives to help them rebuild their societies? Their time would be better spent cleaning shit from the cages of the nearest big-city zoo. Nick Berg, in essence, died for nothing more meaningful than his own foolishness in going Iraq as an unarmed American civilian.

Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI

According to the news stories, it's not clear that they knew he was a Jew, but I suppose it's possible.

I think everyone should watch that video. Perhaps it might put a different perspective on things for some people. I know it certainly has for me.

J T: I disagree. As I said to a friend (who is trying to find a link to the video) in an e-mail this morning:

George - I don't (want to see the video), anymore than I wanted to see the Daniel Pearl video, which I didn't see. I don't need to see these videos in order to know what terrorists are capable of, how low they will sink, or to be outraged to the point of knowing that terrorism is a problem with which we must deal unequivocably and without quarter. I reached that conclusion well over twenty-five years ago along with a vast amount of other Americans living overseas. Unfortunately, our government will continue to try to play the humanitarian role in an effort to placate people like XXX who think we can solve terrorism by kissing their asses. I am so fucking fed up with the Left in this country I want to vomit. MDF

How can these cowards scream "God is great" as they murder a helpless man? Their so called god is not great. Followers of a great god posses mercy and strength. These creatures have neither. Their only god is themselves.

I watched the Daniel Pearl video years ago and regret that choice to this day. It's gruesome, as I'm sure this video is. The image is burned in my mind and I'll never get it out. I hate the people who did this and hate everything they say they stand for.

Mark, if you still want the link, click on my name (to get to my blog) and look for the article "The Real Obscenity."

Or drop by Wizbang, which is where I got my link from in the first place.

Casey - Thanks - I sent it to my friend George. Hey, I don't need to watch it, but maybe some people need to be woken up to the reality of the situation.

Even though those evil bastards might think they have done justice in the name of their beliefs, they can't proudly glorify it....

They are cowards! If they are proud of what they have done then why are they hiding behind all that cloth? Why not show their cowardly faces and really take credit for the demonic evil act they have done?

Once our troops find out who the F! they are, their ass is grass!!

(Pardon me for speaking in general terms.) What most of us failed to see and understand are the differences between our culture and the Muslims. Muslims, as most of us know, are not afraid to die. One proof to this is: they use their own body as a "human bomb" to prove or avenge what they believe in. What we don’t understand is the utmost humiliation those infamous pictures had brought to the Muslim men. One had Army Pfc. Lynndie England laughing at their privates and another had her pulling a naked Iraqi by the leash around his neck. Another picture had another American woman smiling and giving the “thumbs up” behind naked Iraqi men stacked in a human pyramid. These actions were very degrading to the Iraqis and to the Muslims, as a whole. In my own opinion, Muslims would prefer dying than be humiliated that way. In contrast, American men would probably prefer taking off their clothes than dying. Nothing wrong with either: it is just the way our culture is. How many Muslims compared to Americans would you see taking off their clothes in films? I am sure Muslim men would rather have their head cut off than have Lynndie England (a woman) ridiculed their manhood. I am sure those soldiers who carried those acts and took those pictures knew that humiliating the Iraqis the way they did was more hurtful to the Iraqis than killing them. As I am sure those Muslims who beheaded Nicolas Berg knew that killing him the way they did would hurt the Americans more than having him walk around naked. Still, there is no excuse for such actions by the Muslims or the Americans.

I would love to see these guys naked with the exception of wearing a pigskin coat and then paraded that way in public. Then have their pictures printed 10' high and posted on billboards.

It saddens me that many blogs have become news puppets. This beheading is not news. I'm sorry. The torture of war prisoners has been happening for centuries, perhaps since the beginning of time.

I am becoming so disillusioned with some of the blogs I frequent. The constant political posturing, the arguing, the calling out. Maybe it's just that I see that when you argue or try to convince about one thing, you are truly giving your opponent the upper hand and the opportunity to win when he didn't have the opportunity in the first place.

I used to love spending time in the blog world--it was filled with so much actual new information. Lately it has become a regurgitation of CNN, FOX News, and BBC rolled into the surface internet with bickering opinions and political slants.

Maybe it's because it is an election year, perhaps. Yet, I don't see that the discussions of a political nature have swayed anyone one way or another. Those that state their opinions continue to do so, loudly.

I commend the Spirit of America campaign, the reporting of the Wiki, educational and scientific discussion, as well as the reports on the actual news that happens as reported by soldiers and those within the countries themselves actually being discussed.

The regurgitation and slant taking on the news as it is dolled out is sickening. Not just the content, but the fact that it is being done.

The powers that be control what is released. The capture of prisoners, the killing of key targets, what is shot, how battles end up, etc. is reported long after it happens for good reason--safety and security. But, there is other news that could be discussed and reported.

Tsk tsk. Dean, you do however get points for not linking, but you still posted the site. Any 8 year old can cut and paste. Dean, you have access to the deep net where 90% of the real news and academic information is located--couldn't you use more of that to educate and inform your readers? You know I adore you and admire your intelligence--I just want to see you posting real work, not this and other political puppet fodder.

I'm just saying.

Katherine, an American civilian, who was in Iraq for purely non-combatant reasons, was tied up in front of a camera while terrorists sawed his head off, while he was still alive, no less. This isn't news? This is political posturing? Get real.

I'm not saying that the act is political posturing, I'm saying the barage of reporting it is. That is all anyone is talking about, and no, it isn't news. That is the way terrorists act, and if you want more examples go see www.chromedomezone.com. Yes, it's tragic and sad, I agree.

I just wish we'd take the high road and do something about it. Shocking, I agree. News, no. Especially in Iraq. They've been doing it for a long time. This is what happens in war, folks. People die--innocent people. Ask the Kuwaiti people, they will quietly tell you about many being thrown from buildings, with and without their body parts. If you go to the Kuwaiti tower/restaurant, you can see pictures displayed that tells the story.

This, and other reasons are what defines terrorism and why we are at war. It is why my son slept in 140 degree heat in a sand pit and in mud for 14 months in Iraq. Get real? You can't get more real than that.

Let's get over our fascination with horror and be proactive by raising our consciousness instead of increasing the energy with reaction.

and not reporting on it is supposed to raise our consciousness?

I am beginning to think Arab civilization, such as it is, is beyond salvaging. Now, I do not believe now is the time for us to push the Reset Button, since we haven't come to that extremity yet. However, I am beginning to view my Muslim co-workers with an increasingly jaundiced eye. All of them, without exception, if pressed, will claim all the evil their co-religionists do are either fabrications of the Mossad and the CIA, or justified under their doctrine of jihad. Only very unwillingly will they denounce this barbarism.

I am beginning to believe we should eradicate this foul faith as the British did to the Thuggees.

Hello dear forum members,
Such a gruesome and horrible act cannot be justified although it can be explained. We have witnessed that hate can only create more hate, that is why it has to stop. I was glad that there was no reply for a certain message that was posted on top, where the person could not spell correctly the main words, this shows us that this forum has intelligent people in it. I am a muslim person and what you are does not make difference to me, everyone has to be treated with respect and dignity that they deserve. I think we should all be separated by a small desert from comments like that and from people that make those posts.

Mount Horeb WI

Just as i was about to close my I.E window i saw this new "hate" post.
So you think we shouldn't press the reset button, however we should eradicate this faith?
Hmmm.... Okey
First of all no faith is foul
Second of all praising the British for Annihilating a whole culture is like praising Hitler for trying to do so.
Third of all if you have nothing good to say keep it to your self, harbor this dirt in your head untill it blossoms into a nice dark little world that you can escape to after a hard day of work, HOWEVER we shouldn't hate.
make more sense now?

ildar, if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

I will posit, historically, there have been foul faiths. The Aztec cult of human sacrifice. Thuggee ritual murder of travelers. Ancient Semitic child-sacrifice. And now this abomination that avows the highest sacrament to be the bomb belt.

If this is not your faith, you better damn well say so, and give concrete examples.

Samuel:

You are out of line. To condemn an entire culture based on the actions of a few is unjust. To follow YOUR argument, the whole of humanity would need to be eradicated. You owe us all an apology.

The "heat" as you so non-eloquently put it is now turned up in your kitchen. If you want to argue, do so logically or at least if you do so with emotion, back it up with something that can be followed other than prejudice.

Prejudice is a precursor to terrorism.

Ildar,

Insofar as I know, I am the only commenter on this website who identifies himself not only by his name, but also by the place where he lives, namely "Mount Horeb WI". So you should not be using that unless you live there. This is sort of a courtesy of blogsites such as this not to take another person's identity or part of it.

Now about the points you made. Nobody is trying to be disrespectful to your muslim religion. But the free people of the United States, along with other non-islamic peoples around the world, are now engaged in a true intercivilizational clash with people making war upon them, punctuated all too frequently with beastly acts, and all in the name of islam. We understand that their variety of islam increasingly is characterized by the wahhabism of the saudi Arabs, and may not necessarily apply to all islamic peoples.

But in such a war, how are the rest of us to know which of you is a verulent enemy and which of you is a potential friend? This young man who was murdered in Iraq a few days ago, Nick Berg, despite that he was jewish, had moslem friends and even moslem relatives. He came to Iraq based on those friendship and family relationships, in order to help build communications infrastructure that would have been of great benefit to the ordinary people of that country.

But Zarqawi and the other al-Qaeda murderers sawed off his head, while the poor man was still living, regardless of his moslem relatives and his moslem friends.

It would be interesting if you could tell us, objectively, how the various free peoples of the world are to protect themselves from this type of islam, if you do not like the ideas that we have discussed here.

As for removing the remaining Arabs from the israeli lands, I think it could be shown that this move would radically improve the lives of some 2-3 million Arabs who now live in gangster-ridden chaos in and around Gaza, Rafiah, Khan Yunis, Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron, Bethlehem and Tulkarem.

There already is a palestinian state, and that is across the Jordan river around Amman, where some 65-70 percent of the population is "palestinian" (i.e., not tribesmen from among the local Bedawi.)

This relocation could be accomplished at far less expense than the annual sums now poured into that area for armaments. If you think this is wrong, show us any other place in the world where people of totally different cultures live together permanently in peace and harmony. We don't even do that here in the United States, as you could tell if you spent any length of time in most of the poorer neighborhoods of any large American city.

Ildar, there was a time, in the early centuries following the establishment of islam, the great centers of arab civilization, Baghdad in Iraq and Cordova in Andalusia, were the greatest cities of the world. Cities wherein philosophies were examined, arts were created, science was advanced. And in these places, jews and christians of all types could live in peace and self-respect with moslems.

But what we plainly see around the world today is an islam -- or perhaps something that only pretends to be islam -- that has brought a nightmarish existence down upon both its believers and those whom the wahhabist leaders wish to conquer and impose their brand of islam.

So the rest of the world is now being to react against islam, simply as a matter of self-defense.

Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI

I just watched the video and my heart was pounding out my chest the whole time waiting for the climax. I kept telling myself not to watch it but I did feeling for some reason that I should. Now I wish that I hadnt. It totally saddened and sickened my soul. You can not in any rational human way compare the humiliation of some prisoners to this. They are not even in the same category. The only good to come of my watching this video is that it underscores even more to my heart mind and soul why we are at war with these people. They started this war not us. They are lower than animals. The only reason we are having problems at this point is because of our humanitarian spirit. Dont you think if we wanted to we could wipe out these thugs? but we dont because we dont want to offend their mosques or appear to be indiscriminate. We did worse in WW2 with two bombs. You have to understand all the anger in these posts. This is something we see in movies such as Kill Bill but this is real and it makes me want to scream for humanity. I dont understand what the hell is wrong with the world. It makes my entire being sick to the core! But in another way this whole thing has also made me feel less sorry for these people and makes me even less sympathetic. I dont feel as if we need to be losing our lives for people who,just like in vietnam, dont appreciate. We liberated their damn country and they do this because some guys were paraded around naked? Get real. They dont deserve democracy. Bush said that liberty is God's gift to mankind. Only if they are deserving is how I feel. I'm not saying all Iraqis are this low but damnit if I'm not enraged at the entire world right now. Damn them for that!!!!!

Hello Arnold
Lets put thing in perspective here
"people making war upon them,"
When you invade a country for whatever reason,
that is "Making war upon them", and it is as simple as that. I am a Muslim person (that is how you spell it correctly by the way) and i have never agreed with any killing's of the innocent people, i do not agree with your senseless insults in your previous comments either, and as for Mr.Tai you should remember how the christians cut up pregnant women's stomachs and killed any other person who knew how to make medicinal drugs out of herbs because they presumed that these people were witches and "wizards", this topic is not about israel and its occupation, i am from Montreal (your mount was accidently copy pasted) it would be interesting for you to know that MOST of the jewish people (a good bunch are my friends!) do not support the zionist policy that you imposed on the rest of the jewish people,"if you are not a resident of Israel you are not a jew??"
This is also not about who started and brought war upon who, this is about who is going to stop it, and it will only stop when people stop hating, i wish to never enter that kitchen of your's Tai.

One more thing,
How can you talk about self defense after throwing the first punch, haven't you relocated enough people for half a century??

One more thing,
How can you talk about self defense after throwing the first punch?

ildar,

the war has moved beyond blame for the first punch. We are moving ever so slowly towards the point where the question is who will still be alive at the end of it. We may or may not have been at fault for beginning it. We are damn sure going to be around to end it, one way or another.

My sentiments are not mine alone. Beware when the majority of Americans come to feel the same. So far, we have restrained ourselves to a fault. But our patience is not unlimited.

ildar,
You want to stop the hate? I suggest you retain and redirect your moral outrage towards the barbarians in your own ranks (They make Islam look bad). Especially after that gruesome video yesterday. I think the Arab world has a lot more problems than just "Zionists".
If the moderates in your culture cant win out, you are going to have alot more problems than just Isreal. Keep that in mind as you continue point fingers.

Ildar,

In the time my wife and I lived in Jerusalem, studying there at their great university, we had contact with Jews, Arabs, Europeans, Americans, believers, nonbelievers, et al. We listened to all of them with impartiality and sometimes, indifference, depending on how persuasive they were.

We came to the notion that Israel was building a great and vibrant society despite the religious claptrap, the endless leftism of the old guard leadership, the foolish notion that they could have a state for the Hebrew-speaking Jewish nation and at the same time keep it democratically open to their Arab enemies.

I truly think that largescale relocation of the Arab population of Judea, Samaria and Gaza is in the best interests of the Arabs as well as the Israelis. The latter are not about to abandon their sparkling new cities that have arisen all across Judea and Samaria. And if you want to know, the settlements are expanding largely because of urban sprawl outward from Israel's great cities. Just like all over the USA and Canada. In the end, it won't be zionism that defeats the Arabs, but urban sprawl.

Nor will anyone have the capability of forcing them out. Israel, with as many as 175 nuclear and thermonuclear weapons and the longrange Jericho II and Jericho III missiles that guarantee their pinpoint delivery on any enemy Arab or other enemy target from the Atlantic coast to Pakistan, is no longer truly subject to the whims and prejudices of the nations.

(This, I think, is one of the key reasons the USA still supports them with largescale funding. They don't want Israel to become the next official nuclear or thermonuclear power, and a major one at that.

Which means the best way to resolve this festering problem is to move the Arabs. It is only about 25 miles from the main Arab communities of Judea and Samaria over to the Jordan river line. Across that is the real Palestine state that was created for just that purpose in 1922. Already, 66-70% of the population there is "Palestinian". Peaceful transfer would mean that the families so affected would receive suitable assistance in making the move. Wait until someone foments a fullscale middle eastern war again, and the Arabs are very likely to be moved out by rolling Israeli artillery barrages, with no compensation at all.

This has happened many times in history, and will happen many more times. The Jews were some of the leading victims of these forced relocations. So were Turkey's Armenians and Greeks in the 20th century. A truly massive population relocation removed all the Germans from east of the Oder-Neisse river line that now forms the eastern border of Germany. That involved the forced expulsion of some 14-16 million Germans from 1945-1948. The same thing happened to about 20 million Indians and Pakistanis when the British left that place in 1948. So don't feel bad. Your Palestinian expulsions would be merely among the minor footnotes of world history.

In any case, the strongest supporters of Israel in the western country are not Jews at all, but some 30-75 million christian zionists. Without some of them in the power structure of the British empire in the early 20th century, there would have been no Balfour declaration and probably no modern Israel at all. You will find that those bible christians are a force more implacable and unbendable than any Jews you have run across in relatively mild and peaceful Montreal. And they are everywhere.

But if you really want peace in the middle east and progress in the moslem world, you need to promote the following among your own people.

1) Separate mosque from state, just as has been accomplished here in the west for hundreds of years.

2) See to it that Arabs and other moslems put the primacy of the individual above all other considerations. In other words, there is no "umma". There is just you alone, and your life, which is the only one you shall ever have. Get this embedded into a philosopy of life which can freely compete in moslem countries with the state-enforced strictures of islam under sharia.

3) Learn to accept the idea that the Hebrew-speaking Jews are back to stay in their original homeland, and that there is no Arab strategy that shall ever uproot them. If you want to try co-oping them into islam, then bring to their attention the merits of what once was a beautiful and peaceful religious philosopy, and that today has become transformed into ugly gangs of murderers parading Jewish body parts around Gaza and howling like mad wolves for the blood of the Jews after some ignorant imam stirs them up at Friday prayers.

In any case, Israel's claims that the entirety of that territory are better than the claims of the Arabs to all the lands they stole after Mohammed established islam in 632. And their claims better than those of the United States and Canada to all the lands our European forefathers stole from the north American indians in the 17th-19th centuries.

Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb

I am seriously going to blow groceries the next time someone trots out that "offended manhood" routine.

Just to be clear: I'm not trivializing or jeering at manhood in and of itself à la, say, Adrienne Rich. If I were imprisoned and forced to have sex with a woman at knifepoint, I'd be enraged. In my case, it wouldn't be because I think there's anything degrading about the act, but because it would obviously be a fuck-you and attempt to break down my sense of self. I can see why a lot of Arab men are furious when those images are televised. Anyone who was involved on our team needs to be punished.

But why is it that Arab spokespeople and interviewees always, always, ALWAYS talk about "honor" and "manhood" as things that it's everyone else's job to preserve for them? The way I was brought up, the part about not letting yourself be insulted was maybe 5% of honor. The rest centered around how you were supposed to be living and your duties to other people. Hanan Ashrawi and James Zogby and the rest never seem to get around to that part, even when they make gingerly ceremonial gestures in condemnation of specific acts by Arabs and Muslims.

I'm not a particularly nice person, but I do try to be fair-minded and give due consideration to people's accounts of themselves. I think most Americans do. But when people insist on throwing endless self-pity parties, it's hard not to see them as sub-adults and want to give them something to cry about.

You know, there are at least 5 videos of beheadings on the internet & this one, compared with the others is quite tame.

The others come from Chechnya where Muslim rebels are at war with russia. THOSE videos will make you physically sick!

Muslims see the beheading of an "enemy" as a holy act. It's called a "qasas"
And when I ay beheading I don't mean nice and clean with a guilotine, they use combat knifes so as to inflict as much pain as possible.

I urge you not to look for those Chechen execution videos as they are the most disturbing pieces of film ever captured! Waaaay worse than Nick Berg's.

Allahu Akbar my ass!

Having just viewed the Nick Berg video, I am probably not in the frame of mind to offer a balanced view of the recent events. However, if Muslims like death as much as they say they do, why don't we oblige them with a couple of well placed nukes.Let God sort 'em out. I look forward to the day when an alternative fuel source can be found and we no longer have to appease the Arab nations. The Jews can be let off the leash to do as they please, and I am conviced the sooner that happens the better.

Lets not put words into other peoples mouths,
nobody was pointing fingers or directing their "moral outrage" towards anyone. Tai
i look forward to a moment when majority of americans will feel the same way, which is "We do not need this stinking war, enough of our brothers,fathers and sons died in it, we will only provoke violence" there is no WMD in Iraq there is no direct threat to the well being of the united states, you are not permanently occupying anyone's country, so just go home.
And do not take it in a bad way, i've been to Chechnya myself, (Caucas, black sea) and it is a very different place now as opposed to the beutiful "resort like" place that it was before,
the desire to get a beutiful girl and a nice glass of red wine has changed to a constant thought of going home to your relatives and friends, nobody needs this war, not me not you not anyone except for people that have their own financial interests(who do you think is rebuilding Afganistan? ex-generals that supported bush's campaign and that own construction company's) what do you think was restored first water supply for the Iraq civilians of oil pumps? Mohammed Latif, a former intelligence officer who now heads the Falluja Brigade said that the only way to restore peace is to for Americans to go home, people are free right now, there is no WMD's what else do you need to end Mr.Tai? The only moral outrage that i have is towards those people that beheaded Nick Berg, it was inhumane and it was a crime against the humanity, the whole muslim world is against it, even Hezbollah figthers condemned it, the only people that support it are crazy fanatics. It was nice to read a bit about your life Arnold but then came the sensless blabber again, how the Arabs should be relocated how its been done before to other nations how this would solve everything, a lot of things have been done in the past a lot of those things were discusting and outrageous. For the last time its not "Moslim" but "Muslim", i dont say Joooish so respect the correct spelling. Your firepower is strong and modern but does it make you right?
"Him" not comment for your last remark, you should have your PTSD checked out.

Richard has a broad head for real.

somebody should have already killed the fuckers who done this what are we doing as a country? watching on the web?? this sucks i pray to god his family did not see this and my prayers go out to his family!! that man was alive when they severed his head this is so not right. america can hunt down and find a person if the president was hurt or killed but we cant find these fuckers. unbelievable to me!
jennifer Mills
Beaverton, oregon

somebody should have already killed the idiots who done this what are we doing as a country? watching on the web?? this sucks i pray to god his family did not see this and my prayers go out to his family!! that man was alive when they severed his head this is so not right. america can hunt down and find a person if the president was hurt or killed but we cant find these idiots. unbelievable to me!
jennifer Mills
Beaverton, oregon

somebody should have already killed the idiots who done this what are we doing as a country? watching on the web?? this sucks i pray to god his family did not see this and my prayers go out to his family!! that man was alive when they severed his head! this is so not right. america can hunt down and find a person if the president was hurt or killed but we cant find these idiots. unbelievable to me!
jennifer Mills
Beaverton, oregon

So many people have voiced their anger over the Nicholas Berg incident, they seem to be driven by hatred and tell us in no uncertain terms that they want revenge. I wonder if we are all losing our humanity.

I live in Australia and we are also involved in this war, but I hope I am not paying taxes that will be used to turn our military troops into sadistic monsters.

The beheading of Nicholas Berg was inhumane, but so were the actions of those American troops who debased the Iraqi POW's. The results of their behaviour will last many years and if we keep screaming for revenge this war could last forever.

If you live your life without feeling or compassion for your fellow man, then you are an animal. So don’t throw away your humanity on revenge.

We need tolerance throughout the world and we need to start teaching this at home. There has been too much violence in our society for far too long. Bullying has been on the increase in schools as well as the work place; road rage and domestic violence have also been spiralling out of control. Every year many people lose their lives as a result of crime and all these things have been happening regardless of the war in Iraq. This shows that we are a part and parcel of a violent society.

If we want peace, we need to resolve the problems in our own countries before we go out pretending to fix the world. A vengeful hart will never be at peace and control freaks violate other people’s boundaries because they do not have self-control. So instead of trying to control everyone around you with threats of retaliation because you are sensing a loss of control, teach your children good values and help them to develop strong boundaries that enable them to respect themselves and others.

I have been a victim crime, so I know what pain, grief and anger can do to a person. But you have to rise above it because it will destroy you. I've never sought revenge for the abuse I suffered, though I have fought for justice and it has been a long, hard, lonely fight. However, it has made me stronger and enabled me to have a better understanding of the evil side of mankind.

Don't turn into the evil people that you claim to despise, because you will only help them to destroy the very thing that puts us above the animal level, OUR HUMANITY. Seek justice not revenge and you won’t destroy the lives of innocent civilians in the process.

In order to maintaining our emotional stability and dignity we need to resist hypocritical desires for carnage.

Sorry, the last paragraph I wrote should read, "In order to maintain our emotional stability and dignity we need to resist hypocratical desires for carnage."

this is what war is about...it was never meant to be pretty. We the united states is just as savage for killing thousands of iraqi civillians. The united states have slaughtered millions of civillians over the decades...anything to do with war is savage...did u all forget about vietnam where us soldiers came back with ears of opposing forces?! But those veterans now pay for it, half of them are homeless or insane, and the US does not care. 10000 soldiers form the 1st gulf war have died from health complications due to the use of depleted uranium (nuclear waste) in weapons made by the united states. If anyone expected a clean war is living under a rock...war is violent and nasty. Anyone supporting the war should have known this type of evil would happen on both sides. WAR DOESNT SOLVE ANYTHING!

Good lord you guys. "War doesn't solve anything?" So, what, you figure Hitler and Tojo's Japan would have been no threat if we hadn't gone to war with them?

Let me point something out to you too, Brook: it is rather hateful and hurtful for you to assume that because people are angry at a vile act and seek to bring those who perpetrate it to justice, this means they are bloodthirsty and have "hypocritical desires for carnage." On behalf of all those who favored this war, I resent that. For even if I did desire carnage--and I don't--there would be nothing hypocritical about it.

no words to describe an act such as this.

they should be vanished from the threads of time

"Death of one is a tragedy, death of
a million is statistics"
Joseph Stalin

Dean Esmay,

If you had read what I wrote you would know that I clearly stated that the beheading of Nicholas Berg was inhumane, but to go out and destroy the lives of innocent people as an act of revenge is also inhumane.

Why don’t you ask Nicholas Berge’s parents if they would wish their fate on other families?

Yes, a lot of the soldiers in Vietnam did come back traumatised and a large number went insane, many of them ended up in psychiatric hospitals or gutters. But why did this happen?

I have read numerous books about this subject and spoken to a large number of war veterans, in fact I have even nursed them and I can tell you that most of them ended up that way because they were often ordered to kill innocent civilians. They couldn’t deal with that; so who are you to decide that our solders should be turned into cold-blooded murders?

Are you out there fighting this war? Is it you that will be left on a Disability pension because the faces of innocent people that you killed or tortured haunt you every night? Will you be the one that is placed in a psychiatric hospital and drugged up to the eyeballs on psychotropic drugs that have horrific side effects eg: drug induced Parkinson’s, tardive dyskinesia, ocular disturbances, and renal failure, etc? Is it you that they will give Electro Convulsive Therapy to, because you cant live with your self? Will you be the one suffering from memory loss, incontinence, and permanent brain damage, etc, as a result of that therapy? Or will you look after the soldiers that come home insane? And will you still understand why they are traumatised twenty years later?

We can all sit back and say killing is part of war and I don’t dispute that, but the abuse and cold-blooded murder of innocent people is not part of it and these are the actions that have long lasting effects. Even in war there is such a thing as crimes against humanity and it is these senseless evil acts that I am opposed to.

If you have a chip on your shoulder, then deal with it in a sane way instead of attacking innocent people. Perhaps you are a person who just goes around looking for victims to abuse, how pathetic. Grow up and get a life. If all Americans became like you and just wanted to kill innocent civilians, the world would end up seeing America as the enemy.

I don’t want to be paying out compensation for your crimes fifty years from now. If you want carriage then I will vote for Labour at our next election, because I can’t condone that type of abuse and the leader of the Australian Labour party wants to bring our troops home. It’s people like you that incite wars, so why don’t you think about your attitude, because America could end up fighting this war alone.

Sorry about the typing error I made in the last paragraph it should read:

I don’t want to be paying out compensation for your crimes fifty years from now. If you want carnage then I will vote for Labour at our next election, because I can’t condone that type of abuse and the leader of the Australian Labour party wants to bring our troops home. It’s people like you that incite wars, so why don’t you think about your attitude, because America could end up fighting this war alone.

Nicely said brook