A few days back I dedicated my rant to the video of Berg being murdered. Now I have questions…..below is a cut and paste commentary I posted on my newest “blogs I will revisit list. The original link to the full body is here and my thanks to classicalvalues.com for reminding me why I sign up as a Libertarian.
“I must confess that it was a search for "Berg video a fake?" that brought me to this site. First and foremost, let's all raise a glass to free speech. The internet has saved us from a media environment where only a few are getting more and more control over what you see and how you see it. I downloaded the video as soon as I could get to a computer, then took a day before deciding whether to watch it or not. Why download it? because I was afraid it would be zapped off the lines to keep it hushed up. I am thankful for folks like you that despite so much disagreement about the pros and cons, ALL agree that it should be available. So here's to free speech. (even for the morons;)
My very first reaction to the video was one of horror. I kept reaching for the stop button, knowing what was coming and not sure if I could stand it. I made it through the process and then spent a day spewing anger and hate and slapping down idiot arm chair generals and Monday morning politicians for second guessing what is a horrible and damned either way job.
But I do have questions. Nick Berg is dead. That is fact. His head is not on his body. Also Fact. Beyond that, things do get a little cloudy. I grew up in the military. The son of a high ranking career officer. Let’s not kid our-selves and say that our boys are not capable of throwing together a sham video as a PR ploy. Either side of the aisle in control, we are CAPABLE of it. That said so are THEY. And even if this video is somehow a fake, count on the fact that the enemy does do this sort of thing all the time, and had we handed them an American and a knife, they would have shouted Allah Akbar and started cutting with zeal. So even if it washes out to be a hoax in the end. My mind doesn't change in the least regarding Middle Eastern terrorists.
So here are my discomforts with the video, all political leanings aside:
Why is he wearing an orange jumpsuit? If these are the usual terrorist's, they wouldn't have processed him put his cloths in a bag and handed him a standard orange Property of Al Quida jumpsuit. Their MO is nab em, stick em in a hole, beat em, kill em.
The guys in the line up are awfully big and beefy for underfed Muslim extremists and their posture is Very trained military. That does not equal U.S. Military right up front. Military attention and parade rest is pretty standard no matter what flag you fly over your camp. But these guys are no civilian slouches.
There is an unrealistic quality to the screams as he is killed. Horrific as they are, they don't match up with the video. This could be the result of a hasty edit job, but for a point of reference, I found another Muslim Snuff flick to compare it to. This one is a Russian soldier murdered by way of a buck knife through the throat. If you can stomach such things, here is a link to that ugly event (which only solidifies my argument that it doesn't change my opinion whether Bergs video is a fake or not)http://www.consumptionjunction.com/content/detail.asp?ID=34997&type=1&page=2&fav=0
His screams turn to a nightmare sound that is unfakable in about a half a second.
So, yeah, I have some uncomfortable questions about Nick Berg’s death. But no matter how, he died as part of this brutal war, and nothing can change his family's loss. And no matter what we do in Iraq, the enemy will still be out there.
So really, we are left where we started aren't we? The Left blindly hating Bush, The Right defending him with blind faith, but everyone (I sure as hell hope) hating Al Quida. I really don't care which Political Party gets to wear the "I kicked his ass in November" badge. I have little faith in all politicians. But damn it, I want justice done against the real terrorists. And this media bullshit circus is not where our energy needs to be expended.”
You mentioned:
"The guys in the line up are awfully big and beefy for underfed Muslim extremists and their posture is Very trained military".
That's because the guys that were arrested this week were Saddam's Fedeyeen (Elite Forces). Turned in by Iraqi Locals.
Yup, they are desperate and they made no friends during the Saddam years.
I have no doubts it was a real event (they found the body, they've done forensics on it - it was decapitated the same way the video showed).
Two of them are in custody (two others were released). The Al Qaeda operative (Al-Zaqawi) was no where to be found and the leader of their "cell" was identified as Saddam's nephew. And was not around when they were arrested.
Don't know why they released the first two (four were picked up at the time), but we shall see.
Posted by: Steve at May 21, 2004 12:22 PM