Goodbye Blue Sky
December 4th, 2005 Ryan Jones
I watched it.
However, I am not outraged. I do not feel that Nick Berg’s death warrants the retaliation that others, including our leader, may think.
At the same time, I do not agree with Al Queda’s decision to publish this execution.
My only sentiments are the same as they have always been.
If the United States wants the killing to stop– we must back up our bags and get the Hell out of Dodge–er, Iraq– whatever.
The killing of Berg hits home because he was a civilian, it’s been highly publicized (by our own media as well as Al Queda) and because the manner of his death highly parallels that of Daniel Pearl.
Bergs death serves as a double-edge sword of propaganda for both our government and theirs.
I don’t think very many people now can say they haven’t seen Nick Berg being beheaded, and I genuinely feel for his family.
This suburban man whatever had been caught up in some kind of seemingly twisted plot — the FBI warnings, and his own detention — for those who don’t know, the victim was supposed to be home on March 30.
After watching the video the only thing that I can say of it is that it seemed ironically Biblical to me.
The sounds in the background. Though I can’t understand what it is that they were saying, the fact that the act was done out of revenge is clearly evident.
The way they pushed him down and sliced him like a cow proved to me that Nick Berg was an animal to them. He had been dehumanized. Psychologically, they had to mentally dehumanize their victim in order to have been able to do what they’ve done. It is all evident in the footage. It wasn’t one sweeping stroke, or done with any passionate sentiment at all, but cold carving.
While tales of the video haunt news sites and shows across the nation and the world, the most drastic thing that seems to hit home besides the beheading itself are accounts of the victim’s screaming.
I can’t say if Berg felt any pain during his execution. I’ve heard accounts where shark attack victims don’t realize that an arm or leg has been bitten off because their brain wouldn’t register the pain. I’ve also heard of instances where a person had been shot and the brain did not register pain.
On the other hand, the reason that the French invented the guillotine was to provide “humane” or “painless” executions. One sweeping stroke.
So on that subject, I don’t know. What I do know, however, is that when an animal dies, the lungs release air. When this happens, the animal makes a “screaming” or “crying” sound. It does not feel anything at this time. It is dead.
And so I think in the circumstances of Nick Berg. I think he was dead possibly seconds before the screaming began.
The execution was done very quickly. To Al Queda, Nick Berg was nothing more than a piece of meat.
They presented his head at the end–showing it up to the camera for everyone to see.. then placed it on what looked like cloth or his back to prove that the deed had been done.
The only thought that I really have on the issue are my sentiments to the family. He was a boy..man… three years older than myself. In that sense, and after reading accounts of his family, that really hits home.
However, regardless of the so-called warnings he received (I do not believe for a minute that he was warned at all, but O.K.) The responsibility of his death does not rest in the arms of Osama Bin Laden.
Ultimately, the person responsible for his death is George Bush, for his leading this country to this quagmire in Iraq and failing to keep his promise to find Bin Laden “dead or alive.”
Anyone who wants to argue my point, can. However, with the limited knowledge that I have on the proper procedure of chain of command until I can’t think otherwise.
I think it’s time the president owns up.
And he DOES owe. To all of us.
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