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<dd>"I don't get it. Why is it better to have George Bush the king
of Iraq rather than Saddam Hussein?"<br>
<dd> <br>
<dd> <br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=2>Michael Berg talks about
the death of his son and al-Zarqawi<br><br>
<dd>(CNN) -- The U.S.-led coalition's No. 1 wanted man in Iraq, Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi -- who conducted a campaign of insurgency bombings, beheadings
and killings of Americans and Iraqi civilians -- was killed in a U.S.
airstrike.<br><br>
</b>
<dd>A gruesome video was posted on Islamic Web sites in May, 2004,
depicting a man believed to be al-Zarqawi beheading Nicholas Berg, an
American businessman who was working in Iraq.<br><br>
<dd>CNN anchor Soledad O"Brien talks to Nicholas Berg's father,
Michael Berg, by phone from Wilmington, Delaware, for his reaction to the
news.<br><br>
<dd>O'BRIEN:</b> Mr. Berg, thank you for talking with us again. It's nice
to have an opportunity to talk to you. Of course, I'm curious to know
your reaction, as it is now confirmed that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the man
who is widely credited and blamed for killing your son, Nicholas, is
dead.<br><br>
<dd>MICHAEL BERG</b>: Well, my reaction is I'm sorry whenever any human
being dies. Zarqawi is a human being. He has a family who are reacting
just as my family reacted when Nick was killed, and I feel bad for that.
(<a href="??">Watch video of the two bombs falling on al-Zarqawi --
2:00</a>)<br><br>
<dd>I feel doubly bad, though, because Zarqawi is also a political
figure, and his death will re-ignite yet another wave of revenge, and
revenge is something that I do not follow, that I do want ask for, that I
do not wish for against anybody. And it can't end the cycle. As long as
people use violence to combat violence, we will always have
violence.<br><br>
<dd>O'BRIEN:</b> I have to say, sir, I'm surprised. I know how devastated
you and your family were, frankly, when Nick was killed in such a
horrible, and brutal and public way.<br><br>
<dd>BERG:</b> Well, you shouldn't be surprised, because I have never
indicated anything but forgiveness and peace in any interview on the
air.<br><br>
<dd>O'BRIEN:</b> No, no. And we have spoken before, and I'm well aware of
that. But at some point, one would think, is there a moment when you say,
'I'm glad he's dead, the man who killed my son'?<br><br>
<dd>BERG:</b> No. How can a human being be glad that another human being
is dead?<br><br>
<dd>O'BRIEN:</b> There have been family members who have weighed in,
victims, who've said that they don't think he's a martyr in heaven, that
they think, frankly, he went straight to hell ...<br><br>
<dd>You know, you talked about the fact that he's become a political
figure. Are you concerned that he becomes a martyr and a hero and, in
fact, invigorates the insurgency in Iraq?<br><br>
<dd>BERG:</b> Of course. When Nick was killed, I felt that I had nothing
left to lose. I'm a pacifist, so I wasn't going out murdering people. But
I am -- was not a risk-taking person, and yet now I've done things that
have endangered me tremendously.<br><br>
<dd>I've been shot at. I've been showed horrible pictures. I've been
called all kinds of names and threatened by all kinds of people, and yet
I feel that I have nothing left to lose, so I do those things.<br><br>
<dd>Now, take someone who in 1991, who maybe had their family killed by
an American bomb, their support system whisked away from them, someone
who, instead of being 59, as I was when Nick died, was 5-years-old or
10-years-old. And then If I were that person, might I not learn how to
fly a plane into a building or strap a bag of bombs to my back?<br><br>
<dd>That's what is happening every time we kill an Iraqi, every time we
kill anyone, we are creating a large number of people who are going to
want vengeance. And, you know, when are we ever going to learn that that
doesn't work?<br><br>
<dd>O'BRIEN:</b> There's an alternate reading, which would say at some
point, Iraqis will say the insurgency is not OK -- that they'll be
inspired by the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the sense of he was
turned in, for example, we believe by his own No. 2, No. 3 leadership in
his ranks.<br><br>
<dd>And, that's actually them saying we do not want this kind of violence
in our country. Experts whom we've spoken to this morning have said this
is a critical moment where Iraqis need to figure out which direction the
country is going to go. That would be an alternate reading to the
scenario you're pointing to.
(</font><a href="??">
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=2 color="#000099">Watch how
Iraqi leaders cheered after learning about al-Zarqawi's death --
4:31</a></font>)<br><br>
<dd>BERG:</b> Yes, well, I don't believe that scenario, because every
time news of new atrocities committed by Americans in Iraq becomes
public, more and more of the everyday Iraqi people who tried to hold out,
who tried to be peaceful people lose it and join -- what we call the
insurgency, and what I call the resistance, against the occupation of one
sovereign nation.<br><br>
<dd>O'BRIEN:</b> There's a theory that a struggle for democracy, you
know...<br><br>
<dd>BERG:</b> Democracy? Come on, you can't really believe that that's a
democracy there when the people who are running the elections are holding
guns. That's not democracy.<br><br>
<dd>O'BRIEN:</b> There's a theory that as they try to form some kind of
government, that it's going to be brutal, it's going to be bloody,
there's going to be loss, and that's the history of many countries -- and
that's just what a lot of people pay for what they believe will be better
than what they had under Saddam Hussein.<br><br>
<dd>BERG:</b> Well, you know, I'm not saying Saddam Hussein was a good
man, but he's no worse than George Bush. Saddam Hussein didn't pull the
trigger, didn't commit the rapes. Neither did George Bush. But both men
are responsible for them under their reigns of terror.<br><br>
<dd>I don't buy that. Iraq did not have al Qaeda in it. Al Qaeda
supposedly killed my son.<br><br>
<dd>Under Saddam Hussein, no al Qaeda. Under George Bush, al
Qaeda.<br><br>
<dd>Under Saddam Hussein, relative stability. Under George Bush,
instability.<br><br>
<dd>Under Saddam Hussein, about 30,000 deaths a year. Under George Bush,
about 60,000 deaths a year. I don't get it. Why is it better to have
George Bush the king of Iraq rather than Saddam Hussein?<br><br>
<dd><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>O'BRIEN:</b> Michael Berg
is the father of Nicholas Berg, the young man, the young businessman who
was beheaded so brutally in Iraq back in May of 2004.<br><br>
</font>
<dd><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2> <br>
<dd>Find this article at:</b> <br>
<dd>
<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/08/berg.interview/index.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/08/berg.interview/index.html<br>
<br>
</a></font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
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