The Video

Published 4 years, 6 months ago in life stories

I’m sick to my stomach. Yes, I just watched the Nick Berg video. I now feel sick to my stomach and terribly dirty. My small apologies to the Berg family.

I can’t describe the feeling.

I have several friends in the military that are in Iraq right now. I wanted us to get out of that country this weekend, because I fear for their safety.

Now, I want Bush to just nuke the whole damn country. Ocean-front property anyone?

If you want to see the video, read Charles Johnson’s written description before you watch it.

It’s so easy to forget about who we’re really dealing with over there.

One of my best friends from the Army just returned from Iraq and when I asked him about what it’s like, he said:

“The people over there aren’t all bad - the insurgents are animals. They only understand power. They only understand pure unadulterated power and they only respect people that show and use their power.”

21 Responses to “The Video”

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1 Gregg May 12th, 2004 at 6:36 am

A few years ago, a video circulated of a Chechen rebel cutting the throat of a Russian soldier. I didn’t think it would be a “big deal”. I won’t be watching the Berg video…
2 Chris May 12th, 2004 at 7:55 am

I started to download the video last night, then changed my mind. Decided I didn’t want or need to see it. I with you though. It’s time to take the handcuffs off of our military and follow through on the Powell doctrine. We attack with overwhelming and insurmountable force, or we don’t attack it all.
3 James May 12th, 2004 at 9:07 am

> We attack with overwhelming and insurmountable force, or we don’t attack it all.

Who are we attacking? Seemingly all men are eligable to be killed. Perhaps we can make Iraq a nation of all women.

Answering with force will make us feel better, but it wont solve anything.
4 Mike May 12th, 2004 at 10:14 am

I saw the stills and had the same reaction you did: pull out, nuke the place till it turns into glass. I know it’s the wrong way to feel, but damn. What an awful way to die.
5 Scott Palmer May 12th, 2004 at 2:25 pm

In our world, shocking stuff seems to affect us less and less every day. I had to go outside and sit in the quiet after watching that video. I’m glad I did watch it though, I’m re-pissed now. Blowing up a building isn’t the same thing as feeling the blood get on your hands.

I’m reminded of an old saying. Never start a fight, but always finish it. We don’t have to sink to their level, but we do have to finish this.
6 J.Shell May 12th, 2004 at 3:55 pm

There thousands of civilians on their side dead. At least a ratio of 10:1 to U.S. MILITARY deaths. That’s many more than were killed in the September 11th attacks. And all for reasons that have yet to be justified. This is a big bloody mess, but it’s a mess that America has created.

“we don’t have to sink to their level”???? We’ve already done that. With much greater military force (which is still not enough, because the administration in the Pentagon willfully ignored ANY post-war planning).

Of course they (Iraqi’s) going to be pissed. We’ve done a piss poor job of ‘liberating’ them by bombing their resources, creating a power vacuum, killing THOUSANDS (there are still less than a thousand U.S. deaths in this war, but that’s still a thousand too many - I have friends over there, and they’re OVER THERE FOR NO JUSTIFIABLE REASON, and if they die - I blame the asshats who sent them over there in the first place with very low pay and very low supplies, while these ‘contractors’ from CACI are above the law and making many times more than our soldiers.

This video is sickening. But there is so much more blood on America’s hands in this situation, spanning back more than two decades. If you think you’re pissed over a single decapitation? Imagine the life of many Iraqis. The ones who are still alive anyways. Is it any wonder that the terrorist organizations are finding eager recruits?

Al Qaeda, who had no ties to Iraq at the time of their U.S. attacks, bombed three buildings in the U.S. Again - I think that’s three too many. Remember how mad that made us? And rightfully so. People got behind the military again, with the thinking of “go over there and give them hell for doing this to us.”

Think of how many buildings have been bombed in Iraq by the USA. Don’t you think there are going to be people that feel the same way on the other side?

With this spirit of retaliation, the world is soon going to be full of blind toothless fools. {eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth}.

And we may very well find that America will be fighting ever more battles in this “war on terror” with an over stretched (and underpaid) military, more enemies, and ever fewer allies. It doesn’t have to be this way.

http://www.newsgaming.com/games/index12.htm

Do you think we’re the only ones who get to feel nationalist?

You’re right. For his one death (which shouldn’t have happened), let’s kill a hundred or more of them. Then we can all feel better.

I don’t feel at home in this world any more.
7 Scott Palmer May 12th, 2004 at 4:57 pm

Sorry, I missed the part where we cut their body parts off with a knife on a tape their families will see. That’s what I meant by sinking to their level. I don’t want to kill a hundred more. I want this to stop. You didn’t start it, and neither did I, but we need to finish it. If that means killing a hundred or a thousand or however many more, then so be it. If that means all of them, then that’s what it means.

You can’t fight a war with TV cameras. Let’s all assume for a moment this had to happen, I know that’s tough, but you can go back to believing whatever you want in 23 seconds, give me this. Ok, so, this had to happen to preserve and protect the US. But, every day we see pictures of flag-draped coffins and videos of our fighting folks being tortured and killed. How do you fight a war when every night people sit down to dinner and see this crud? You do it the way W is doing it. “This sucks, it shouldn’t have happened, we will finish what we started.” Ok, we now return you to believing the US is a tyrant, and worse than Sadam.

If you pick on a bully and he backs down, he’s finished. Like it or not, the US is in a precarious position. How we handle this is going to be watched closely by all the other groups out there who proclaim they need to kill us to appeal to the god they are trying to please. We need to eradicate them. We need to punch them and have them stay down. We unfortunately need to shoot 8 year old kids who are carrying a basket while they run toward a US army roadblock in Iraq. This is a war. We need to kill people and break things. That’s not pretty, but that’s how you win.

I don’t know if there was a better way to get this job done. The point is, we’re here now. What are we going to do about it?
8 James May 12th, 2004 at 10:12 pm

> But, every day we see pictures of flag-draped coffins and videos of our fighting folks being tortured and killed.

I have yet to see a US soldier tortured. Private contractors aren’t my fighting force. How did we start seeing these coffins that the Bush Administration tried to hide? Why we had a woman just take a picture and send it to her friend.

>You do it the way W is doing it. “This sucks, it shouldn’t have happened, we will finish what we started.” Ok, we now return you to believing the US is a tyrant, and worse than Sadam.

“it shouldn’t have happened” I’d love to her Bush say that. This is his war. Based on false evidence. Pushed through on the thinnest of details. Unpopular the world over. There were plenty of chances for this to not have happened. But he had a hard on for Saddam.

In regards to Iraq and how it all started, the US is a tyrant. Forcing our will on a population.
9 Paul May 13th, 2004 at 12:39 am

James - right - the US is a tyrant. Iraq is a saint. Oh wait — what about kicking out weapons inspectors, invading Kuwait, chemical war atrocities, etc.

You must know what you write is fiction, right?

I would hate to see what this generation would have done in the 1940’s.
10 Spiny Norman May 13th, 2004 at 1:26 am

Paul, that’s easy: denounce Churchill and Roosevelt as warmongers.
11 Kevin from the North Shore May 13th, 2004 at 2:05 pm

Paul–

Easy rhetorical trick, so let’s turn it around.

One can deplore American actions in Iraq without defending Saddam. Iraq was a greater tyrant to enemies of the Iraqi regime than the U.S. is to enemies of the occupying U.S. regime. (Another question is which regime has more Iraqi enemies at this point?)

Uzbekistan is a tyrant. Saudi Arabia is a tyrant - to enemies of their regimes.

Kicking out weapons inspectors? Didn’t happen. The U.S. warned them to get out before we started bombing.

Invading Kuwait? Happened (but only after April Gillespie said there would be no sanction for doing so) and was rightfully reversed by a truly international coalition - including Arab countries - that paid for the vast majority of the war costs.

Chemical war atrocities? Using Western weapons and supported by the U.S. during the war against Iran (and the “used chemical weapons on his own people” charge applies to Kurds who sided with Iran.)

Don’t forget mass graves, which occurred post-Gulf War I after the U.S. incited the Shi’ites to rise up and then failed to provide a military support against Saddam’s gunships.

Problem is: while our killing methods are less barbaric than videotaped beheadings and public lynchings, we’ve still killed 10 times as many of their folk in a country with one-tenth our population.

In a country that has never attacked the U.S.

Wasn’t the 1940’s generation attacked by an enemy that we actually finished the fight against? And weren’t Americans in the 1940’s asked to sacrifice (think rationing, not tax cuts)? And didn’t we follow that war with the Marshall Plan to put the defeated countries back on their feet and turn them into allies?

When this administration shows the foresight and resolve of those years, this generation will respond in kind. Until then, I quote a Republican war-hero president of the 1950’s:

“When people speak to you about preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war. War settles nothing.”
12 Michel May 13th, 2004 at 5:12 pm

americans, british, japaneses, italians, polonians and others should quit that irakian mess immediately (too bad for the oil..) or really do what is needed and pay the price.

how many more death and destruction you want ? you want what? a situation like israel vs palestin ? chechenia vs russia ?

you want to debate for years who ARE the most bloodier barbarian ??

you all are ! felicitation ! are you happy ? not me.

torture , bombs, cold killing , military occupation , now murder front of camera.

and for what ? you miss your own true ennemy ! Fundamentalism it is ! and Iraq was not the country with the most fundamentalists! why ? why ? why you stil forget what is the real danger ??

do you not understand you give that people reasons to HATE YOU and they give you reason to HATE THEM.

all iraqians death was not simply soldiers or bad people, there were any kind of people, children, fathers, mothers, whatever.

and so, some don’t give a crap about justification or reasons to murder someone, they simply don’t care about what you or me can think is “death”.

and many normally “good” people in iraq let these guys to rules because they don’t think there are worst than american soldier…

they will even think it’s normal “americans dies”… hate for hate..

here is the Failure to the war in Iraq!

so kill yourselves with them if that’s pleasure. but please never tell you are so better than others

I saw also saw how an Apache helicopter can kill people in one seconds, I also saw humiliation by “so normal and good people” in the ancient prison of saddam now american !!

don’t you see all of that only get you ,your country, dirty ?

don’t accept barbarian attitude ! neither american or arabians !! neither european or chinese or russians or whatever !

yes, you started that war so you have to finish

and now I think all european (french, german and others), and also others no-european countries have to help (_money_ and send people if it’s needed) to REBUILD the country

(and fast, electricity, water, road, not word, but really and FASTLY and that soldiers have to be perfectly clean of any bad attitude.

BUT

I have to say, the bush government is right when it communicates about the abuses of authority and present excuses.

too bad rumsfeld is still in the government , but bush excuses, and let medias to show everything is good. it shows USA is ready to take blame and shame for errors

surely, it’s the sign USA is one beautiful country with many decent people,

but please, do not forget who you are , do not let hate and despicable people change you .

you are not alone. maybe you will not believe, but all events in iraq has consequencies for many.
13 Zeid May 19th, 2004 at 6:45 am

well said Michel

after i read your peice i must say i am curious as to where you are from?

me i am a muslim palistinian arab

and i am proud of it

my peice is this

you must see all problems from all angles

from both sides

i am happy the americans “took care of” sadam

but if you look back in history you will see it was the americans who backed him when he over-through the previous ruler

it was the americans who provided sadam with chemicals and weapons of mass destruction (so you can guess why they are still trying to account for what they gave him up till today)but what they did not take into consideration is that fact that he used most of it on the iranians and on his own people

I am not proud that they are backing a state that enjoys killing palestinians and destroys their homes

but you see

all this information is not a fact to the american people

and if they read about it they think it is just rumor to “tarnish” their government and their people

i for one thought that americans were great people

good people

but after recent events

i see most of them as blood thirsty people

and are no better than the people who killed Nick Berg

see each culture has its own way of dealing with life

in america you kill

you go to jail

in an arab nation you kill

a life MUST be taken

it is called blood rage/revenge

it sounds kind of Archaic

but it is a fact

and it is a warning that if you kill

the same will hapen to you or anyone from your family

think of it

if you kill someone and you know that in return they might kill you,your brother,your father..etc

would you still kill???!!!

the statistics for murders in an arab nation is almost zero

what is the statistics for murders in america?!!

what happened to nick berg is tragic but not surprising

what happened in abu ghraib is tragic but not surprising

but worst is yet to come if america stays

there is so much hate between both sides at the momment to last a few decades

like the french to the british

like the germans to the americans

like the japanese to the americans

like the vietnamese to the americans

there is always a reason

terrorism (oil)

wepons of mass destruction (oil)

a tyrant (oil)

this can all stop if the policy/government of the americans change

which will never happen

cause democracy is dead

it was dead when 500,000 people marched to london to protest the war…and nobody listened

it was dead when the taxes was increased in america because of the war

it was dead when the UN was left out of the reconstruction of Iraq

i can keep going on for weeks

and still i would not have finished

america will always find a reason

and that reason would be money related

how do i end this peice

when i know that i have “bored” some

when i know that i have not said all

when i know that my words have no effect on anything

not to the policy of governments

not on Iraq

not on not on the “war on terrorism”

and definetly not on the injustices everyone is facing globally and i say this to every soul out there

injustices produced by our governments to our people

GOD HELP THE NEXT GENERATION

CAUSE NOBODY ELSE WILL
14 friend May 27th, 2004 at 7:04 pm

Note that the “nuke ‘em” action did not occur, whether at the Berg slow death, the Fallujah exhibition murders, or even the attacks on New York and DC.

The US political and military structures did not fall into that trap of applying the force they had, and instead focused on the goal of freeing the region’s people from the attackers embedded within it.

With the benefit of hindsight, the Fallujah operation seemed particularly subtle, restrained, and successful.

Think about that — the restraint, the focus on effectiveness rather than revenge.

Quite a different picture than what’s on the mainstream media each evening, however.
15 Matej from Croatia Mar 6th, 2006 at 2:33 pm

that video is sick and should be destroyed with the fuckers who did that shit to that poor soldier!!!!