On Saturday, June 5, 2004, standing only a block away from the White House, on a rainy, cool afternoon, in Washington, DC, Michael Berg, accused the Bush-Cheney Gang of being substantially responsible for the death of his son, Nick Berg, age 26. Nick’s body was found on May 8th, just outside of the war-ravaged city of Baghdad. A native of West Chester, PA, he was in Iraq as a free lance contractor. Strangely, however, there was no record of his company, "Prometheus Methods Tower Service, Inc.," ever registered with Pennsylvania’s Department of State.

At a vocal anti-Iraq War rally, in front of Lafayette Park and just north of the presidential mansion, Michael Berg said, “I have to hold the Bush Administration accountable for denying my son his Constitutional rights for 13 days of his illegal detention. If they were going to take illegal action, instead of violating the heart of the Constitution of the United States of America - why didn't they just illegally deport him from Iraq to let us prove who he was at home?"

Michael Berg continued, "Their callous behavior, in effect, tied him to the track till it was no longer possible for him to escape that speeding 'hate train.' I don't expect the men who ran the 'hate train' to take responsibility for their actions. And, I don't expect the Bush Administration will change its policies to do its part to make the 'hate train' into a 'peace train.'"

Here is what we do know about Nick Berg's sensational murder. He was detained on March 24th, in Mosul, Iraq, without charges, by U.S. forces. He was held for 13 days and repeatedly questioned by the FBI. He was only released from U.S. custody, on April 6th, after his father filed a federal lawsuit in Philadelphia. Nick was Jewish and his passport had an Israeli stamp on it. He was beheaded, supposedly by hooded Arab "militants” who also videotaped his murder, sometime after April 10th.

The U.S. government, immediately tried to shift responsibility to the Iraqis for Nick’s almost two-week-long detention, but this gimmick turned out to be a lie. After the release of e-mails addressed to the Berg family in Pennsylvania, from Beth A. Payne, the U.S. Consular Office in Iraq, it was clear that Nick had been held by U.S. Forces and not the Iraqis (Rense.com).

Suspiciously, too, young Berg, in the video exhibit, is dressed in an orange jumpsuit. This outfit is regularly worn by prisoners detained in U.S.-run penal facilities, like the Metropolitan Correction Center in NYC or at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Some of Berg's captors also had "pasty-white hands" and contrary to Islamic law, one of them even wore "a gold ring." The "white plastic chair" Berg is seen sitting in is similar to the one shown in images from the Abu Chraib sex torture photos. A voice is clearly heard on the video saying, "How will it be done?" A "military cap" shows up, too, in one of the frames. All of the "militants" have "Western-style body posture and mannerisms." Some are so overweight looking, they could be poster boys for McDonald's! it is hard to imagine that they have ever missed a single meal, despite the fact Iraq has been under constant military siege for over 15 horrific months. One of the "militants" is even wearing " white tennis shoes," while another, on the extreme left, is seen standing as if he is at "parade rest." (Check out the 50-plus insightful comments, photos and audio segments for other gross inconsistencies with the Bush-Cheney Gang's propaganda. They can be found at: Rense.com's "Nick Berg Beheading.")

There is also compelling evidence that Israeli thugs had been hired by the Pentagon to "brutally interrogate Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib" (Wayne Madsen, 05/10/04, "The Israeli Torture Template," Counterpunch.org). Some who decline to buy the Establishment’s view of Nick's killing are convinced that his execution was a “psychological operation,” a Psy-Ops - managed and/or controlled by U.S. Intelligence operatives, possibly with the assistance of the Mossad or the Brits, to serve the “black propaganda” needs for a "diversion" to the Abu Ghraib scandal. There are many other questions concerning young Berg’s bizarre background as a so-called "computer expert": his apparent links to U.S. Intelligence and even ties to 9/11, going back to when he lived in Oklahoma City, in addition to his “staged” death by decapitation deserve answers from the White House (Rense.com).

Michael Berg, also believes that the USA Patriot Act was a “coup d’etat” (Reuters, John Hurdle, 05/13/05). He added at today's rally: "We the people of the United States of America and the rest of the world can act now to stop war and end racism. Let's make that happen now."

After listening to a number of other rousing speakers at Lafayette Park, which included Brian Becker, an ANSWER Steering Committee member, the protesters marched about 25 blocks north to the mansion home of Bush’s Secretary of Defense, the embattled Donald Rumsfeld. They chanted slogans along the way. Some at the rally denounced, not only Rumsfeld, but Paul Wolfowitz, his deputy - a notorious Neocon, (with strong connections to warmongers Richard Perle and William Kristol), and a prime architect of the Iraqi War - "as war criminals." With the resignation of CIA Director, George Tenet, on June 3rd, can Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz's be far behind? The Rumsfeld mansion was located in a ritzy-looking residential area of DC, with lots of huge, pricey homes.

The ANSWER Coalition was the prime sponsor of the "Speak Truth to Power" rally. It was attended by about 3,000 dedicated protesters. It felt to me today like the Anti-War Movement is catching its second wind. Having the Bush-Cheney Gang on the defensive, with respect to the exposure of its serial lies about the Iraqi War, surely has something to do with that new reality. Plus, there is the fact that the national economy continues to sink, while gasoline prices are soaring, education and medical care costs are outrageously high and the outsourcing of jobs is at a record level. All of these kinds of things are starting to hit home to a jarred populace. Daily, more people are beginning to see that they have been taken for a ride by a corrupted federal regime that is in the claws of parasitical special interests, that care absolutely nothing for our Republic.

Michael Berg's moving words will long ring in the ears of those who were demonstrating today against this unjust Iraqi War.

© William Hughes 2004

William Hughes is the author of “Saying ‘’No’ to the War Party” (IUniverse, Inc.). He can be reached at liamhughes-AT-mindspring.com.