Date: Sat, 15 May 2004 19:35:07 -0500
Subject: Re: beheading video link


At 02:21 PM 5/15/2004, you wrote:

>maybe, but i don't think killing poor mr berg quite equates with
>offing the leader of the free world in the big scheme of things.  and
>no, i'm not going to watch the video.  hell, i'll grant your point
>that rummy himself used a rusty swiss army knife and then ate berg's
>heart if i don't have to look at the damn fucking shitass goddamned
>video.

What the killing of Mr. Berg may do is shine a little light on areas that 
are traditionally dark   Don't look at the video.  But don't be so quick to 
condemn those who do.   It's not like it's for jollies.


>i actually don't care who killed him.  in fact, what's beginning to
>piss me off is why we're obsessing about one amerikan death out of
>thousands of equally innocent iraqi deaths and they didn't even have
>to leave home.


The Iraqi innocents leave us with no reason, no rationale, nothing beyond 
simple allegations of war-mongering by Bush/Cheny etal.   There is 
something quite impersonal in dying by bombs or artillery or even gunshot 
wounds and it is almost impossible to make that real to a person who isn't 
there.  That's why it is okay here in the west to watch Zapruder or Jack 
Ruby, the bomb-sight video from Gulf War I or even the Japanese pilots 
crashing into American ships in 'WW2.  That is distant, not real.   But yet 
we are repulsed when we see what the distant pictures obscure.   Simply not 
watching will not change the outcome.

The reason Berg is worth examining is that these impersonal killings of 
thousands of Iraqis leave no clear trail of evidence.  Oh, we know the 
chain, soldier/officer/Rummy/Bush, but is it a chain that tells us 
anything?  No.  Nothing beyond tired and old hackneyed slogans against 
war.   Berg offers a glimpse beyond that.  It might be possible even to 
make some sense out of it.  if that happens, WE might even know who the 
real enemy is.

>as i said to Ali, i'd LOVE to be able to hang yet
>another major, world-shattering scandel on the bushies (and there are
>certainly plenty of fishy aspects to this), but i'm hesitant to jump
>on this one for two reasons:

So what else have we got to talk about?

>1)  i suspect that (unlike the prisoner torture scandal) we're going
>to find that the sins of the administration here were sins of
>omission, not commision.  they fucked up and got this kid's ass
>whacked.  whoops.

Or they got this kid whacked for a purpose.


>2)  nobody cares.  about a third of the electorate will evidently
>follow bush and co into fascism itself without a peep; and no amount
>of evidence, no matter how grounded in reality it is, will make any
>difference to them.  the rest of us don't really need any more
>examples of the mendacity, inefficacy and general all round
>fuckedupedness of this bunch.

Then why are people still trying to figure out the Kennedy thing?  Better 
yet, riddle me this:  why did the US consul in Baghdad email Berg;'s 
parents and say he was being held by the US military?   And why does the 
police chief of Mosul keep denying they ever had the guy in custody?

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2004/05/13/458426-ap.html

>still, i'll be interested to see if anything pops up about the
>connection between berg and moussoui.  THAT is a little strange.  but
>i ain't gonna watch no snuff film unless i see a damn good reason to.

Nothing is going to pop up.  Someone will have to dig it out.  If we rely 
on the FBI to tell us we are indeed in bad shape.  Here is their official 
statement on Berg.

http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel04/051204berg.htm

That was put out the day after the video was released.   Notice it doesn't 
say anything about Moussaoui?   Odd isn't it?  Considering that Berg was on 
the FBI watch-list.

And what about Berg's Iraqi "Uncle?"  Berg was not some ordinary guy.  He 
had connections all over.

>And to tell the truth, i've only see the Zapruder film a couple times

You should watch it and re-watch it.   Either you see what you see, or you 
don't.  There's only a few times in this era that things come with such 
clarity they can be confused.  And that orange jumpsuit Berg is wearing 
comes through with striking clarity:  Those are used at Guantanamo, not in 
Iraq.  It's new, it's clean, and it fits.


carp