New York, Tuesday, April 20, 2004 Videotaped
execution of U.S. Jew raises questions about
terror's targets By Joe
Berkofsky  NEW
YORK, May 12 (JTA) -- The world may
never know for sure if Nicholas Berg's
religion played a role in his grisly execution at
the hand of terrorists in Iraq.
But many, including his family, are speculating
that it was a factor in the terrorists' decision to
kill the American Jewish civilian who had gone to
the war-torn country in search of business.  A
video that surfaced on the Internet on Tuesday
showed the decapitation by masked Iraqis of Berg,
26, of West Chester, Pa.
The scene echoed the 2002 murder in Pakistan of
Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl,
who was forced to admit his Jewishness on tape just
before his captors cut off his head. The killing raises questions about whether a
Jewish person -- civilian or military -- is in any
graver danger than anyone else in such a volatile
region. Shoshana Bryen, director of special
projects for the Washington-based Jewish Institute
for National Security Affairs, said it makes sense
that Jews would be targeted in Iraq. "There are people in these countries who are
looking to kill people who are members of certain
groups," Bryen said. "The two at the top of the
list are Americans and Jews." Though Berg's religion
wasn't mentioned on the video, posted on a Web
site linked to Al-Qaida, Berg cites his family
members, similar to the way Pearl did. Berg is seen saying, "My name is Nick Berg, my
father's name is Michael, my mother's name is Susan
. . . I have a brother and sister, David and
Sarah." His father, Michael, inundated by reporters
Tuesday as his family was still grieving, said his
son's religion may have made him a target. "There's a better chance than not that they knew
he was Jewish," his father was quoted saying. "If
there was any doubt that they were going to kill
him, that probably clinched it, I'm guessing." His father also told
reporters that his son routinely wore a tzitzit,
or traditional fringed undergarment, although he
didn't wear it in public. Joseph Kashnow, an Army Cavalry scout
from Baltimore who has returned from Baghdad, felt
strains of anti-Semitism before coming home after a
severe injury. Kashnow, an Orthodox Jew who wore a kipah but
usually hid it under his helmet, said that while
most of the time his religion wasn't an issue, he
did encounter problems. As an American Jewish soldier in Baghdad,
Kashnow said he learned better than to pursue one
particular conversation with a local man. "He said, 'Saddam wasn't so bad, at least he
wasn't Jewish,' " recalled Kashnow, 25. "Not a
person I wanted to continue having a chat
with." "It's certainly possible there are people" in
Iraq "who would feel it was a 'two-mints-in-one' to
get an American and a Jew," Kashnow told JTA. But not everyone agrees. Rabbi Mitchell Ackerson, an Orthodox
rabbi and senior Jewish chaplain for Operation
Iraqi Freedom, just returned to his native Maryland
from Iraq after nearly one year there. Despite the
killing of a Jewish civilian, he said he believed
American soldiers remained the prime target for
Iraqis insurgents. While in Iraq, Ackerson never told Jewish
soldiers to hide their identities, but neither did
he counsel them to "flaunt" their Judaism. "I'm not sure what happened with Berg, but my
gut inclination is he was not killed because he was
Jewish. Instead, it was, 'We captured an American,
we're going to prove we're the tough guys and we're
going to kill him.'" Ackerson said that if Berg's murder was
religiously motivated, his captors or the
Al-Qaeda-linked group that claimed responsibility
"would've highlighted it," just as they did with
Pearl. Kashnow's right leg was nearly blown off by a
homemade land mine last September. He has spent
months undergoing operations and therapy -- yet he
says he's as sure as ever that the war is just. He says Berg's murder should only deepen
American and Jewish faith in the war on terrorism.
"Berg was fighting to rebuild the country and make
it safe for freedom. It's still a tragedy," he
said. Kashnow is not alone. "Should people think twice or should we continue
this?" said Judy Ledger, whose son and
daughter -- and their spouses -- all served with
the U.S. military in Iraq. "You do have to realize
there's a danger, but the danger is no more if
you're in the military than if there is a hate
crime" in the United States. But Ledger told JTA in an earlier interview that
as a mother, her children's Jewishness always was
in the back of her mind. Ledger recalled how when her son, Matt, first
went to the Iraq war theater before the conflict
began, she urged him to remove the word "Jewish"
from his military dog tags. But he refused, saying,
"I don't want a priest
praying over me if I get killed." Some Jewish organizational officials echoed
Kashnow's view that Berg's murder, combined with
Tuesday's videotaped killing of six Israeli
soldiers by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip --
should deepen the commitment of Jews and other
Americans to the war on terrorism. "This is an evil force that has no moral
compunction at all," said Malcolm Hoenlein,
executive vice chairman of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish
Organizations. Referring to the video showing an Iraqi holding
Berg's severed head aloft and shouting, "Allahu
akbar," or "God is great" -- and footage of
Palestinian militants proudly displaying an Israeli
soldier's head and other body parts -- Hoenlein
said the two cases point to the same enemy. "Their barbarism could not be more clear after
today. On both fronts it's the same menace," he
said. ON the video, Berg's captors said the killing
was to avenge the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by
American soldiers. The parents of Daniel Pearl, who immigrated to
Los Angeles in the 1960s from Israel, prepared a
statement for the media after news of Berg's
killing circulated Tuesday. "We have heard from the news about the videotape
showing the tragic death of Nicholas Berg in Iraq.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and
friends at this extremely difficult time," the
statement said. "Our heart goes out to them. Kidnapping,
torture, humiliation and murder must have no place
in this world," the statement went on. "We call on
people of principle around the world to help stop
the madness and take a stand for humanity." Ironically, Berg's father, Michael, and his
small business, Prometheus Methods Tower Service
Inc., were listed as endorsers of a coalition
called Act Now to Stop War
and End Racism. The coalition opposed the
Iraq war, though Nicholas Berg reportedly supported
it. Berg was in Iraq as a freelance contractor
working to repair communications antennae, The
Associated Press reported. His family members said
they had known of their son's death since the
weekend but did not know of the video until it
surfaced this week. The family last heard from Berg on April 9, as
he was preparing to return to the United States via
Jordan. U.S. officials recovered Berg's remains May
8. The Bush administration and others voiced
outrage at Berg's killing and vowed to pursue his
killers. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the
presumptive Democratic nominee for president, said
Berg's killers "will not prevail." Berg's friends and neighbors were devastated to
learn of his fate. Reached by phone, Berg's parents
declined to comment on their son's death. The circumstances of his capture are unknown He had planned to return home at the end of
March, but his parents told reporters he didn't
come home as scheduled and that the FBI had told
them their son was in jail in Iraq. In West Chester, meanwhile, his family and
friends were mourning the loss of someone
universally praised as a caring soul. "Nick was probably one of the most amazing men
I've ever met," said Aaron Spool, a friend
of Berg's since they were in the seventh grade. "He
just touched everyone's life. West Chester is going
to be a much emptier place without him. He was good
man, a good Jew. It's tough. It's very hard." In the last years of his life, Berg became
increasingly religious. Spool said Berg began
attending the Conservative Kesher Israel
Congregation in West Chester two years ago and
studied the Torah and Books of the Prophets. He
even traveled to Israel to study Arabic and Hebrew
for the first time just before going to Iraq. Still, "he wasn't foolish -- he wouldn't have
bandied about the fact he was Jewish" in Iraq,
Spool added. A funeral service was reportedly set for Friday
at Kesher Israel, which said members "mourn with
the family." Glenn Brown, a friend of the Spool family
who occasional would have Shabbat meals with Berg
in West Chester, recalled the young man as being "a
sincere individual." He said, "It is a huge tragedy and loss. He
seemed hard-working and industrious." (JTA Washington bureau chief
Ron Kampeas, JTA staff writer Matthew E. Berger in
Washington and the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent
contributed to this report.) © Jewish
Telegraphic Agency. 
US businessman Nick
Berg executed on camera | Mr Irving's
commentary-
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Press release
| US businessman Nick
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commentary | odd
thing about Berger and his father and their
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| Boston
Globe: Questions surround Berg
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