The spectacle of Michael Berg appearing on national television
to lament the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the man who
decapitated his son, will probably end up as nothing more than a
bizarre footnote in the War on Terror.
But Berg’s statements provide a window into the psychological
state of those whose hatred of the president has grown into an
obsession. It is one thing to dislike President Bush or think that
the Iraq War was a colossal mistake. But Berg despises the
President so much, that it leads him to sympathize with his son’s
murderer.
“Well, my reaction is I’m sorry whenever any human being dies,”
Berg
told CNN when asked about the death of Iraq’s leading
terrorist. “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.”
The world should need little reminder of the grisly video in which Zarqawi saws off the head of a screaming
Nick Berg, and holds it up to the camera. Zarqawi’s group took
credit for the May 2004 beheading and the video was published with
a caption reading, “Abu Musab al-Zarqawi slaughtering an
American.”
Berg describes himself as a “pacifist,” yet on Fox News, he
excused Zarqawi’s use of violence. Berg said it
was “to defend his region of the country from American invaders.”
The statement makes even less sense given the fact that Zarqawi was
Jordanian.
Perhaps if Nick Berg were a soldier who was killed in action as
a direct result of Bush’s decision to send troops into Iraq, his
father’s anger toward Bush would be easier to understand. But his
son went to Iraq voluntarily, to make money as a contractor after
the invasion.
Given that it’s difficult to explain Berg’s statements from a
logical standpoint, we are forced to examine them within the
context of the psychological trauma he experienced.
Psychologists have found that one of the most dominant feelings
experienced by those who have been through traumatic events is an
overwhelming sense of helplessness and powerlessness. This has been
found to be true for Holocaust survivors, combat veterans, abused
children and a host of other groups of people who have suffered
directly or witnessed others suffer.
Victims of trauma will use many psychological mechanisms in an
effort to regain a sense that they are in control of events. This
is one of the causes of the phenomenon known as “survivor guilt.”
By blaming themselves for a tragic event, people become convinced
that outcomes are the result of their own actions, and they shield
themselves from their raw emotions.
It is difficult to conceive of an event that would make a father
feel more powerless than watching his captive son cry for help as a
madman across the globe cuts off his head.
Michael Berg experienced something most of us cannot even
conceive of, and viewing him as a victim of trauma makes his
comments less surprising. He doesn’t have any control over the
Muslim fundamentalists in Iraq who murdered his son. But by
speaking out against Bush and the war, and running for
Congress as a Green Party candidate in Delaware, Berg has found a
way to empower himself.
In much the same way that Berg reacted to his son’s death, the
radical anti-Bush crowd reacted to the national trauma of Sept. 11.
It is really difficult to come to grips with why people would want
to take over commercial airplanes and fly them into buildings in an
effort to kill as many civilians as possible. As a result, some
people opted for the easier explanation that it could only happen
because of something America did. Whether it was having troops in
the Persian Gulf, supporting Israel or electing George W. Bush. By
fixating on Bush and protesting the war, they have shifted their
emotions to a realm that they feel more control over.
President Bush deserves honest criticism, no doubt. But the type
of criticism offered by Berg, who declared that Saddam Hussein was
“no worse than George Bush,” is another matter entirely.
