The United States should be proud of itself this morning. Last night, it took a butter knife, dipped it into some delicious freedom butter and spread that tasty freedom all over the body of Al Queda poo-bah Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Strike up the band! Here’s how I think it really happened, though: the White House actually thought they were bombing a gay marriage ceremony in Iraq. After all, it IS getting close to election time, so the folks who run the capitol have to trot out all the issues that got them elected in the first place. No better reason to hop back on the “no-gay marriage” thing, right? You didn’t think it was coincidence that this is back in the news a few months before elections, did you?
Anyway, back to Iraq. Only when they sifted through all the destruction and burned all the rainbow stickers, somebody noticed al-Zarqawi’s body. Strike up the band! Two birds with one stone! The war is over AND gay marriage is dead!!! Hoo-boy! Iran wants to talk now, too!
Seriously, now. This morning as we watched the various reactions to the news, the TV folks resurrected the name of Nick Berg, an American humanitarian who was beheaded by al-Zarqawi in Iraq back in 2004 – all of it very much at the forefront of the news. You’d expect Berg’s father to be, as we American’s like to say, TOTALLY PSYCHED that his son’s murderer was now dead. After all, this is HIS SON! Any father with half a heart would want to hunt down AND KILL the person who killed their son, right?
Um, nope. Mr. Berg’s comments about the news this morning were a very pleasant surprise. Here’s a snippet:
“I have no sense of relief, just sadness that another human being had to die. As the poet John Donne said, any man’s death diminishes me. It doesn’t bring my son back and this will just bring a new cycle of revenge killings.“
So there you go. I have no idea who John Donne is because I hate poetry, but Mr. Berg’s comments are worthy of some kind of medal. The guy, despite his son being brutally murdered for little reason, fucking GETS IT. He gets it. What the hell is the point of all this?
Now, I know that if I ever met such a fate, even my own parents would probably want to exact the same kind of revenge that our military supposedly achieved last night (no worries, mom & dad, I have no trips to Iraq planned). Most parents probably would feel that way and I can’t say how I’d feel myself, because I am not a parent. If there’s anything that comes out of this, though, I hope that my own parents and as many other people as possible start thinking and reacting like Berg has.
And who cares if two women/men want to marry each other? Geezus.