Hopelessly naive or a benediction? "An Open Letter to the Anti-War Community and Public-at-Large on Nick Berg and the War"

"To All Fellow Anti-War Activists, and the Public at Large,

A few days ago a respected fellow anti-war activist in Chicago by the name of Daniel Romero posted a message to our discussion list after he had viewed the decapitation video of Nicholas Berg. Although I very much did not want to watch it, I found myself unable to shake Daniel’s words out of my head:
“I convinced myself that by seeing ALL of this…illegal war I might somehow gain a new and profound insight. That the experience of seeing Nick Berg beheaded would magically elevate and deepen my understanding of the causes and consequences of war.”
So I watched it.
There is something in the scream of any animal that knows it is being killed that is unmistakable. It bores through you to the worst parts of your being and just guts you. Every mother on earth who heard that scream had to have doubled over in pain; it is that scream that causes our hearts to race and our bodies to tremble like they do. It’s a primal flight response. And in remembering this as I write this letter, I feel the same elevated response. I imagine I will feel this for quite some time now.
It was probably the worst thing I have ever seen. But I am grateful that I forced myself to view it, and I think that everyone should watch it, no matter how sickening it may be.
I fully realize that is an unrealistic wish and will never happen. But if it ever did, I firmly believe it would change the course of events. I have no doubt that the anti-war movement can benefit tremendously from the marketing of this video. Unfortunately, I am equally convinced it will also fan the xenophobic fans of hatred in ways they have never been by the extremists, in ways Hannity and Limbaugh are already doing.
I have a very hard time with moral language. I don’t like the word “evil”. I don’t believe it exists, I think it is a human construct used by some, generally religious adherents, to constrain and explain “the Shadow”, which is that part of our psyche where all our shame and negative experiential emotions are kept, the things that lead to psychotic breaks, which generally lead to violence and killing. I believe all human beings have an equal capacity for what is known as “good” and “evil”. I like to put it this way: Evil is something you do, not something you are.
However we understand the concept of “evil” behavior, we must acknowledge that humanity’s capacity for hatred directed at each other seems to have no limit, and these acts were on the surface seemingly “unmitigated evil.” But we must keep perspective and recognize things for what they are.
What the Americans are doing to Muslims all over the world is unspeakable, but it is not borne out of evil, it is borne out of sublimely clever calculation, and colossal blundering. And likewise with the Arab/Iraqi resistance. Whoever concocted this gruesome message was savvy with media and politics. They knew that if what they were doing were to actually be seen by the people, this one pointed death would rock the world. Somehow they understood all too clearly that this would become an archetype for this war.
This video has become an archetype for the War in Iraq in the same way that the footage of a Viet Cong soldier being shot in the head by a South Vietnamese officer became one of the two main archetypal images (along with the naked girl running from the napalm strike) of the Vietnam War. It expressed the horror and the inhumanity in the same way, and it reflects the cultural schism that exists between our two worlds in the same way. It also showcases the extent both sides will go to make their point. Two individual acts of summary execution become the representative symbols of two nightmarish illegal and imperial wars.
My heart breaks for the Berg family, and I hope they did not have to see the video. This nation owes them. George Bush owes them. He wanted a “crusade”, he told them to “bring it on”, and that’s exactly what they did. I lay Nick’s blood and the blood of thousands of others at his feet. And for what? For our schizophrenic addiction to the oil which powers the engines of trade liberalization? A line must be drawn.
In the days since I viewed the video, I have felt a profound shift within myself and my views. The anti-war movement is plagued with internecine struggles between factions of people who all generally support the same overall anti-war idea but cannot accept each other’s individual politics. I admit at times I was one of the worst culprits. And as I got on the phone and began talking to my friends in the movement around the country and around the world, they all recount the same story. This movement has the same problems from coast to coast and across borders too. Entitlement, ideological conflicts, sectarianism, bickering, gossip, cliques, what have you. As I lay in bed that night I thought to myself, we are perhaps the most narcissistic peace movement in history.
It suddenly dawned on me that if Nick Berg’s parents could see or hear the bickering and resentment that goes on in what purports to be the anti-war movement, well, they might wither and die from the sheer loss of hope. We are all to blame for this, no one is immune. But we have not been effective.
The guilt and remorse I felt for my own part in it was a powerful motivator for change. It is now clear that what is needed in this movement, what is so desperately needed, is unity, growth, respect, insight, and commitment to seeing this cause through. It needs to grow into a true broad-based coalition that represents the voice of the people, and more people need to be made to feel welcome and they need to be constructively educated to the issues, not torn down for what they believe in. Beneath our ideological and cultural personas, we are at our core people just trying to survive.
In the wake of this realization it became clear that we have truly passed a tipping point. Because of the actions of a few in power, this nation is hated in ways it never has been, and as Malcolm X said forty years ago about the Kennedy assassination, the “chickens have come home to roost”. I don’t want to be naïve; I really think things are going to get a whole lot worse everywhere before they get any better. Knowing that, I also know I certainly don’t have the time to waste in divisive behavior. For me, that meant letting go of a lot of hang-ups and controls, and making peace with myself on a number of fundamental issues. I can’t speak for what anyone else should do, but it is my hope that my words help someone be more reflective.
The war has finally penetrated my own selfish motives and had rooted in my soul. For whenever I may slide off my vigilant post and slip back into selfishness, I will invariably hear the screams of Nick Berg as he died for our sins.
It is my sincere hope that this movement becomes what it needs to be, and I certainly will do my part to make it so."