Zarqawi death 'double tragedy'
2006-06-08 19:27
Dover - The father of Nicholas Berg, a US contractor believed to have been beheaded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq, said on Thursday that he did not see any good coming from al-Zarqawi's death.
"I see more death coming out of al-Zarqawi's death," Michael Berg told The Associated Press after learning a US air strike had killed the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Al-Zarqawi is believed to have beheaded two Americans in 2004: Nicholas Berg, a 26-year-old businessman from West Chester, Pennsylvania, and Eugene Armstrong, a 52-year-old contractor from Hillsdale, Michigan.
Armstrong's family did not want to discuss al-Zarqawi on Thursday morning.
"An evil man is dead, and what more can you say?" said family spokesperson Cyndi Armstrong, the wife of the slain contractor's cousin.
Nicholas Berg's father, a pacifist who is running for Delaware's US house of representatives seat on the Green Party ticket, said al-Zarqawi's death is likely to foster anti-American resentment among al-Qaeda members who feel they have nothing left to lose.
He dismissed the notion that al-Zarqawi's death might bring him closure.
"First of all, I'm not even certain that al-Zarqawi killed my son," said Michael Berg, who said he did not believe the videotape of his son's execution or what he had been told by the FBI any more than he believed conspiracy theories suggesting his son had been killed by the US government.
"I think the news of the loss of any human being is a tragedy. I think al-Zarqawi's death is a double tragedy," he said.
"His death will incite a new wave of revenge. George Bush and al-Zarqawi are two men who believe in revenge."
Berg said "restorative justice" - such as being forced to work in a hospital where maimed children are treated - could have made al-Zarqawi "a decent human being".
Al-Zarqawi was killed by a US airstrike on a remote area 48km northeast of Baghdad.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq confirmed al-Zarqawi's death and vowed to continue its "holy war", according to a statement posted on a website.
The group has taken responsibility for numerous mortar attacks, suicide bombings, beheadings and other violence against US and Iraqi targets in the past few years.
President George W Bush, speaking outside the White House on Thursday morning, said al-Zarqawi's death was "a severe blow" to al-Qaida but said the war on terror would continue.
"This violent man will never murder again," Bush said.
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Associated Press writer David N. Goodman in Detroit contributed to this report.
AP
- AP