From the May 2004 Idaho Observer:

From photo scandal to ritual TV murder

Is the Bush administration orchestrating atrocities to prompt international angst; or is the military staging a mutiny?

Since the Iraqi POW scandal broke recently, the world has been forced to endure daily revelations as the story of perverse sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners unfolds.

On May 11, 2004, 26-year-old American civilian Nicholas Berg was ritualistically beheaded. Before the international television-viewing world, five hooded men, allegedly members of al Queda, read a statement denouncing the treatment of Iraqi POWs held at the Abu Ghreib prison. Then one unsheathed a large knife, cut Berg's head off and held it up for the camera, vowing that more retribution awaits America.

The act is a sad example of how severely international relations have been strained since the U.S. declared its “war on terrorism” in the wake of 9/11. It appears that from here on out there will be no recognition of international conventions intended to minimize the inhumanity of war.

The current hostilities are a direct result of 9/11.The evidence indicates that, at the very least, the Bush administration failed to prevent 9/11 when it had advance warning. That means the resultant “war on terrorism” was declared by a government that was, at best, so incompetent it could not intercept four hijacked airplanes before they crashed into key targets on American soil -- one being the Pentagon, which is in one of the most secure airspaces on the planet. Soon after declaring war on terrorism, the Bush administration began waging war on Americans' civil liberties. The war on the American people seems to be going more smoothly than the mission to bring freedom to the Iraqi people: By now Americans can expect that all their movements, financial transactions and communications are being monitored while increasingly militant anti-American sentiment in Iraq has made restoring order and repairing damage there impossible.

We know from experience that the dominant media is controlled. That brings into focus an important question: Why has the Iraqi POW scandal been top, frontpage news for over two weeks? There are only three possibilities: The Bush administration is orchestrating this perverse media spectacle to prompt another terrorist attack that cannot be traced to it; the Bush administration is no longer in control and the military, disgusted with the treasonous incompetence of the civilian government is staging a mutiny or; an entity that is neither the civilian Bush administration nor the military is gaining control of U.S. political power.

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Note: Since publishing the story May 14, 2004, a lot of background detail about Berg and much speculation as to the identity of the alleged killers is beginning to surface. It is likely there is more to it than met the eyes because nothing involving the U.S. is as it seems. (DWH)