- The father of Nick Berg - the US civilian beheaded in
Iraq - has sent a message of support to the Stop the War Coalition.
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- Michael Berg contacted the coalition to offer his backing
after it sent him a letter of sympathy.
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- His strongly-worded message will be read out at an anti-war
demonstration in London on Saturday.
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- Mr Berg said that his son had suffered the consequences
of policies of the Bush administration.
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- My hero
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- Mr Berg said: "When I eulogized my son, Nick, I
said that he was my teacher and my hero.
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- "He was the kindest, gentlest human being I know
or have ever known."
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- His son's headless corpse was found on 9 May in Baghdad
and days later a video of his decapitation appeared on an al-Qaeda related
website.
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- The hooded men who carried out the killing claimed they
were avenging the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
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- The Stop the War Coalition will release Mr Berg's full
statement at a press conference on Wednesday.
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- One of the march's organisers Chris Nineham told the
BBC: "He [Mr Berg] feels that what needs to come out of the horrific
death of his son is that a message has to be sent to Bush and Blair to
say that the barbarity of war has to stop.
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- "That's his response to the terrible events that
have happened to his son.
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- He continued: "I think the fact that someone has
responded so thoughtfully to the death of their son is a message to the
people of America and elsewhere to say that we understand that violence
breeds violence.
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- "That violence was originally perpetrated by the
American government, the British government and by the military and the
only way to end the cycle of violence is for the US and British troops
to come out immediately."
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- The Stop The War Coalition with the Muslim Association
of Britain and CND have called for the emergency demonstration this Saturday
to demand an end to torture in Iraq and the withdrawal of troops from the
country.
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- A total of 200 anti-war protesters protested outside
a Republican fundraising dinner in central London on Tuesday night attended
by former US president George Bush senior.
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- Glasgow Kelvin MP Mr George Galloway was among the Stop
the War coalition demonstrators.
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- Saturday's march will be the latest in a series of protests
by the coalition against the Iraq conflict.
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- © BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3727293.stm
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