(June 4, 2004) — Politics is synonymous with incompetence and lies. With the now ubiquitous resentment towards the Iraq war, the world looks at every event with political implications. Our government has taken measures to keep up appearances. The public sees these cover-ups as cleverly worded headlines. In Iraq, a tragedy is forgotten and replaced with another. But when the magnitude of the said cover-ups moves beyond headlines and enters the realm of graphic images, the government must resort to their shock-and-awe. The death of Nicholas Berg was a tragedy, but it can be seen as two distinctly different events. One idea is that Berg was killed by the Al-Qaeda leader Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi who then posted the beheading on an Al-Qaeda website. Then there’s the notion that the video is a fake released by the US at an opportune time to draw attention away from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Michael Berg, Nick’s father, told Philadelphia radio, “My son died for the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. This administration did this.” Many in the Arab world share his sentiments.The government has always lied to us, but never has it taken such a reckless measure to divert attention and mislead the public. The leader in the video is supposedly Jordanian terrorist Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi. The clothing in the video is also suspect. The captors’ scarves are worn in a way suggesting that the bearers did not know that the Islamic scarves are worn in a special way. Perhaps most shocking of all the new revelations says Berg was already dead before his decapitation. As his head is being cut, no blood flows out. This would mean that his heart had stopped beating since the jugular and many important arteries are located in the neck. There have been so many lies that there are conspiracy theories for conspiracy theories. Remember once upon a time when we were at war with terrorism and not Iraq? Or when George Bush was so incompetent he choked on a pretzel, but the day after 9-11 he became a hero?