Iraq: 'What Americans are really like'

Anti-war activists sending photos to Iraqis
Pictures are meant to show 'what Americans are really like'


The Associated Press

Oct. 16, 2004
NYACK, N.Y. - More than 2,000 people opposing the war in Iraq, including the father of an American beheaded by terrorists, are sending Iraqis personal photos with protest messages to show ?what Americans are really like.?

The pictures, from all around the country, are meant to be a counterpoint to the infamous images of Americans abusing Iraqi prisoners. Each photo shows at least one sign, usually handmade. Some specifically criticize U.S. actions in the war while others simply extend sympathy to Iraqi civilians.

?With deep shame, we apologize for the suffering our country has brought to the people of Iraq,? says a banner in a photo showing 11 people in Vancouver, Wash. Three elderly people in Minneapolis declare, ?All our children long for a new day.?

Michael Berg, whose son Nicholas was executed last spring by an al-Qaida-affiliated group, holds a sign in his photo that says, ?I am sorry and ashamed for the tremendous loss my government has caused the Iraqi people.?

?I truly feel that what the United States government has done to the once-sovereign nation of Iraq is atrocious and shameful,? he said in a phone interview. Berg, whose opposition to the war predates his son?s execution, will be in Washington on Wednesday when the project is formally unveiled by the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Undercutting U.S. troops?
The peace group, which organized the project, said it wants Iraqis to know that most Americans were shocked by the photos of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqis prisoners and many regret a war being waged in their name.

A veterans? group, however, believes the project undercuts U.S. soldiers.

Jerry Newberry, spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said, ?This type of thing only serves to undermine the effort and the sacrifice of our military in Iraq. These people on the face of it seem to have a political agenda. ... It implies that what we?re attempting to do in Iraq is shameful.?