BERG from page 17
ple" in Iraq "who would feel it was a
`two-mints-in-one' to get an American
and a Jew," Kashnow, 25, told JTA.
But not everyone agrees.
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5/14
2004
18
DrIgROIT JEWISH NEWS
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Rabbi Mitchell Ackerson, an Orthodox
rabbi and senior Jewish chaplain for
Operation Iraqi Freedom, just returned
to his native Maryland from Iraq after
nearly one year there.
Despite the killing of a
Jewish civilian, he said he
believed American sol-
diers remained the prime
target for Iraqis insur-
gents.
While in Iraq,
Ackerson never told
Jewish soldiers to hide
their identities, but nei-
ther did he counsel them
to "flaunt" their Judaism.
"I'm not sure what
happened with Berg, but
my gut inclination is he
was not killed because he
was Jewish. Instead, it
was, 'We captured an
American, we're going to prove we're the
tough guys and we're going to kill
him.'"
Ackerson said that if Berg's murder
was religiously motivated, his captors or
the Al Qaeda-linked group that claimed
responsibility "would've highlighted it,"
just as they did with Pearl.
Kashnow's right leg was nearly blown
off by a homemade land mine last
September. He has spent months under-
going operations and therapy — yet he
says he's as sure as ever that the war is
just.
He says Berg's murder should only
deepen American and Jewish faith in the
war on terrorism.
"This is an evil force that has no
moral compunction at all," said
Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chair-
man of the Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations.
Referring to the video showing an
Iraqi holding Berg's severed head aloft
and footage of Palestinian militants
proudly displaying an Israeli soldier's
head and other body parts, Hoenlein
said the two cases point to the same
enemy.
"Their barbarism could not be more
clear after today. On both fronts it's the
same menace," he said.
On the video, Berg's captors said the
killing was to avenge the abuse of Iraqi
prisoners by American soldiers.
Circumstances Unknown
Berg was in Iraq as a freelance contrac-
tor working to repair communications
antennae, the Associated Press reported.
His family members said they had
known of their son's death since the
weekend but did not know of the video
until it surfaced this week.
The family last heard from Berg on
April 9, as he was preparing to return to
the United States via Jordan. U.S. offi-
cials recovered Berg's
Ff
remains May 8. The
u .
zi circumstances of his
Z capture are unknown.
He had planned to
g return home at the
end of March, but his
parents told reporters
he didn't come home
as scheduled and that
the FBI had told
them their son was in
jail in Iraq.
The Bush adminis-
tration and others
voiced outrage at
Berg's killing and
vowed to pursue his
killers. Sen. John Kerry,
D-Mass., the presumptive Democratic
nominee for president, said Berg's killers
"will not prevail."
In West Chester, meanwhile, his fami-
ly and friends were mourning the loss of
someone universally praised as a caring
soul.
"Nick was probably one of the most
amazing men I've ever met," said Aaron
Spool, a fiend of Berg's since they were
in the seventh grade. "He just touched
everyone's life. He was good man, a
good Jew. It's tough. It's very hard."
In the last years of his life, Berg
became increasingly religious. Spool said
Berg began attending the Conservative
Kesher Israel Congregation in West
Chester two years ago and studied the
Torah and Books of the Prophets. He
even traveled to Israel to study Arabic
and Hebrew for the first time just before
going to Iraq.
Still, "he wasn't foolish and he would-
n't have bandied about the fact he was
Jewish" in Iraq, Spool added.
A funeral service was reportedly set for
May 14 at Kesher Israel. 111
JN StaffWriter Harry Kirsbaum, JTA
Washington Bureau ChiefR-on Kampeas,
JTA StaffWriter Matthew E. Berger
in Washington and the Philadelphia
Jewish Exponent contributed to this
report.