Tue Jun 29,12:49 PM ET
By Kate Holton
LONDON (Reuters) - The father of an American civilian beheaded in Iraq (news - web sites) accused President Bush (news - web sites) and the U.S. media Tuesday of ignoring the "horrible face of war."
"People like George Bush and (U.S. Defense Secretary) Donald Rumsfeld (news - web sites) don't see the pain that people have to bear -- they don't know what it feels like to have your guts ripped out," Michael Berg told a news conference.
The decapitated body of Berg's son Nick was found by a roadside in Baghdad and a grisly video of his beheading was posted on an Islamist Web site in May.
"What I'm trying to do is show to the American people and the British people ... that war has a wretchedly horrible face," said Berg's father.
The elder Berg was in London to speak at a demonstration against the foreign troop presence in Iraq Wednesday, which had been scheduled to coincide with the planned U.S. transfer of power to the Iraqi people.
Nick Berg, 26, traveled to Iraq several times looking for work in the reconstruction effort before going missing on April 9.
"He thought he was supporting the Iraqi people and the Bush administration by going over there, not with a gun but with his engineering tools," Michael Berg said.
Bush and the American media have ignored the "true horrors," added Berg senior, who has blamed Bush and Rumsfeld for his son's death in previous interviews. He said he believed anti-war sentiment was now very strong in the United States.
"There are 11,000 plus Iraqi citizens that are dead and each one's family is as affected as I was, but the American media doesn't cover these people. It doesn't cover the people who are suffering the most."
Nick Berg was one of dozens of foreigners kidnapped in early April as U.S. forces launched an offensive on the restive city of Falluja, west of Baghdad.
He was believed to have been beheaded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an al Qaeda supporter.
Since his death, militants have also beheaded U.S. hostage Paul Johnson in Saudi Arabia and South Korean Kim Sun-il in Iraq. All three men were videotaped wearing orange jump suits similar to those worn by prisoners in U.S. detention facilities like Guantanamo Bay.
"This is not a game that people in Washington get to play," Michael Berg said. "It affects people the way it's affected me and my family and the families of Paul Johnson, Kim Sun-il and the thousands of Iraqis."
"Observing someone's pain just makes you think just how can they (Bush and Blair) possibly do this. There isn't enough money in the world that could ever make this worthwhile."