I confess to being stunned that, in the middle of this enormous grief, Nick Berg's father would make an outrageous political statement placing blame for his son's death on President Bush, and equating him and Don Rumsfeld with the terrorist organization al Qaeda.

I understand Mr. Berg is a peace activist who opposed the war in Iraq, and I respect his right to hold those opinions.

But perhaps he might consider that other parents lost sons and daughters on 9/11 at the hands of these same terrorists in situations of equally undeserved horror, and that every American remains a target for these monsters who hate us, the freedoms we enjoy and our way of life.

Responsibility for Nick Berg's murder rests solely with the animals who killed him in a most brutal fashion, apparently wanting themselves to make a political statement. And responsibility for Nick Berg being in harm's way in Iraq rests solely with his own decision to travel independently to such a dangerous and unstable area.

John Weekley, Dallas, Texas