Petrelis Files

Dear Friends:

The horrific murder of Nick Berg has been difficult for me to process, not just as a queer AIDS activist against the U.S. war in Iraq, but also simply as an American citizen who wants peace, justice and human rights to prevail everywhere.

I simply can't fathom the barbarity that led to Berg's death, or any justification for it.

Yesterday, I looked at ten stills from the videotape of Berg's murder and was disturbed at what I saw, but I couldn't take my eyes off the images. The only frame of reference for me with which to eye the stills was Pasolini's final film, "Salo."

Today, I met up with my friend Clinton Fein in the Castro and when the subject of the videotape came up, he said he found it on the web last night and posted the entire tape on his site, annoy.com.

I thought I would be able to witness this heinous act all the way through, but I couldn't make it past the part where the masked man who towered over Berg, reading the statement, begins slicing Berg's neck.

Honestly, it seemed to me if I could sit all the way through "Salo," at age 20, no less, then surely I'd be able to watch this videotape. I was wrong.

Also yesterday, Andrew Sullivan posted the following on his blog:

"WHERE IS THE WEBSITE? The mainstream media is driving me bonkers. They keep referring to an al Qaeda website that carries the video of the beheading of Nick Berg. But they won't tell us the name of the website! Not only will they not show what al Qaeda really is, they won't even allow us to know how to find it. If anyone out there has a link, please let me know. We can get around the Washington Post, which has a 'slideshow' of American abuse but won't even provide a link to the horrors perpetrated by the enemy."

Here's the link he, and maybe others, are looking for: www.annoy.com/sectionless/beheading.wmv.

Share it with others, who may be strong enough to watch the entire videotape.

If you're thinking of visitng Fein's web site and viewing the videotape, be forewarned: It is as gruesome and agonizing as everything you've heard.

Michael Petrelis
San Francisco, CA