I see that Nick Berg's father Michael (who is running for Congress) has expressed sadness for Zarqawi's death and blames Bush for the murder of his son:

"I don't think that Zarqawi is himself responsible for the killings of hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq," Berg said in a combative television interview with the U.S. Fox News network. "I think George Bush is.

"George Bush is the one that invaded this country, George Bush is the one that destabilized it so that Zarqawi could get in, so that Zarqawi had a need to get in, to defend his region of the country from American invaders."

Berg said Bush was to blame for the torture of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

"Yeah, like George Bush didn't OK the torture and death and rape of people in the Abu Ghraib prison for which my son was killed in retaliation?" he told his Fox interviewers.

In a telephone interview with Reuters from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, the father said: "I have no sense of relief, just sadness that another human being had to die."

But grieving is not a license to spout nonsense. Back when most of my friends were dying, lots of people were grieving. I and many others were in the direst, most desperate mental states imaginable. Many became activists, and advanced the seemingly plausible claim that AIDS had been created by government scientists at a laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland. It was largely a waste time arguing with them, because this belief was fueled by emotion. (And the need for emotional satisfaction.)

I'm sure there are some people who still believe the Fort Detrick claim.

[Yes there are. Typical claim here; debunked here.]

So I know firsthand how the grieving process can cause people to go through strange and twisted convolutions in their thinking. To the extent that his thoughts are contaminated by misdirected grieving, Michael Berg has my sympathy.

That doesn't mean I'd ever consider agreeing with him.

(Much less voting for him.)

MORE: In the latest story from Yahoo.com, Michael Berg now says Bush is "more of a terrorist than Zarqawi," because Zarqawi looked his son in the eyes when beheading him, while Bush sits in an office:

Berg said the blame for most deaths in Iraq should be placed on President Bush, who he said is "more of a terrorist than Zarqawi."

"Zarqawi felt my son's breath on his hand as held the knife against his throat. Zarqawi had to look in his eyes when he did it," Berg added, pausing to collect himself. "George Bush sits there glassy-eyed in his office with pieces of paper and condemns people to death. That to me is a real terrorist."