Nick Berg

[RPankn]

By posting this, I do not intend to make light of his death or rub more salt into the wound. However, ever since this story broke yesterday, there have been so many anomolies surrounding the circumstances before and during his death, I'm just not buying the movie the major media is trying to sell here.

In this respect, I do think it's important that we discover the truth here and whether he truly got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time or if there's something more sinister at work here; I trust nothing this administration says or does anymore and I certainly wouldn't put it past any of them to cause, or use, the death of their own citizens for their personal gain. I'm not counting on the major media to ask questions either.

Moreover, despite his alleged support for Bush and the war, from everything I've heard about Berg and the acts he's undertaken, he sounded like a very thoughtful, very caring person who was concerned about the state of the world and its people; a sharp contrast to the neocons. I just think it's sad that there's one less person like him in the world, because we sure as hell need all of the Nick Bergs we can get, despite our political differences with one another.

Here's a collection of articles on the video that was released yesterday and some of the questions many, who are also not buying the major media version of events, have:

Who Organised the Beheading of Nick Berg – and Why ?

This outrageous action is being condemned by Iraqis and Muslim scholars while it is also being used to encourage a desire for American retaliation.

As a result, questions are already being asked, concerning the identity and purpose of the murderers.

Please read the following reports.

Beheaded Man's Firm Was On Right-Wing 'Enemies' List [Free Republic had posted Berg's father's and his company's name on their website because his father publicly protested the war]
www.breakfornews.com/NickBergEnemiesList.htm

Fishy Circumstances and Flawed Timelines Surround American's Beheading [This is from Alex Jones' website, some very interesting theories here]

www.infowars.com/print/iraq/berg.htm

Iraq militants claim al-Zarqawi is dead

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4446084/

Iraqis Condemn Beheading Of American Civilian

www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-05/12/article03.shtml

Al-Azhar Scholars Denounce Berg's Beheading

www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-05/12/article08.shtml

Arabs react to Berg decapitation

english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3897D0E4-B263-46FA-B96D-A89AA3C4F4C8.htm

US pledges to catch Berg killers
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3706081.stm

FBI Saw Berg During Iraq Police Detention

www.aljazeerah.info/News%20archives/2004%20News%20archives/May/12n/FBI%20Saw%20Berg%20During%20Iraq%20Police%20Detention.htm

WARNING For those who wish to see photos of the beheading:

Purported Al Qaeda Leader Beheads U.S. Civilian in Iraq

www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6172.htm


Link: www.unobserver.com/layout4.php?id=1663&blz=1

I just noticed the first link doesn't work, here are snippets of that article:

Beheaded Man's Firm Was On Right-Wing 'Enemies' List

www.BreakForNews.com/NickBergEnemiesList.htm
by Fintan Dunne, Editor
BreakForNews.com EXCLUSIVE
Research by Kathy McMahon
12th May, 2004 10amET


The family firm of beheaded American Nick Berg, was named by a conservative website in a list of 'enemies' of the Iraq occupation. That could explain his arrest by Iraqi police --a detention which fatally delayed his planned return from Iraq and may have led directly to his death.

<snip>

The FreeRepublic.com web site and forum has a reputation for right-wing views, fanatical Republicanism and relentless pro-war activism.

On 7th March, 2004, just three weeks before the first anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, an 'enemies' list of anti-war groups and individuals was posted on the Free Republic forum.

It began: "Here you are, FReepers. Here is the enemy."

<snip>

The web traffic to the Free Republic forum --and it's forum membership-- include significant numbers of serving and former US military.

Many members take their online activism very seriously. Some delight in causing mischief for those they think are identified as "enemies."

Within minutes of getting their hands on the antiwar names, one was boasting of having contacted the military about active service personnel who were on the list:



"I forwarded the list to the ISC (the command you listed), the district officer... the district legal office and the investigative services office."

<snip>

[RPankn]

I haven't seen the entire video, and I really don't want to because I can imagine what it shows. In spite of that, my questions re: this situation are:

1.) Of course, the most obvious question is why was Berg still dressed in a bright-orange jumpsuit in the video, which one of the major news outlets had reported was U.S. military issue? Did the military let him out of their custody and into the public in a bright orange jumpsuit? Or is the government telling us that al-Qaeda sneaked into a U.S. prison, picked out Berg and left with him without anyone noticing?

2.) Why do Berg's parents say he was in U.S. military custody but yesterday, Dan Senor claimed he was never in the military's custody, but in the hands of the Iraqi police. Isn't the U.S. in control of the Iraqi police?

3.) Those alleged al-Qaeda terrorists looked awfully well fed compared to many Iraqis shown in pictures and on television and other alleged al-Qaeda members captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Moreover, two had combat boots on and two had Converse hi-top sneakers on; are Converse hi-tops relatively available in Iraq?

4.) I don't have independent confirmation of this, but I have read posts on BBSs from native Arabic speakers who commented that the speaker in the video's accent wasn't an Iraqi one -- they said it sounded rather forced, in fact -- and they could tell the speaker was not a native Arabic speaker.

5.) Also, in respect to the speaker in the video, I have read that he kept reading as if he was looking at the page in front of them even as he was shuffling through the papers in front of him; it's as if a soundtrack had been added to the video later. Also, many people who have commented on the video say it appears to have been splicing together from footage that was shot over an 11 hour period.

6.) The timing of the release of this video. It comes only a few days after Rumsfeld testified that much worse images and video were about to come out re: Abu Ghraib then the public has already seen. And already, we have a new meme in the media of whether, in light of the release of the Berg decapitation video, the release of the more graphic photos from Abu Ghraib should be postponed.

[RPankn]

Already the neocons are seizing on Berg's death and pushing the meme that the Abu Ghraib torture scandal should be forgotten about. This is an unsigned editorial from the NY Post:

NICK BERG'S MURDER


May 12, 2004 -- What cruel, sick bastards.
Indeed, you can't get much more barbaric than the filmed beheading of 26-year-old Nick Berg that splashed across a terrorist group's Web site yesterday.

In case the world needed a reminder of why America is waging its War on Terror, it got one yesterday.

It's hard to imagine the terror that must have filled Berg in those final moments as he realized his hooded captors really were going to kill him.

It wasn't enough that they slaughtered the young Philadelphia businessman like a sheep and held his severed head aloft as if it were a trophy. No, they filmed the whole thing for the world to see.

Soldiers don't behave like that.

Only cowards and thugs do.


Now it's time to ratchet up the response to this war.

Forget Abu Ghraib.

The abuse committed there by a handful of soldiers was not typical; nor is it acceptable.

But the beheading of Nick Berg is par for the course for al Qaeda.

Of course, the terrorists of Muntada al-Ansar, an al Qaeda offshoot, claimed they were acting in retaliation for the Abu Ghraib abuses.

Bull.

There were no known abuses at Abu Ghraib when Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and Italian hostage Fabrizio Quattrocchi were murdered by Islamic terrorists.

And the events at Abu Ghraib had not yet come to light when frenzied crowds in Fallujah burned and mutilated the bodies of four Americans and strung them from a bridge. [This is a baldfaced lie. The shuffle of MPs now accused of torture at AG happened in February, long before the late March deaths of the 4 mercinaries. Would the neocons have us believe that the Iraqi prisoners who escaped or were released don't speak to their families or others?]

No, the massacre of Nick Berg had nothing to do with Abu Ghraib.

Instead, this slaying was about the war against the West in general - and America, in particular. Indeed, the beheading may have been carried out personally by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a top aide of Osama bin Laden.

Some people - some Americans - have forgotten about 9/11.[/u]

That attack should have been enough to justify all-out war. But the hand-wringing over the war in Iraq - and over even the modest steps America took to defend itself, like the Patriot Act - suggests that folks truly have lost sight of what the war is about.

Yesterday they got a shocking reminder. And now they know: This war cannot be waged with half-measures.

It can end only with the total annihilation of those who practice butchery and barbarism. Those who have set as their goal the destruction of America.

There is no negotiating with such people. There can be no compromise with those who mean to destroy us.

Yesterday, the White House promised to "pursue those responsible and bring them to justice." That's the least of it.

America has to come out swinging.

And not stop until every last one of the savage thugs is dead.

If that means a resumption of major combat in Iraq, so be it.

Would it mean another division or so of combat troops to get the job done?

Turn to our garrisons in Europe, or Korea, to get them.

In sufficient numbers to get the job done.

To hell with political sensitivities in the region.

To hell with negotiating with radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Najaf and the Sunni insurgents in Fallujah.

To hell with handing Saddam Hussein over to Iraqis, as some want to do, and risking some reverse - perverse - kangaroo trial that results in his survival.

Evil, cutthroat terrorists need to be eradicated.

Let's face it: This is a job that's going to take overwhelming - yes, brutal - force. There is simply no "nice" or painless way to accomplish this.

As yesterday's slaughter showed (yet again), the enemy is bound by no moral compunctions.

America won't go that far.

But it had better steel it's backbone and get ready to fight like it means it.

It's the only way to win this war.


Link: www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/20645.htm#nosmileys

[RPankn]

From the darkside:

salon.com contacts DFU over FR's role in murder of Nick Berg by Islamofascist Terrorist b*st*rds
email from salon.com reporter | 5-12-04 | dfu


Posted on 05/12/2004 4:27:51 PM PDT by doug from upland


(Note to Admin Moderator: if trolls join this thread to disrupt it or cause problems for FR, please immediately remove stupid, foolish, numbskull, airheaded, threatening, nonsensical comments.)

=====================================================


Apparently, I am in the middle of a controversy regarding the brutal murder of Nick Berg by the Islamofascist terrorist b*st*rds.


I received the following FReepmail today from a salon.com reporter and spoke to him off the record. I will either call him back on the record or he can use my comments here on the record.


Salon.com inquiry, your post on the "enemies list"
From (redacted) | 05/12/2004 11:45:13 AM PDT read


Doug,


Hello. My name is (redacted), and I'm a reporter at Salon.com. On March 7, you posted a list of signatories to an ANSWER protest; that list, which is now being discussed by a few left-leaning bloggers, includes the name of "Michael S. Berg," who is the father of Nick Berg, the man beheaded in Iraq.


It seems as if you just posted a copy of the list from the ANSWER site, but the trouble is, your list appears much longer than the one on their page. Michael Berg's name -- and many others -- is not on their page.


So I wonder if you can tell me where you got your list -- have you any idea why yours is longer than the one they have?


I also wonder what you think about the fact that you named these people enemies; do you really think they're enemies? Some people on left-leaning blogs are floating the theory that Nick Berg was detained or singled out by U.S. authorities in Iraq because of the list you posted. I wonder what you think of that idea?


I'm not trying to attack you; I'm a reporter trying to get to the bottom of this story, and it'd be great to get your input. Can you e-mail or call, or let me know where to reach you? Thanks so much.


--(redacted)
Reporter, Salon.com (phone number redacted)

===================================================


NOTE: my first suggestion was to tell the report to ask ANSWER why many of the names have been removed from that original post.


Here is my post from a few months ago -- HERE IS THE ENEMY -- they have posted their names (http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1092851/posts)


Here is the link for the following excerpt on an FR thread -- Beheaded Man's Firm Was On Right-Wing 'Enemies' List (http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1134294/posts)


Original source -- original article by Fintan Dunne (http://www.breakfornews.com/NickBergEnemiesList.htm)


Beheaded Man's Firm Was On Right-Wing 'Enemies' List
Breakfornews.com ^ | May 12, 2004 | Fintan Dunne
Posted on 05/12/2004 12:59:00 PM PDT by Tarantulas
Beheaded Man's Firm Was On Right-Wing 'Enemies' List


The family firm of beheaded American Nick Berg, was named by a conservative website in a list of 'enemies' of the Iraq occupation. That could explain his arrest by Iraqi police --a detention which fatally delayed his planned return from Iraq and may have led directly to his death.

Nick Berg, 26 disappeared into incommunicado detention after his arrest by Iraqi police in March, 2004. He vanished again after his release 13 days later. His body was found last Saturday in Baghdad, and a video of his beheading --supposedly by a radical Islamic group-- was posted on the Internet on Tuesday.

The official story of his gruesome murder has many dubious aspects, not least the real reason why Iraqi police detained the young man at a checkpoint. New research by BreakForNews has uncovered a plausible explanation.

The FreeRepublic.com web site and forum has a reputation for right-wing views, often fanatical Republican and relentless pro-war activism.

On 7th March, 2004, just three weeks before the first anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, an 'enemies' list of anti-war groups and individuals was posted on the Free Republic forum.

It began: "Here you are, FReepers. Here is the enemy."

The list had been copied from publicly available endorsements of a call to action for an imminent anniversary antiwar protest on 20th March, 2004. The protest was being organized under the banner of the A.N.S.W.E.R Coalition (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism).

Among those listed as having endorsed the call to action was this entry: "Michael S. Berg, Teacher, Prometheus Methods Tower Service, Inc."

That's Nick Berg's father, Michael who acts as business manager for his son in their family radio communications firm, Prometheus Methods Tower Service.

===================================================


Here is my immediate reaction --- what is the color of the sky in the fantasy world which Fintan Dunne calls home?


I can't wait for her next story. Let's set the scenario. Two guys are driving to the airport. Their upper radiator hose bursts, the car overheats, and they miss their flight. They get to the airport a few hours late and are able to catch the next plane. The plane crashes. Fintan Dunne headline: Pep Boys Implicated in Death of Innocent Travelers. If anyone could conceive such twisted logic, it would be Ms. Dunne. Without a defective radiator hose, they would have made it to the airport on time. Without a defective radiator hose they would not have been on the flight where the shoebomber detonated his loafers in the seat just behind the wing.


Do we have an official "enemies list"? If so, what do we do to them? Who is keeping track?

I will let you make some comments before I make additional on the record comments. Please don't be crazy. Think through your argument carefully. Some of this may appear on salon.com and we can perhaps help them get up to about 2 cents per share.


Link to hell: www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1134424/posts

[RPankn]

More than work drew him to Iraq

By John Woestendiek, Scott Calvert and Pat Meisol
Sun Staff

Originally published May 13, 2004

Nick Berg was a big-hearted risk-taker - intent on making the world a better place, willing to do the heavy lifting to make that happen and daring enough to go almost anywhere to do it.

As his body arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware yesterday, friends and co-workers recalled Berg, 26, as a good-natured, adventurous young man whose solo journey to war-torn Iraq was not exclusively for monetary gain.

That assessment was echoed by the White House: "Nick Berg wanted to build a free Iraq for the Iraqi people ... He was an innocent civilian seeking to help," spokesman Scott McClellan said.

President Bush also addressed the videotaped and Internet-posted beheading of Berg for the first time since his body was discovered Saturday near an overpass in Mosul in northern Iraq.

"Their intention is to shake our will. ... Yet by their actions they remind us of how desperately parts of the world need free societies. ... We will complete our mission," he said.

A fuller picture of the suburban Philadelphia businessman - a backer of Bush and a supporter of the war - emerged yesterday, with the release of e-mails that he had written during the first of his two trips to Iraq, one of which describes a damaged radio tower at Abu Ghraib prison.

Berg's father, a retired schoolteacher who opposes the war and sports an anti-Bush bumper sticker on his car, said in an interview with the Associated Press that U.S. officials are responsible for the abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib that led - according to the executioners - to his son's death.

"Nick died for the sins of the Bush administration," Michael Berg said.

Dozens of news media vehicles were outside the Berg's split-level home in West Chester, Pa., yesterday, where a funeral director visited the family.

A private memorial service for Berg - limited to friends and family - is scheduled tomorrow afternoon, said Carl Goldstein, of Goldsteins' Rosenberg's Raphael-Sacks funeral home. "The family is very happy Nick is back in the United States," he said.

Berg, who operated a small communications company from his family's home, first went to Baghdad in late December, returning Feb. 1. In March, he returned to Iraq, but after having trouble finding work there, he told his parents that he would be home by the end of the month.


Detained in Mosul

On March 24, he was detained by Iraqi police in Mosul in a late night sweep. He was released on April 6 after his parents filed alawsuit in federal court in Philadelphia, contending that the U.S. military was illegally holding him.

U.S. officials say he was never in the custody of coalition forces. While in Iraqi police custody, they said, he was interviewed three times by FBI agents who were suspicious of his identity and warned that the country was too dangerous for unprotected Americans. He was offered a free flight home, but he declined, officials said.

But Hugo Infante, a Chilean reporter who got to know Berg in Baghdad, told Newsday that Berg recounted that Iraqi police had quickly handed him to U.S authorities in Mosul and that he had been held the entire time in a jail where U.S. soldiers were his guards.

Berg contacted his parents April 9, but he was not heard from again.

U.S. troops discovered his decapitated body Saturday.

A video posted Tuesday on a Web site linked to al-Qaida depicted the beheading by a group that said it was avenging the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers.


'An adventurous sort'

The youngest of three children, Berg attended Cornell University, Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oklahoma. He didn't receive a degree from any of them, but he did find his niche - rigging and repairing telecommunications equipment, some of it hundreds of feet above the ground.

In 2000, he helped set up the electronics equipment at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.

Two years ago, he formed a small company in Pennsylvania, Prometheus Methods Tower Service, named after a character from Greek mythology who stole fire from the gods and brought it to mortals for their use.

Acquaintances describe Berg as equal parts entrepreneur and good Samaritan. He liked lifting weights, enjoyed comedy and had a passion for taking modern technology to Third-World countries. Friends and family say Berg did volunteer work in Kenya and Ghana, where he taught villagers how to make bricks and drill for water.

"He was an adventurous sort. You kind of have to be if you're going to be climbing these big towers 500 to 1,000 feet up in the air, hanging only by a sling," said Walt Billings, a colleague of Berg's who, along with fellow employee Ed Bukont, turned down the Pennsylvania man's invitation to join him in Iraq.

Billings said Berg worked as a subcontractor for a division of his Baltimore-based company, Total Engine Service and Supply Co.

"He did tower work for radio and television stations. He went up the towers and did all the work associated with that," Billings said. "He knew his work was going to be in demand in Iraq, and that it was going to pay quite handsomely.


'On his own'

"We chose not to go just because of the deteriorating circumstances and concern for life and limb. It's a war zone. We saw it a little bit differently than Nick saw it.

"He wasn't attached to any particular company. He was there on his own," Billings said. "But it's not like he was bumming around looking for a job. He was a specialist in tower work, and one of the first contracts being released was for rebuilding of the radio station infrastructure. He wanted to be in the country, on the ground, when that work started to take off."

Because of increasing security concerns, though, the work never took off, leaving Berg in limbo, Billings said.

"It kept getting pushed back. I'm sure he wasn't hanging around because he wanted to hang around. I'm sure he was waiting for that opportunity to break."

Billings said Berg had done work for his company for about a year and a half. He said he had three jobs waiting for Berg once he came back.

Jeff Loughridge, chief engineer for Infinity Stations, based in Washington, also hired Berg for tower work.

"It started as a business relationship, but he became a very trusted friend," he said. "It takes a unique individual when you are having someone do work 500 feet in the air. You have to find someone you trust. They don't come along all the time, Nick was one of these people. I could trust him to do it top drawer."


E-mail from Iraq

When Berg helped install a communication system in Kenya last year, Loughridge said, he would send his clients e-mail about his adventures there and the work he was doing.

He continued that practice in Iraq.

"About Iraq ... I am taking photos - where allowed," he wrote during his trip in January. "It's actually pretty sad - I just got off one of two 320 meter monster towers in Abu Ghraib (also home to the main political prison) which use[d] to support most of Baghdad area's VHF and UHF. Both have been badly looted. ...

"I'll definitely share some of these pix with you and others next time I'm in the area - I'd love to put together a little presentation for SBE [Society of Broadcast Engineers] ... in about six months after I've been on every site and fixed some of them."


An active student

Berg graduated in 1996 from West Chester Henderson High School, where he was a member of the National Honor Society, and a semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program, school officials said.

He played saxophone and tuba in the marching band and received its top awards, including the "John Phillip Sousa Award," for musicianship, leadership, character and dedication.

Starting at Pierce Middle School, he participated in Science Olympiad team competitions.

Michael DiBartolomeo, who was principal of Henderson when Berg graduated, called him "very bright," a "great citizen," and an involved and persistent youth.

"What I recall, if Nick had an issue with something going on in the school, he would come and tell me about it. If we agreed to disagree, he'd say, 'Mr. Bart, I am going to ask you about this every year.' He did it in such a nice, respectful way that you enjoyed hearing from him."

"He seemed like a really decent guy," said Josh Quinn, 30, bartender at Jitters Sports Bar in downtown West Chester.

"He told me he was going over there," Quinn said. "He didn't seem worried or upset. He was ready to go. He said, 'I'm going to Iraq. I'm going to do my duty.'"

West Chester resident Joe Hiddleson, 30, a building contractor, was among those puzzled by why Berg would want to go Iraq and why he would be chosen for execution.

"If it's retaliation, none of the prisoners had their heads cut off," he said. "He wasn't over there killing people. He was just a guy."


Link: www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.berg13may13,0,1712176.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines

[Moses]

Where is Mosul?

[calabi-yau]

Moses said:

Where is Mosul?

Northern Iraq on the Tigris. Third largest city in Iraq.

[Moses]

Is it in Kurd territory? This is where the CIA has been operating -- a base of theirs, really-- for a decade.

[RPankn]

Yes, Mosul is in the Kurdish region of Iraq.

Note how the neocon media echochamber is already using Berg's death as a call to continue the Muslim genocide. They must have seen that the Abu Ghraib photos and continued deaths of U.S. soldiers was weaking support in the U.S. for this war, not to mention many still wonder what the U.S. is still doing in Iraq after Hussein had been captured.

What a "coincedence" for them that the video of Berg's death came out Wednesday. This is absolutely no different than the neocon cabal using the deaths of 3,000 on Sept. 11th to consolidate their control of the government and the public.

[Moses]

Yes and they were all too ready with the exact same approach

[RPankn]

I'm going to post these pictures, but not make any comments as to what I think at this time. I'll let them speak for themselves and let you all come to your own conclusions.

[RPankn]

I will say this, and this has nothing to do with what I think of these photos, in the third and fourth pictures, those look like very Western postures, don't you think?

[RPankn]

Bizarre New Link In Berg Murder

May 13, 2004


(CBS/AP) A CIA official said Thursday that U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was, in "high probability," the person shown on a video beheading American Nicholas Berg, based on an analysis of the voice on the video.

The speaker on the video, now believed to be al-Zarqawi, reads a lengthy statement criticizing Islamic scholars and taunting the crusaders. Standing alongside four other militants wearing headscarves and masks to disguise themselves, al-Zarqawi then kills Berg.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told reporters Thursday in Baghdad that it appears al-Zarqawi was responsible. The U.S. military has already posted a $10 million reward for Zarqawi for having orchestrated some of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Iraq.

Initially, Berg's murder seemed to be a case of an eccentric young American who was in the wrong place at the worst possible time -- just as the revelations of American mistreatment of iraqi prisoners were coming to light.

But CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin reports on what is turning into a bizarre mystery with a connection to 9/11.

U.S. officials say the FBI questioned Berg in 2002 after a computer password Berg used in college turned up in the possession of Zaccarias Moussaoui, the al Qaeda operative arrested shortly before 9/11 for his suspicious activity at a flight school in Minnesota.

The bureau had already dismissed the connection between Berg and Moussaoui as nothing more than a college student who had been careless about protecting his password.

But in the wake of Berg's gruesome murder, it becomes a stranger than fiction coincidence -- an American who inadvertently gave away his computer password to one notorious al Qaeda operative is later murdered by another notorious al Qaeda operative.

Berg's body was found Saturday in Baghdad. Two e-mails he sent to his family and friends show he traveled widely and unguarded throughout Iraq, an unsafe practice rarely done by Westerners.

On Tuesday, an Islamic Web site released the video, titled "Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi slaughters an American infidel with his own hands."

Al-Zarqawi is thought to be in Iraq, operating his own terrorist network, known simply as the "Zarqawi network." A specialist in poisons, he is thought to have extensive ties across the militant Islamic movement and is considered an ally of Osama bin Laden.

As recently as March, U.S. officials said al-Zarqawi's practice was not to make taped public pronouncements or take credit for attacks. However, in the last five weeks, he has increased his public profile with at least three recordings, including Berg's beheading.

Martin reports that in at least one other case, a high-level al Qaeda operative has personally carried out a brutal killing. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected Sept. 11 mastermind now in U.S. custody, is widely believed to have killed Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Meanwhile Thursday, new details emerged about Berg's last weeks in Iraq — a timeline that has been contested by his family and the U.S. government.

Authorities in Baghdad denied that Berg, 26, was held in U.S. custody before he disappeared in early April, despite claims to the contrary by his family. The authorities said he had been held by Iraqi police for about two weeks and questioned by FBI agents three times.

In Baghdad, U.S. spokesmen Dan Senor said that "to my knowledge" Berg was not affiliated with any U.S. or coalition organization, nor was he ever in U.S. custody.

Iraqi police arrested Berg in Mosul on March 24 because local authorities believed he may have been involved in "suspicious activities," Senor said. He refused to elaborate, except to confirm that the Americans were aware Berg was in custody.

Berg was released April 6 and "was advised to leave the country," Senor added. Instead, Berg checked into a Baghdad hotel.

Berg had told friends he was arrested by Iraqi police in Mosul because he had an Israeli stamp in his passport. In e-mails released by his family, Berg wrote about his experiences in trying to track down and later meet an in-law in the Mosul area.

In Mosul, police chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Khair al-Barhawi insisted Thursday that his department had never arrested Berg and maintained he had no knowledge of the case.

"The Iraqi police never arrested the slain American," al-Barhawi told reporters. "Take it from me ... that such reports are baseless."

Since Iraq remains under U.S. military occupation, it seems unlikely that the Iraqi police would have held Berg, or any other American, for such a length of time without at least the tacit approval of U.S. authorities.

"The Iraqi police do not tell the FBI what to do, the FBI tells the Iraqi police what to do," Berg's father, Michael Berg told the AP. "Who do they think they're kidding?"

The younger Berg told his family that U.S. officials took custody of him soon after his arrest and he was not allowed to make phone calls or contact a lawyer, his father said.

Kimmitt said U.S. forces kept tabs on Berg during his confinement to make sure he was being fed and properly treated because "he was an American citizen."

But the three FBI visits suggest American authorities were concerned about more than Berg's well-being. They may have had their own suspicions about what the young American was doing in Iraq.

Two e-mails Berg sent to his family and friends show he traveled widely and unguarded throughout Iraq, an unsafe practice rarely done by Westerners.

Shortly before Berg's disappearance, he was warned by the FBI that Iraq was too volatile a place for unprotected American civilians and that he could be harmed, a senior FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday.

Officials said the U.S. government warned Berg to leave Iraq, and offered him a flight out of the country, a month before his grisly death.

On April 10, four days after Berg was released from an Iraqi prison, an American diplomat offered to put him on a flight to Jordan, State Department spokeswoman Kelly Shannon said.

But Berg told the diplomat he "planned to travel overland to Kuwait and would call (his) family from there," Shannon said.

Michael Berg said that although his son wanted to leave Iraq, he refused the flight offer because he thought the travel to the airport would be too dangerous.



©MMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.


Link: www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/11/iraq/main616842.shtml

[RPankn]

Diplomat's E-Mails Show Berg in Custody

By JASON STRAZIUSO
Associated Press Writer


Family members provided e-mails Thursday that say Nicholas Berg was held by the U.S. military before he was kidnapped and beheaded, but the government contends the messages were based on erroneous information.

Berg's family has called on the U.S. government to tell all it knows about its contacts with the 26-year-old businessman in the weeks before his body was found last weekend in Baghdad and a gruesome video that showed his beheading was posted on the Internet.

To back its claims that Berg was in U.S. custody, the family on Thursday gave The Associated Press copies of e-mails from Beth A. Payne, the U.S. consular officer in Iraq.

"I have confirmed that your son, Nick, is being detained by the U.S. military in Mosul. He is safe. He was picked up approximately one week ago. We will try to obtain additional information regarding his detention and a contact person you can communicate with directly," Payne wrote to Berg's father, Michael, on April 1.

Payne repeated that Berg was "being detained by the U.S. military" in an e-mail the same day to Berg's mother, Suzanne. The next day, Payne wrote that she was still trying to find a local contact for the family, but added that "given the security situation in Iraq it is not easy."

U.S. officials say Berg was detained by Iraqi police March 24 and was never in the custody of American forces. Berg is believed to have been kidnapped days after Iraqi police or coalition forces released him April 6.

The government says the e-mail from Payne was false. State Department spokeswoman Kelly Shannon said Payne's information came from the Coalition Provisional Authority. The authority did not tell Payne until April 7 that Berg had been held by Iraqi police and not the U.S. military, she said.

"As Mr. Berg had been released, the consular officer did not convey this information to the family because he was released, thankfully," Shannon said. "And we thought he was on his way."

Berg's brother called on the government to come clean about its contacts with the slain American before he died. The family has blamed the government for keeping him in custody for too long while anti-American violence escalated in Iraq.

"They're trying to deflect attention to a couple weeks down the road when no one's paying attention," David Berg said. "I think President Bush needs to be a man about this and tell the truth. I think most, if not all, Americans can figure out who's telling the truth and who's lying."

Meanwhile, the family said Berg had been questioned by the FBI more than a year ago about a contact he had with a terrorism suspect in 1999, while he was a student at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

A senior law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the terror suspect appears to have been acquainted with Zacarias Moussaoui, an al-Qaida adherent now in federal custody and awaiting trial on conspiracy charges stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks.

The official said an e-mail address traced to Berg had been used by the unidentified individual with purported terror connections, but a 2002 investigation showed Berg had never met the individual and had not given the e-mail address to that person.

Michael Berg told reporters Thursday that his son was cleared of any wrongdoing. He said Nicholas Berg met the suspect while riding the bus to classes, and had allowed the suspect to use his computer.

A private memorial for Berg was scheduled for Friday at a West Chester synagogue. Family members declined to discuss burial arrangements.

The Bergs said they want to know if the government had received an offer to trade Iraqi prisoners for Nicholas Berg. On the videotape of his death, Berg's killers made a reference to a trade offer, but U.S. officials have said they knew of no such offer.

Michael Berg said he wanted to hear President Bush address the issue.

"I would like to ask him if it is true that al-Qaida offered to trade my son's life for the life of another person," Michael Berg said. "And if that is true, well, I need that information. ... and I think the people of the United States of America need to know what the fate of their sons and daughters might be in the hands of the Bush administration."

---

Associated Press writers Curt Anderson and Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington contributed to this report.


Link: www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040513/APA/405130871

[Moses]

Arrest and detention by Iraqi police in Mosul-- it makes no sense. Clearly, the US government is lying. Why?