Beheading Victim Lived Life of Adventure (Nick Berg)

AP via Times Daily ^ | Tuesday, May 11, 2004 | By JASON STRAZIUSO

[weegee]

WEST CHESTER, Pa. -- Ever since he graduated from high school, Nick Berg lived a life of adventure.

He took college classes at Cornell, Drexel, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oklahoma. He helped set up electronics equipment at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 2000. He even made several trips to Third World Countries -- at one point teaching villagers in Ghana how make bricks.

His latest adventure was an independent trip to Iraq to help rebuild its infrastructure. But the trip ended in tragedy when Berg, 26, was beheaded by an al-Qaida-affiliated group that said the killing was to avenge the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers.

Friends and family members describe Berg as smart, funny and enormously generous.

His father said Berg returned from his trip to Ghana emaciated because he gave away most of his food, and the only possessions he had were the clothes on his back.

"That's the kind of passion we're dealing with here," Michael Berg said.

Berg, who was unmarried, owned a small business that worked with communication equipment like radio towers, and had traveled to Third World countries to help spread technology, his family said.

He saw his trip to Iraq, his father said, as an adventure, but one that fit into his ideology. He was a war supporter and backed the Bush administration.

After working for a Texas company, Nick Berg went into business for himself in West Chester, near Philadelphia. Berg flew to Iraq on Royal Jordanian airlines, his father said. His father thought that would be the route he would take out of Iraq and even showed up at Kennedy Airport in New York in hopes of picking him up March 30.

His friends at the local YMCA said Berg worked out and swam several times a week, that he was interested in power lifting and that he was always quick with a joke.

"Some of the hardest laughter I had at the fitness center were from the jokes he told," said Nick Fillioe, a sports director at the West Chester Area YMCA.

"I would say he was a free spirit, very intelligent," he said. "He was a real smart guy. He knew a little bit about everything." Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press

[weegee]

I watched elements from all 3 networks broadcasts. What is clear is that the Islamofascists took advantage of the media hype to execute this man.

They had kidnapped him long before the abuse photos story broke.

[TomGuy]

Berg family via AP Nick Berg in a family photo.

The whiningLibs are responsible for this man's horrific death!

[nuconvert]

Thanks for posting this.

[rhombus]

Classic American guy - entrepreneurial, compassionate, active. He should be remembered for his devotion to American ideals in a savage world.

[LadyDoc]

the Islamofascists made a mistake. They just reminded Americans why we might be mad enough to mistreat terrorists who landed in jail...

[billhilly]

It looks as though Tillman has a new buddy now.

[webheart]

...by an al-Qaida-affiliated group...

I thought there was no connection between Iraq and al Qaida, at least that is what I have been told.

[Diogenesis]

THIS BEHEADING WAS DIRECTLY DUE TO DAN RATHER AND CBS
AIDED BY BROKAW, AND JENNINGS AND THE OTHERS AT CNN,NPR,NBC, and ABC
BY THEIR ENDLESS ENABLEMENT, ENCOURAGEMENT, AND SPONSORSHIP OF TERRORISM.

[weegee]

What prisoners? This keeps up they won't take prisoners.

"Noooo prisonerrrrrs!" as was yelled in Lawrence of Arabia.

[Williams]

Sounds like the filthy animals killed a very fine and interesting young man. I envy the adventures he undertook. I just saw the video it is horrific and every station should show it. They don't give a damn about that young man. Leftists get lots of people killed.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Sounds like he was everything Rachel Corrie was not.

And Ceci Connelly is already trying to spin who he was and what he was doing in Iraq.

[weegee]

It helps to identify more background and is missing from some of the other articles.

He's been a captive. Why didn't we learn of his captivity earlier? Is it because "Americans captured by terrorists" (or "revolutionaries" as Michael Moore calls his new heroes) isn't newsworthy anymore?

If Michael Moore is so certain that these terrorists in Iraq are fighting a battle and deserve to win, then when will he step forward on their behalf to make way for the Red Cross to visit these civilian "prisoners".

The human rights issue cuts much worse on the Iraqi side. The double standard is sickening.

[fishtank]

Do you know if Berg was Jewish? Was he targeted if he was?

A double curse from the Islamics: being American AND Jewish.

[JOE6PAK]

We will NEVER FORGET! Your spirit will live forever with all the freedom loving people here at Free Republic!

GOD SPEED NICK.

[GarySpFc]

There are two words that describe these people...DEPRAVED MONSTERS.

[Guenevere]

bttt..What you said!

[My2Cents]

Well said!! I'm sick of arrogant news media types who are constantly giving aid and comfort to this nation's enemies!

[Travis McGee]

Tearful bump. GBU Nick....

[nuconvert]

"He's been a captive. Why didn't we learn of his captivity earlier? Is it because "Americans captured by terrorists" (or "revolutionaries" as Michael Moore calls his new heroes) isn't newsworthy anymore?"

That's one for the media to answer.