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Parents blame Bush for son's execution
financial times ^ | Published: May 12 2004 5:00 | Joshua Chaffin

Posted on 05/11/2004 7:27:30 PM PDT by CGASMIA68

Parents blame Bush for son's execution By Joshua Chaffin in Washington Published: May 12 2004 5:00 | Last Updated: May 12 2004 5:00

Parents of a UScontractor executed by Islamic militants in Iraq are blaming the Bush administration for his death, saying that US authorities had contributed to the tragedy by unlawfully detaining their son for nearly two weeks before his disappearance.

Michael Berg claimed yesterday that his son, Nick, was held by US authorities without access to a telephone or lawyer because of suspicions that he was an insurgent or terrorist. By the time he was finally released in early April, according to Mr Berg, the security situation had so deteriorated that it was difficult for him to make his way home.

"That's really what cost my son his life, the fact that the United States government saw fit to keep him in custody for 13 days without any of his due process or civil rights," Mr Berg said.

Nick Berg, a small business owner from Pennsylvania, went to Iraq in December to help rebuild the country's infrastructure. Instead, he became the latest western contractor to have died a grisly death in that pursuit.

His headless body was found on a roadside by US soldiers yesterday. A video from an al-Qaeda-affiliated website depicted his decapitation by a gang of men who claimed to be taking revenge for the abuses committed by US soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison.

The execution drew outraged comments from US leaders. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said those responsible had "no regard for the lives of innocent men, women and children".

Rick Santorum, a Republican senator from Mr Berg's home state, called it "an outrage to the civilised world", and said: "If anyone wants to know what we're fighting and why we're fighting this war on terrorism, this is a very good example of it."

The family's accusation comes as the Bush administration struggles to fend off allegations that it has denied the civil rights of thousands of mostly Arab detainees it is holding in military prisons around the world on suspicion of terrorism.

Mr Berg was apprehended by Iraqi officials near the northern city of Mosul on March 24, according to his father, who claims that he was then interrogated by FBI agents.

Mr Berg was released on April 6, a day after his parents filed a lawsuit in federal court naming defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld as a defendant, and claiming that their son was being unlawfully held. They last heard from him on April 9.

The FBI said it was premature to comment on the case. An official familiar with the case acknowledged that FBI agents had interviewed Mr Berg, but said he was in Iraqi - not American - custody. The official was unable to clarify the legal difference between the two, given the US occupation.

But Mr Berg's father disputed this, saying it was "the FBI", when asked in a radio interview who had detained his son.

"We named Rumsfeld as the responsible person, and I still hold him responsible," Mr Berg said. "It's the whole Patriot Act. It's the whole feeling of this country that rights don't matter any more because there are terrorists about," he added. Additional reporting by Edward Alden


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; answer; beheading; berg; decapitation; iraq; nickberg
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Comment #41 Removed by Moderator

To: All
Attention liberal media "May the feeding frenzy begin".
42 posted on 05/11/2004 7:54:33 PM PDT by Bringbackthedraft (BBTD is back, Cancer gone, on to recovery. And a big thank you to my Vietnamese Hospital orderly.)
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To: tricky_k_1972
Thanks for that reminder. I needed that.
43 posted on 05/11/2004 7:54:47 PM PDT by arasina (So there.)
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To: Right_in_Virginia
We named Rumsfeld as the responsible person, and I still hold him responsible," Mr Berg said.
Well, that didn't take long.


Well, Rush predicted this in today's broadcast!?! "Rush is right!"
44 posted on 05/11/2004 7:55:00 PM PDT by danamco
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To: GottaLuvAkitas1
These poor usefull idiots with their minds stuffed with socialism to the hilt. They will blame their parents. They will blame something in their repressed memory. They will blame it on green eggs and ham. They will blame their teacher. They will blame Rumsfeld. They will blame Bush. They never will take any responsibility for the consequences of their own behavior. They will get out the lawyers and the lawsuits. They will call their pandering politician. They will have their orgy of victim-hood all over the press. They will have a great big hissyfit. They will cry for Mommy Government to come and wipe away their tears with some nice green hankies.
45 posted on 05/11/2004 7:55:20 PM PDT by jonrick46 (jonrick46)
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To: Paul Atreides
It is not clear if Mr.Berg was freelancing or in Iraq at the request of the coalition...

If freelancing, and not under the control or protection of any coalition entity --- Mr. Berg was a fool, and paid with his life..

Folks have to realize that a war zone is unhealthy..
It is not simply a bad neighborhood...

This poor guy's parents sound like red diaper doper babies....and acknowledge no responsibility on their son's part for his death......

It seems a common refrain.... It's either Bush did it, or the Jews did it...the freaking Arab lunatics are BLAMELESS..

Folks have gone nuts....Public schools have destroyed at least a full generations of this country's "adults"...
Too many are incapable of rational thought or behavior.

Semper Fi
46 posted on 05/11/2004 7:55:32 PM PDT by river rat (You may turn the other cheek...But I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
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To: patriciamary
Sorry for being so cruel,but it's our country and it's citizens must step up and stand up for ourselves. We have to defend our country ,support our troops,our president and our future generations
47 posted on 05/11/2004 7:56:10 PM PDT by patriciamary
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To: patriciamary
Sorry for being so cruel,but it's our country and it's citizens must step up and stand up for ourselves. We have to defend our country ,support our troops,our president and our future generations
48 posted on 05/11/2004 7:56:13 PM PDT by patriciamary
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To: t1b8zs
Tue, May. 11, 2004


Pennsylvania community shocked by Nick Berg's death

BY SANDY BAUERS

Knight Ridder Newspapers


WEST CHESTER, Pa. - (KRT) - If Nick Berg had a tragic flaw, his father thinks he knows what it was.

"He believed in people," Michael Berg said Tuesday, shortly after learning that his son had been beheaded in Iraq. "He wanted to help people."

Whatever came up, "he thought he could handle it," Michael said. "That was both the good - and the demise - of him. He didn't believe that people would do things."

Those who knew Nick Berg, 26, remembered him as a complex man - funny, outgoing, dramatic, compassionate, inquisitive, inventive and extremely bright. Above all, they remembered him as a humanitarian who wanted to make the world better.

He played the tuba in high school and traveled to Third World countries with only a small backpack, taking only barest essentials because he felt material things got in the way.

Berg felt comfortable with strangers, his family said.

"I think part of what got him into trouble was that he wasn't afraid to be in with groups that most Americans won't be with," said his mother, Suzanne. "And I don't think he understood the danger of ... traveling with non-Americans. That's probably what killed him. He was probably in a group of non-Americans and stood out like a sore thumb."


More...


http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/8643309.htm
49 posted on 05/11/2004 7:57:17 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: Texas Eagle
In Iraq, no job there, arrested by US. I smell a sympathizer.
50 posted on 05/11/2004 7:57:41 PM PDT by RightthinkinAmerican (If today's beheading was our fault because of the prison photos, how did we cause Daniel Pearl's?)
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To: All
Please, please read my statments that I have posted before on this page. I think alot of you have the wrong impression. Posts # 36 and # 12. Than You.
51 posted on 05/11/2004 7:57:53 PM PDT by tricky_k_1972
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To: Burkeman1
Regardless. I feel bad for his family. Horrific to find out that his death was on some cheap Islamonut website.

Agreed.

52 posted on 05/11/2004 7:58:27 PM PDT by cardinal4 (Terrence Maculiffe-Ariolimax columbianus (hint- its a gastropod.....)
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To: GottaLuvAkitas1
I guess Rummie is the universal master of the universe and he works through surrogates to behead unemployed contractors and put panties on the heads of Iraqi prisoners. And so forth and so on. He ought to resign and leave the the simpleminded to wonder, after he's gone. why the world is not a better place. It won't ever be as long as the fact that the problem is Islam. They are the terrorists. Why can't newspapers and TV see that?
53 posted on 05/11/2004 7:58:30 PM PDT by mathurine
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To: RightthinkinAmerican
Not an accusation, I apologize. Something just doesn't smell right.
54 posted on 05/11/2004 7:58:31 PM PDT by RightthinkinAmerican (If today's beheading was our fault because of the prison photos, how did we cause Daniel Pearl's?)
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To: t1b8zs
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said those responsible had "no regard for the lives of innocent men, women and children".

Wow, that's some pretty tough talk there.....

55 posted on 05/11/2004 8:00:20 PM PDT by Lijahsbubbe (John Kerry is a dingleberry)
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To: chainsaw
I have one thing to say about the beheading. Civilian opportunists should not be in a war zone, it could be hazardous to ones health.

Exactly.

56 posted on 05/11/2004 8:00:32 PM PDT by Samizdat
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To: RightthinkinAmerican
I feel sorry for his death, but let my anger get the best of me. Just what these idiots who inflame this stuff are trying to do. Anyway, I bet there will be more to come on this.
57 posted on 05/11/2004 8:00:47 PM PDT by RightthinkinAmerican (If today's beheading was our fault because of the prison photos, how did we cause Daniel Pearl's?)
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To: Texas Eagle
"I'm starting to think there's more to Nick Berg's story than meets the eye. Why was he arrested in the first place?"

My impression too.

58 posted on 05/11/2004 8:01:07 PM PDT by blam
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To: RightthinkinAmerican
Gathered in their split-level house, Berg's family talked of him as a science whiz, a sweet, unselfish kid who carried a Jewish prayer shawl, though they don't believe his religion played a role in his death.

He'd be embarrassed by "us saying all this sweet stuff," his sister, Sara, 31, said. "He had this tough-guy attitude."

Neither his family nor his friends wanted Berg to go to Iraq. They were frightened for him.

But Berg's mind was made up, "and he's pretty adamant when he wants to do something," said Doug Strickland, a childhood friend. Berg had planned to be home in time to be a groomsman in Strickland's April wedding.

Michael Berg said his son "was excited being" in Iraq. "He thought he was finally going to become part of this rebuilding process," he said.

Michael said his son e-mailed several times a day. In his first e-mail home, Berg "apologized profusely for everything he put us through. That's what he was thinking of, all that he put us through."
59 posted on 05/11/2004 8:01:12 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: Paul Atreides
True. They were part of a protest trying to shake down the manufacturer of the bulldozer. Hideous family.

What? Did I miss something?

60 posted on 05/11/2004 8:01:46 PM PDT by cardinal4 (Terrence Maculiffe-Ariolimax columbianus (hint- its a gastropod.....)
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