Beheaded American civilian had been advised to leave Iraq, U.S. officials say.

AP | 5/12/04 | ROBERT H. REID

[kattracks]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- An American civilian who was beheaded in a grisly video posted on an al-Qaida-linked Web site had been warned to leave Iraq but refused, U.S. officials said Wednesday. The masked men who butchered him claimed they were angered by coalition abuses of Iraqi prisoners.

The American captive identified himself as Nick Berg, 26, of West Chester, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia. His body was found near a highway overpass in Baghdad on Saturday, the same day he was beheaded, a U.S. official said.

After pushing Berg to the floor, the men severed his head and held it up for the camera on the video posted Tuesday. It bore the title "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shown slaughtering an American," referring to an associate of Osama bin Laden believed behind a wave of suicide bombings in Iraq.

It was unclear whether al-Zarqawi was shown in the video or simply ordered the execution. Al-Zarqawi also is sought in the assassination of a U.S. diplomat in Jordan in 2002. The United States has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture or killing.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Berg was in Iraq "of his own accord" and had been advised to leave Iraq but refused. The official refused to elaborate but promised more information later Wednesday.

According to his family, Berg, a small telecommunications business owner, spoke to his parents on March 24 and told them he would return home on March 30. But he was detained by Iraqi police at a checkpoint in Mosul on March 24.

Berg was turned over to U.S. officials and detained for 13 days. His father, Michael, said his son wasn't allowed to make phone calls or contact a lawyer. On April 5, the Bergs filed suit in federal court in Philadelphia, contending that their son was being held illegally by the U.S. military. The next day Berg was released. He told his parents he hadn't been mistreated. His family last heard from him April 9 but it was unclear when and where he was abducted.

The Bush administration said those who beheaded Berg would be hunted down and brought to justice.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with his family," White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said. "It shows the true nature of the enemies of freedom. They have no regard for the lives of innocent men, women and children."

Although Berg was working on his own, U.S. officials fear the savage killing might prompt more foreigners working on international reconstruction projects to flee the country.

Since the security situation deteriorated last month, about three out of 10 Americans and other non-Iraqis involved in reconstruction projects financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development have fled Iraq, the USAID director Andrew Natsios told The Associated Press.

A coalition official, speaking on condition of anonymity, called Berg's death a "real anomaly" because the overwhelming majority of Westerners here are working for international companies.

Friends and family of Berg said he was a "free spirit" who wanted to help others -- working in Ghana, in one example -- and that his going to Iraq fit with that ideology. They said he supported the Iraqi war and the Bush administration.

Berg's killing happened amid a climate of intense anti-Western sentiment, which flared in Iraq after last month's crackdown on Shiite extremists and the three-week Marine siege of Fallujah west of Baghdad. Anger at the United States swelled with the publication of photographs showing Iraqis abused and humiliated at Abu Ghraib prison, which continue to stir rage throughout the Arab world.

U.S. officials had feared the shocking photographs would endanger the lives of American troops and civilians.

In the video, five men wearing headscarves and black ski masks stand over a bound man in an orange jumpsuit similar to prison uniforms.

"My name is Nick Berg. My father's name is Michael. My mother's name is Suzanne," the man, seated in a chair, says. "I have a brother and sister, David and Sara. I live in ... Philadelphia."

The video then cuts to Berg sitting on the floor, his hands tied behind his back, flanked by the masked men, as a statement is read in Arabic. Berg sits still during the statement, facing the camera, occasionally raising his shoulders.

After the statement, the assailant directly behind Berg takes a large knife from under his clothing while another pulls Berg onto his side. The tape shows assailants thrusting the knife through his neck. A scream sounds before the men cut Berg's head off, repeatedly shouting "Allahu Akbar!" -- or "God is great."

They then hold the head out before the camera.

The video is of poor quality, and its time stamp seems to show an 11-hour lapse between when the assailants finish their statement and push Berg down, to when they behead him. That suggests a delay between those two portions of tape posted on the Web site.

Berg attended Cornell University, Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oklahoma, where he got involved in rigging electronics equipment while working for the maintenance department, his father said. He helped set up equipment at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 2000.

While at Cornell, he traveled to Ghana to teach villagers how to make bricks out of minimal material. His father said Berg returned from Ghana with only the clothes on his back and emaciated because he gave away most of his food.

Michael Berg said his son saw his trip to Iraq as an adventure in line with his desire to help others.

Berg's family said they were informed by the State Department on Monday that he was found dead.

When told by a reporter about the Web site, Berg's father, brother and sister grasped one another and slowly dropped to the ground in their front yard, where they wept quietly while holding each other.

"I knew he was decapitated before," Michael Berg said. "That manner is preferable to a long and torturous death. But I didn't want it to become public."

The decapitation recalled the kidnapping and videotaped beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002 in Pakistan. Four Islamic militants have been convicted of kidnapping Pearl, but seven suspects -- including those who allegedly slit his throat -- remain at large.

Last month, Iraqi militants videotaped the killing of Italian hostage Fabrizio Quattrocchi, but the Arab TV network Al-Jazeera refused to air it because it was too graphic.

In the video of Berg, the executioners said they had tried to trade him for prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

"For the mothers and wives of American soldiers, we tell you that we offered the U.S. administration to exchange this hostage for some of the detainees in Abu Ghraib and they refused," one of the men read from a statement.

"So we tell you that the dignity of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood and souls. You will not receive anything from us but coffins after coffins ... slaughtered in this way."

Seven soldiers from the 372nd Military Police Company face charges in the mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in a scandal that has sparked worldwide outrage. One of those soldiers faces a court-martial in Baghdad next week, the first to go to trial.

------

Associated Press reporter Jason Straziuso contributed to this story from West Chester, Pa.

[kattracks]

There is definitely more to this story than has been reported.

[onyx]

Tip of proverbial iceberg.

CBS and Hackworth,
couldn't permit the military
to complete their investigation.
NO, they had to go public. This retaliation is the reason the military tried to keep the damn news media OUT of the investigation.

[ambrose]

Well, they called it a 'retaliation'... but Berg was kidnapped well before the prison story hit. He was a dead man the moment he was kidnapped.

Also, Muslims don't need a specific 'reason' to kill an Infidel. They have all the justifiction they need right in the Koran.

[onyx]

Correct, he was kidnapped before CBS aired.
BUT, like you said, it is being claimed as retaliation.
Good enough, since we cannot prove it wasn't.

I'll stick with CBS and Hackworth -- blood on their hands.

[A CA Guy]

I felt the pictures being released after the press were asked not to show them, also all the Democrats assisting the propaganda of terrorists combined to create a lot more death and danger.

[ambrose]

Whether it leads to deaths is open to debate, but what isn't open to debate is that there actions are giving aid and comfort to the enemy in a time of war.

Rather and Hackworth should be sent to Gitmo for their treachery.

[ambrose]

their actions

[onyx]

Rather and Hackworth to Gitmo.
I love that thought.

You know Ambrose,
I have been calling
the murderous thugs who blow-up
Israelis "HINOs" for some time now.

Today, I am convinced I'm right.
HINO - Human in Name Only

[lelio]

Has there been any explaination why he was held by US officials for 13 days? That's what I find odd about this whole thing. Maybe Berg told them he would continue to wander around the country if they left him out, and on the 13th day he said that he would return to the US.

[DustyMoment]

I am guilty of condemning those soldiers at Abu Ghraib for perpetrating the acts of humiliation on the Iraqi prisoners but, after this "retaliation", I am recanting my condemnation. The murder of this young man, coupled with the murder and mutilations in Fallujah a few weeks ago and the murder and beheading of Daniel Pearl, etc., etc., are more than sufficient to demonstrate the 13th Century barbarism of the Islamic "faith". To conduct these grisly murders of innocent people in the name of God is not only blasphemous, it is obscene.

If murder is an appropriate response in the Muslim world for the humiliation that the prisoners at Abu Ghraib endured, then our response should be equally appropriate - snuff out all life in Mecca and Medina. Turn those two Muslim "holy places" into glowing, glazed parking lots that will be uninhabitable by any living thing for the next several thousand years.

We have played footsie with these barbarians for too long, now and, after each new demonstration of their barbaric disregard for life, we sit back and wait for the "moderate" Muslims to speak out against it. As another FReeper educated me, a "moderate" Muslim is one who has run out of bullets. In other words, there AREN'T any. They all support these terrorist scum and the eradication of Muslims and Islam will only benefit the remaining civilized and decent humans and creatures on earth.

Bush and co. need to stop pretending that there is any hope of civilizing these vermin. Just eliminate them and be done with it. The world doesn't need an entire "religion" that is based on barbarism, hatred, slavery, oppression and murder.

[ambrose]

Hard to say. Berg was an adventurer and, like a lot of guys his age, probably thought he was bulletproof.

[ambrose]

http://www.hti.umich.edu/k/koran/browse.html

A few excerpts from the Quran/Koran:

[2.193] And fight with them until there is no persecution, and religion should be only for Allah

[4.89] They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper.

[4.95] The holders back from among the believers, not having any injury, and those who strive hard in Allah's way with their property and their persons are not equal

[4.144] O you who believe! do not take the unbelievers for friends rather than the believers; do you desire that you should give to Allah a manifest proof against yourselves?

[5.51] O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.

[8.39] And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah; but if they desist, then surely Allah sees what they do.

[9.5] So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

[9.11] But if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, they are your brethren in faith

[9.29] Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.

[9.30] And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!

[9.33] He it is Who sent His Apostle with guidance and the religion of truth, that He might cause it to prevail over all religions, though the polytheists may be averse.

[9.123] O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness; and know that Allah is with those who guard (against evil).

[DeaconRed]

How quick a lot of people condemned the photos of the prisoners. I still plan on waiting until ALL the facts are in, as we know only about 1% of what went on.
Compared to the barbarians the photos are nothing.
People, we are at war. The enemy wants to KILL US ALL
We must get behind our troops and get politics out of it.
We let politics ruin one war.
Thank God WWII didn't get politicized like this, or we might all be speaking German or or Japanese.

[swilhelm73]

Hmm, here's a thought.

I remember hearing that the military asked CBS to sit on the story for two weeks. CBS said no.

Perhaps the miltary was talking with the scum that did this. Perhaps they wanted CBS to sit on the story so that they could conduct a deal before it aired...

However, when CBS went public, which was amplified by the even less reputable news sources in Iraq like Al Jazeera, the scum felt pressure to get revenge immediately, and thereby decided to kill Mr Berg right then and there.

Now, I don't know if this is really true...but it may be that CBS's greed and partisanship is directly responsible for this grisly murder..

[Piranha]

As I remember the situation, CBS did agree to delay the story. However, when The New Yorker was about to publish the story (by Seymour Hersh), CBS decided to run the story because it didn't want to be scooped by another news medium. In my mind, The New Yorker is more culpable than CBS.

I don't know how long CBS actually delayed broadcasting the story.

[onyx]

Earlier tonight, Texasforever pondered much the same.
What IF, the so-called abused prisoners knew the location
of Nick Berg?

CBS and Hackworth have this man's blood on their hands.
No doubt about it.

[swilhelm73]

Hmm, another good point. I would hope if that was the case we will hear about it.

OTOH, Bush and co have never been good at explaining such things in a timely and relevant manner unfortunately.

[onyx]

Yeah, I know.
Bush really needs a great press secretary.
Like Newt Gingrich.

[Alissa]

At least our prisoners still have their heads! I'm so sick of this abuse story I could scream. I'd like to ask Senator Dayton if he is happy now that the news on prison abuse was no longer being 'suppressed.'

[GOP_Proud]

<<< Well, they called it a 'retaliation'... but Berg was kidnapped well before the prison story hit. He was a dead man the moment he was kidnapped. >>>


But unless the tape is altered, he was killed AFTER the abused prisoners story broke. Yes, they may have had every intention of killing him eventually, but who's to say that other things may have happened had his death not been precipitated by the "retaliation". Afterall, Thomas Hamill escaped. Who knows what his eventual fate could have been?

The exposure of the prison abuse story, at the least, hastened the murder.

I'm getting the impression that Berg was there as an independent with no association other than his own company (as opposed to a large corporation like Bechtel and Haliburton). Was he just wandering around Iraq alone?