[TomGuy]

He may have thought that he was going to contribute to the ant-war movement by posing as a hostage.

I was wondering something similar, because this story is getting weird and isn't passing the smell test.

The horrifying thought:

Assuming Berg and the murderous thugs sort of knew each other, what if Nick 'posed' for the video, thinking it was a PR type stunt. Notice in the video that he does not show much reaction while sitting on the floor, as if he doesn't know what is about to happen. Nick cooperates in filming the PR stunt, but at the last moments, Zarqawi and company perform the real act.

[Reactionary]

That seems to be the most likely scenario at this point.

[Petronski]

Oh wow, TomGuy, that's a harrowing thought. But I can't find fault with it beyond the 'wow' factor. Just dayum.

[AmishDude]

Berg's reaction (or more specifically, the lack thereof) may be due to the fact that he believed he was making a ransom video. He said his name and the names of his relatives in that video and that appeared to be the purpose.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Ya know, there also could be a simple, and most likely, explanation, though it will disappoint the tinfoilers. The international community in many universities isn't huge, especially when broken down into the regional/religious components. So it is quite possible that a very idealistic college student from a Jewish background decided to 'reach out' to muslim/M.E. students at OU, trying to 'bridge the barriers' by befriending some of them, perhaps those in his class, etc. If true, it wouldn't be surprising if he had interactions with Mousawi(sp) from other friends he made in that group, without being in on or knowing about Mousawi's terrorist connections.

That would fit into everything we learned so far, though not nearly as intriguing.

[johnwayne]

The guy looked half starved. I doubt that he considered it a stunt.

As far as we know he could have been working for the CIA. We just don't know for certain what he was doing over there(Innocent Volunteer with a big heart, Terrorist Sympathizer, CIA agent). As for now, I’m inclined to believe “Innocent Volunteer” unless more information comes out indicating otherwise.

[CyberAnt]

Well .. that's an interesting theory, but I didn't watch the video .. and the still photos I saw looked more to me like he was almost in shock .. or that he had no idea what was really going to happen to him.

[Terp]

Nick cooperates in filming the PR stunt, but at the last moments, Zarqawi and company perform the real act.

Interesting!

[GOPJ]

Are you saying double agent? He was outed so they killed him? They must have assumed he was working on our side.

Assuming Berg and the murderous thugs sort of knew each other, what if Nick 'posed' for the video, thinking it was a PR type stunt. Notice in the video that he does not show much reaction while sitting on the floor, as if he doesn't know what is about to happen. Nick cooperates in filming the PR stunt, but at the last moments, Zarqawi and company perform the real act.

[Grampa Dave]

TG posted: The horrifying thought:

Assuming Berg and the murderous thugs sort of knew each other, what if Nick 'posed' for the video, thinking it was a PR type stunt. Notice in the video that he does not show much reaction while sitting on the floor, as if he doesn't know what is about to happen. Nick cooperates in filming the PR stunt, but at the last moments, Zarqawi and company perform the real act.

[ColdSteelTalon]

Nick cooperates in filming the PR stunt, but at the last moments, Zarqawi and company perform the real act.

You know I noticed that too. He seemed real calm in the video. It was almost like he did not think he was going to die. Then when the blade went in...

[TEXOKIE]

bttt