Nicholas Berg: The Dots Do Not Connect

ChronWatch.com ^ | 5-13-04 | Ira Simmons

[SeenTheLight]

First off, I'll get the obligatory stuff out of the way: the videotaped beheading of 26-year-old American Nicholas Berg, now believed to have been done by al-Qaida linked terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is truly horrifying and an outrage. It confirms that we must continue to fight the War On Terror using maximum force in any place necessary to ensure that these refugees from the Middle Ages are totally defeated.

Certainly Nicholas Berg is as innocent a victim of extreme Muslim atrocities as the 3,000 Americans killed on September 11, 2001, or the victims from the March 11, 2004, Madrid train bombings. But there are many questions about Berg's fateful visit to Iraq which do not square with information given by his family or the U.S. Coalition story of what exactly happened and why he was detained.

First, what has been given as Berg's college background and how he came to run a one-man communications firm seems a little strange if not outright preposterous. It was reported that Nick Berg attended four different colleges: the last was the University of Oklahoma where it is claimed he learned to install radio towers. But Berg never received a college diploma. Media reports said his one-man company was called Prometheus Methods Tower Service Inc. Reality check: it is virtually impossible to obtain such technical work as installing radio towers without a Professional Engineering license, let alone not having a college degree!

The first reports of his life story said that Berg supported President Bush in the War on Terror and helped install communications equipment at the 2000 Republican convention in Philadelphia. But his father, Michael Berg, is a member of the off-the-charts anti-war group International ANSWER (''Act Now, Stop the War, and End Racism.'') While children occasionally do not share the politics of their parents (I didn't), you have to wonder if telling the media that his kid was a Republican was something of a ruse to direct attention from Michael Berg's (and his son's) true politics.

Then there are the two 2004 trips to Iraq. While most contractors travel directly to Baghdad, Nicholas Berg instead landed in Jordan and found his way by land into Iraq. If indeed Berg was a one-man contractor installing radio towers, it would seem difficult to get any work in Iraq without (a) initially consummating commitments while still in the United States, and (b) having a link to a larger construction company such as Bechtel or (dirty word alert) Halliburton! As yet no radio towers that Nicholas Berg may have built while in Iraq on either trip have been identified.

We know that Nick Berg was bouncing around Iraq until he was detained either by Iraqi police or the U.S. Military in Mosul on March 24. I'll give his dad the benefit of the doubt here: Nicholas was definitely being detained by the coalition for any of the following suspicions:

a) He was loaded with electronics equipment, supposedly for his work on radio communications towers. Possessing sophisticated electronic gear in a war zone without producing any paperwork to prove that he is building radio towers probably set off alarm bells.

b) It was likely that Berg was on an FBI ''watch'' list. FBI agents interviewed Berg a few years ago when they were investigating the September 11 terrorist attacks because, unbeknownst to him, Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker, had used his e-mail account when both were in Oklahoma. On Thursday Fox News reported that the FBI dismissed the link between Berg and Moussaoui as ''coincidental.''

c) Speaking on condition of anonymity in one media report, a U.S. official said Iraqi authorities detained Berg ''for his own protection'' because his behavior in Mosul seemed unusual for a Westerner. Plus Berg, who was Jewish, had in his possession texts that were considered ''anti-Semitic'' in tone. One of his friends has been quoted as saying that the Iraqi police thought Berg was an Israeli spy. To add insult to injury, Berg was also carrying some literature written in Farsi including a book about Iran.

d) On April 10, after he was released, Berg visited an Iraqi man who was once married to his aunt. Question: did his former uncle have political ties that caused any suspicions for the coalition?

e) Because he belongs to a far-left peace group and was known to authorities, Nicholas Berg's father likely raised a red flag and was a possible reason that the FBI visited the family in suburban Philadelphia at least three times during the 13 days that Berg was detained.

On April 5, Michael Berg filed a lawsuit alleging that his son was being held illegally in Iraq. Either Iraqi police or coalition authorities released Nicholas Berg the following day. From both his e-mails and interviews with friends, we know that Berg was moving around Iraq through April 10. It is unclear what happened next. On Wednesday, State Department spokeswoman Kelly Shannon claimed that the U.S. consular extended an offer to assist Berg to depart Iraq by plane to Jordan. But according to his dad, Berg refused, believing that flying out of Baghdad airport was too dangerous and instead he wanted to try driving to Kuwait. In another published report, a friend said Berg wanted to leave by riding through Jordan. Driving in Jordan or to Kuwait when offered a plane ticket home makes no sense: since the fall of Saddam, Baghdad Airport, heavily guarded by coalition forces, is probably as safe as any place in Iraq.

Between April 10 and May 8, when his decapitated body was found hanging from an overpass in Baghdad, Nicholas Berg's whereabouts are unknown. In the rambling speech seen on the grizzly video just before he was decapitated, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi indicated that he could have traded Berg for hostages being held by the coalition. If true, and believing a terrorist is always a stretch, one question arises among many: why was there no announcement through Al Jazeera, similar to other hostages, that Berg was being held?

To be sure, Nicholas Berg's brutal murder is a great tragedy that has much of the nation and the civilized world outraged. Ironically, Berg's death may do what his old man doesn't want: galvanize American resolve to win the War on Terror! Perhaps amidst the haze of statements from government officials and from a father who may have a hidden political agenda, maybe we can eventually get the real story of the curious life and tragic death of Nicholas Berg.

Ira Simmons

http://www.topthecharts.net/

[montag813]

"They killed their best friend."
-Michael Berg

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? WHAT WERE THEY UP TO???

[P-Marlowe]

Why would they kill someone helping them kill Americans--they wouldn't!!

Why would a Mafia Don put a hit out on his own son-in-law? It happens. You lose trust, and you lose your life. Saddam killed his daughters husbands as they sat in the next room. He couldn't trust them. Saddam killed some of his best friends and closest relatives. Its a cultural thing there. If you can't be trusted, they can't let you live.

[faithincowboys]

Obviously, I meant to type--Oswald hated communists.

[Army Air Corps]

Well, as I said, it is just a theory. An idea more or less plausible than any other. I am anxious for investigators to uncover and release more info because this is an important mystery to solve.

[Travis McGee]

My guess is Nick was on an ANSWER mission to deliver a message to Al Queda.

[Southack]

"I think, and I hope, Berg was working for us or the Israelis."

Nope. Nick Berg had 4, yes FOUR FBI visits.

The FBI visited him in 2002 because of his email being used by Moussoui.

The FBI then visited his parents 3 times in the last month while he was being detained in Iraq.

Now, it is safe to say that our FBI is not putting in 4 house calls to a CIA agent or his family (that would blow cover, they know who he is, etc.).

Nor is the Israeli Mossad going to send an agent into Iraq through Jordan with an Israeli visa stamp on his passport (too many opportunities to get killed by low level locals on the route), much less let him use his real *Jewish* name on an undercover mission in the heart of Islam.

Nick has a series of strange appearances, though. He got union work for the RNC convention in Philly back in 2000 (the local teamsters union was caught just blocks away with a shotgun, pistol, 6 stun guns, an arsenal of baseball bats, and a tractor-trailer filled with military camo uniforms just days before that Convention). Met Moussoui in Oklahoma in 1999 or 2000. Was in Kenya in 1998 after the U.S. embassy was bombed by al qaeda there (and was in Uganda, a hotbed of al qaeda activity...in fact, the largest active al qaeda base in Africa right now).

And get this, he worked high up on a giant communications tower at Abu Ghraib during the time when Iraqi insurgents were shelling that facility with mortar rounds (trying to cause a jailbreak).

Oh, and his dad is an ANSWER spokesman while his uncle is an Iraqi who lives in Mosul.

[Nexus]

This is worth repeating:

Michael Berg is an enemy of America. He is also JINO who hates Jews, supports the PLO and wants Israel to be destroyed. It was truly horrible that his son died this way (and unfortunate that it was not his wretched father instead), but if Nick was truly pro-insurgents, then the truth MUST come out.

The only this I disagree with is that if Nick really was a tech expert who was passing messages for al-Qaida (helped in the 9/11 attacks, ect), then I don't feel nearly as horrible for his death.

[Travis McGee]

Most of the best mysteries never get solved. Who killed Vince Foster? Who was John Doe 2? Etc.

[antaresequity]

Why would they kill someone helping them kill Americans--they wouldn't!!

Islamo fascists are like the borg. They do not recognize the value of an individual life other than what is the most expediant use of it in furthering the borg cause.

Most of us Westerner's see the Islamists through rose colored glasses.

You need to think like an animal to understand these people.

In Africa, when the bachelor lions come in and unseat the King...they kill and eat all of the young...

You need to stop thinking like an American to understand these folks...keep in mind these guys think nothing of suicide...let alone the life of their own commrades in arms...If the life in death can further the jhiad...then let it be done.

[First_Salute]

[absalom01]

Here's one more coincidence for y'all.



Lots of guys shave their noggins, but one look at these two, and I'd bet that they trained in the same fighting system.  Most likely good club fighters -- they're not boxers -- too much body fat, but that small amount of extra weight  helps on the ground.

There is no such thing as coincidence.

Man, this is just too strange.

[faithincowboys]

I used to watch the show 21 Jump Street--4 colleges, no degrees??

All the way off in OK and just so happens to come across Moussaui, and then convinces Moussaui it's okay to use his computer. HMMMM...

That's too much for me. I think Berg was a technical genius who was working for a spy agency here or in Israel.

Then the Feds check out Berg and it's all just a coincidence. Hmmm...

How many people meet Moussuai and then Zarqawi in their lifetimes? Not your average ANSWER schmuck. He seemed to know where the action was.

When was he stamped for Israel?? Was he like that chick Rachel who got killed by IDF? When did he meet Moussaui, before or after the 2000 convention???

I wonder.

I also place little creedence in Berg's father's unhinged Leftist stuff-- it's way too over the top.

[faithincowboys]

That sounds crazy to me--Berg had white man's fro, he probably shaved so he didn't look like Gabe Kaplan.

[Travis McGee]

Pure coincidence. Could happen to anyone.

I imagine his dad thought of Nick as ANSWER's "James Bond." A globe-trotting anti-imperialist super agent.

And Dad is such a true believer, he blames Bush, not AQ.

Like the Russian commies who shouted "Long live the revolution!" as they were put against the wall and shot for being "spies, wreckers, and sabateurs."

[TheSpottedOwl]

I think he was calm, because he thought he was just participating in making a propaganda hostage video. The English speaker among the killers had probably calmed him down: "Don't worry Nick, everything will be fine. We make movie, then we eat lunch, no problem, okay?"

Okay I'm still having a problem with the two pics, but if that actually was Nick, it would explain why he was so well groomed.

His actions, if this info is accurate, put our troops in harms way. He commited treason, so why do I feel so bad for him? There is a long personal list of politicians and Hollywood types that I would love to see burned at the stake, but Nick Berg? It's getting close to my bedtime, I guess...

[Tall_Texan]

I wonder if the radio equipment might have aroused military suspicions because some of it might have also been used for bomb making/detonation.

Dunno. But I'd be a bit suspicious of anyone roaming around Mozul with electronics and no better explanation than that he was trying to gin up some business.

[Travis McGee]

You gotta get off the CIA / Mossad thing. That's one thing he was NOT. Please, think about it, the CIA or Mossad sending a Jew named Berg to infiltrate AQ? Come on!

[Nexus]

I don't think he was working for a spy agency. He and his father were/are pawns of al-Qaida. Nick just got more than he bargained for...

[Trinity_Tx]

Yeah. That computer thing is the one weird thing about his story. I can't wait to see what the next couple days show us with regard to that.
Doing a lot of research here at home...

[antaresequity]

Why would they kill someone helping them kill Americans--they wouldn't!!

You have to look at the dark side...the evil side of humans to understand...in order to defeat them...we must get inside of their heads. We failed on 9-11...we were shocked...dismayed...surprised...

Now its time to think like a terrorist...put yourself in their shoes...a whole new world of understanding and exploration opens up...

Imagine a world that has no moral bounds...only an undying belief in a god...nothing is out of bounds in serving the god....

Are you there yet?...Shut out all you know...

Tis an ominous task in front of us...would you agree?