Posted on 05/13/2004 8:35:22 PM PDT by 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/
It was sarcasm...I was 'trying to get inside' the radical...feel his pain...understand him...guess what?
Thats the theory that popped into my head...go figure...
Unfortunately that's what it'll probably take to awaken us from our slumber.
No, no one deserves to die like that. I saw the video.
Thought the story couldn't get any more bizarre? Try this out.
Berg Decapitation
Video Declared A
Fraud By Doctor
La Voz De Aztlan News Bulletin
5-13-4
The first casualty of war is the truth and this one has been no exception. La Voz de Aztlan obtained a copy of the video showing the beheading of American Nick Berg of Philadelphia and immediately something very odd was readily apparent. Not only were the purported screams of Nick Berg not in synchrony with the decapitation but their was also a total lack of blood spurting out as his jugular and other veins and arteries were being cut.
We forwarded the video to Doctor Raul Castro Guevara, a surgeon and forensic expert in Mexico City for his expert opinion. He wrote back and commented, "No hay manera que el individuo en el video estaba vivo y su corazon funcionando cuando le estaban cortando la cabeza. En estos casos, el corazon impela sangre con gran presion, y se corta las arterias del pezqueso, hay una gran cantidad de sangre que salpica por todos lados. En mi opinion el video es un fraude."
Doctor Raul Castro Guevara is saying that there is no way that the individual in the video was alive and his heart pumping while his neck was being cut. The doctor adds that in these cases, while the heart is pumping, cutting a person artery in the neck, would cause copious amounts of blood to spurt all over the immediate environment. He says that in his opinion the video is a fraud.
We hope that our readers view the video and see for themselves. We will provide a copy to any of our subscribers that have been supportive of our publication. Send a request to La Voz de Aztlan at Fake_Video@Aztlan.Net
If you are able to view the video, please pay close attention to the five so called Al queda terrorists making the political statement. Look at their height, weight, skin color and their mannerisms. Do you think these people are Arabs or Iraqis?
La Voz de Aztlan
That said, it beggers belief that the CIA or Mossad would send a non-arabic-speaking kid named Berg into Iraq undercover!
C'mon, they might as well send Jethro Bodine Clampett in, dressed like a Saudi Sheik!
So who WAS Nick Berg acting on behalf of?
I think the question ANSWERs itself.
Cool. I wasn't sure, what with all the theories flying through these threads...mine included.
All we need to understand is that these people are crafty, and hate everyone including themselves. What a mess.
*bump* for tomorrow...
"They made a point to say he loved his computer and was always on it
What was his screen name?"
shakedaddybeforehegetsmekilled?
What a mess this has become. Now we FR is responsable. Who will it be tomorrow?
Any one heard what happened to his computer? (Not the one he may have purchased for Moussaui). Be very, very interesting to know what is on it.
Well others have commented on the blood not spurting. We "know" from reports:
1. N. Berg is dead, his body was recovered.
2. His head was severed.
So the question is merely was he alive when his head was cut off. I am not sure whehter he was or not makes the film that less barbaric.
Since nobody watches network evening news anymore, I must reveal that Nick Berg's "strange journey" led the broadcast Thursday night on the CBS Evening News. The most telling part of the rather lengthy and well-done piece was a comment an FBI agent made to Nick after he had been in an Iraqi jail for several days. Something like, "Look, everyone in this jail knows your're Jewish. You better leave the country. You're in danger." The State Dept even offered him a ride back to the U.S.
The danger was made even more clear to me when I watched my local TV news as an area businessman, who fled Iraq two weeks ago, was asked why he left the place in such haste. Winton Blount III (yes, Blount Construction, with major contracts over there - he wasn't a freelancer) replied that there was a ten thousand dollar bounty on the capture of any American.
Poor Nick Berg reminds me of that young Rockefeller (eaten by cannibals in the South Pacific) or Howard Dean's idealistic brother (executed by Khmer Rouge on his rafting adventure). Sad story.
I think the conspiracy theorists are WAY off base here.
As a person who likes to climb _UP_ONLY_ anything over 800ft just for pleasure, I say this.
I think Nicholas Berg had a good idea!
He had needed skills and the motivation to apply them.
Below I list some things to (re)consider please.
Repairing communications infrastructure promotes freedom!
How many million Iraqi eyes benifit from (some)TV news?
He wrote that he wanted the lights on the towers to work so they would be safer for _OUR_ Coalition to fly near.
Right off the bat one big positive for Nicholas Berg!
It takes 'connections' to fly directly to Iraq.
It is SOP for 'regular people' to drive into Iraq from the nearest non-Iraq international airport.
He DID find work more than once in Iraq.
Had any of the 9/11 evil even sought work? (I don't know!)
If he were not finding work he would have taken the ride home offered IMO.
It is the nature of the work to not be a 9-5 gig.
He wrote specifically about the "tower lighting" aspect of the field. This can be as simple as changing a bulb.
The electronics driving a tower strobe are simple.
A portable soldering iron, a few capacitors, and spare bulbs would fit in a carryon bag. (I would check it nowadays though)
Typically a replacement is installed and the removed unit is repaired in a motel room for the next climb.
In Iraq spares may not be available, he might have been soldering at altitude.
Iraq may have different liability laws(or none), negating the need for a zillion dollars worth of insurance.
It is not fair to judge this aspect of his business by US litigation standards.
This would make it easier/possible for a startup to operate.
In the USA it is common for 1 man to be sent to a tower to repair lighting.
(some companies require 2 people, but not all)
Everything needed fits in carryon luggage!
The thing that makes it lucrative is ALTITUDE.
Anyone willing to climb over 500ft. in weather, on a regular basis will have no trouble finding work anywhere there are towers.
He wrote about many(12+) >1000Ft. towers just around Bagdad :-) altitude is where the money is!
It takes 2-3 HOURS of steady climbing just to get _UP_ a 1000' tower _IF_ you are in very good shape.
THAT IS NOT A 'non-job', IT IS VERY HARD WORK!!!
He also wrote about doing 'consulting' work.
One man consultancies are common! It only takes a pair of eyes and a pencil if you DO know what you are doing.
Lighting repair requires only basic electronics training. (as opposed to being an RF Engineer)
Even most antenna "RF" repair jobs do not require an Engineering degree. Cleaning and resealing weathered connectors is the most common task.
He went to school in Oklahoma, home of a zillion tall towers. It _IS_ common for type-A students to labor on tower crews 'out west'. The high winds keep 'em busy with repair.
He had in the past worked doing 'rigging' for the GOP.
Many a lefty would rather eat dirt.
Personally, _I_ can relate to doing exactly what he did.
I'm considering going to Iraq to field_test/sell a carbomb detector! (simple weight in motion technology)
I am also a Spelunker (caver) and I have considered travel to Afghanistan to go 'caving for freedom'!
I'm also interested in participating in landmine detection/removal.
(I'm single, no kids, so I can think like I do)
Am _I_ crazy? More likely than not I am, but that does not automatically make me wrong does it?
I want to help in some way just like Nick did!
If I could only loose a few K $ and survive I would call it a success just for the experience. (if the detector works)
I have no idea what Nicholas Berg's ulterior motive for going to Iraq was. (nor do I think Y'all know)
He is described as someone with dominant traits similar to myself, and I can follow his logic clearly.
I do know that his actions do NOT seem far fetched to me.
Unusual yes, but we live in unusual times!
Please solicit the opinion of other type-A/mad-scientist/inventor/enterprenuer personalities before passing further judgement on Nicholas Berg.
He sounds to me like an "eNT?" temperment type.
(see Meyers&Briggs and/or Kiersey)
NT's are not common (less than 5% of all people) and are typically misunderstood as to motivations.
I know from experience!
ie: pragmatic/logical dominant
We often are incorrectly percieved as ONLY
'cold, calculating and mean' by others.
Nicholas Berg followed his dreams to Iraq.
That takes courage and a willingness to embrace the unknown.
He has my respect and admiration, not suspicion.
As a US citizen he is/was innocent until PROVEN guilty.
Next time I am somewhere 'with a view':-) I shall pause and think of Nicholas Berg for a few moments.
None of the data available eliminates an evil motive.
None of the data available points TO an evil motive. (yet?)
It's just that I can relate to doing what he did for good motives way before evil ones.
Please consider looking at it from my perspective.
I only watched the video once and although I broke down just as they grabbed him I found it odd that the video goes in to a blurred, shaking around state between the grabbing of Berg and his being seen held on his side. I said to myself, you inhuman bastards are so stupid that when, in essense, you're murderous "money shot" was there, you screwded it up. Also found it stupid that the time of day (or night) was recorded on the tape. It is possible that the video was edited but the severed head sure looks real. I still have to say that there did indeed seem to be a lack of blood.
the fact that he shared an e-mail account with Zaccarias Moussoui. - This plus his trip to Kenya in 1998, having an Iraqi uncle, -is waaaay to coincidental.
Well said.
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