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Beheading Victim "Loved Adventure and Risk" (Must read-important new facts about Nick Berg)
The Washington Post ^ | May 14, 2004 | Sewell Chan

Posted on 05/13/2004 11:21:09 PM PDT by Dems_R_Losers

BAGHDAD, May 13 -- Nicholas Berg came to Iraq in December with little more than a bag of tools and a desire to find work in his chosen trade: repairing transmission towers. He hoped to tap the opportunities available to individual contractors willing to brave the hazards of living in a war-scarred country.

In the four months before he was decapitated by Islamic guerrillas who said they were avenging the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers, Berg was robbed once, detained twice and held for 13 days by Iraqi police who were both incredulous and suspicious that an American would travel alone.

Yet he resisted the advice of friends and family members to leave Iraq, despite the emergence in early April of a violent insurgency and the frequent abductions and killings of foreigners, irrespective of nationality or occupation.

"The good thing was that he meant no harm to anyone," said Radhi Munthri, an Iraqi who worked for Berg as a driver. "The bad thing was that he never listened to anyone."

The portrait of Berg that emerges from interviews with his associates here and his family in Pennsylvania, as well as from his e-mails to friends, depicts an independent, optimistic and somewhat reckless young man who impressed engineers with his technical knowledge but exasperated others with his naive willingness to take risks.

His carefree nature may have contributed to his untimely death. A video distributed on the Internet on Tuesday showed five masked, black-clad gunmen beheading Berg and attributed the act to Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant who is wanted by the United States for the killing of a U.S. official in 2002. The CIA said Thursday that it believed Zarqawi was behind the killing of Berg.

--- snip ---

Berg left the United States in December, flying to Tel Aviv and then to Amman, Jordan, before getting a ride to Baghdad. He checked into the large Babylon Hotel, in the well-to-do Jadriyah neighborhood, and began making business proposals to various companies working on reconstruction projects.

Omar Abdul-Karim, who met Berg in January, said he used to pick up an American colleague from the same hotel and was startled to see Berg take a taxicab to the Green Zone, the heavily fortified compound that serves as the headquarters of the Coalition Provisional Authority.

"He was careless," said Abdul-Karim, an Iraqi operations manager for ASCS/GSCS, a construction and services company based in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. "We told him so many times: You should not go anywhere without security. He was not listening to this."

--- snip ---

Berg arranged to call Mardam-Bey after he returned from a trip to the northern Iraqi city of Mosul to visit a distant relative. At 6:30 p.m. on March 23, he checked into Room 102 at the $25-a-night Al-Kalaa Hotel, in Mosul's southern Guzlani district.

"He seemed very nice and extremely friendly," said Khalid Mahmoud, a clerk at the hotel. "There was nothing unusual about him." Mahmoud recalled being surprised, however, that Berg had Iranian and Jordanian currency in his pocket, along with Iraqi dinars.

At 10 a.m. the next day, Mahmoud said, Berg left the hotel, saying he was going to visit friends in the eastern part of the city. He never returned. In his room, the staff later found an Arabic-English dictionary and a book in Persian.

Around 9 p.m., Berg was detained near the hotel by Iraqi police. "He seemed confused, and he was taken in by the police patrol," said 1st Lt. Sayel Abdullah, the officer in charge of the Guzlani district.

The police, who placed Berg in the central jail in Mosul, notified a local U.S. military police commander. "We were informed of this man being picked up by the Iraqi police, so we made sure that he got food to eat and a cot to sleep on," Army Lt. Col. Joseph Piek, a military spokesman in Mosul, said Thursday.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: berg; bergarchive; iraq; nickberg; questions
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Hmmm...he was carrying Iranian currency...had a book in Persian...told one person he was visitng "a distant relative" in Mosul, then told another he was "going to visit friends." Also, direct quotes and name of Iraqi police lieutenant would seem to contradict Michael Berg's story of the email from the US Consul saying Nick as being held by the U.S.

I am smelling more and more rats here.....

1 posted on 05/13/2004 11:21:10 PM PDT by Dems_R_Losers
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To: Dems_R_Losers

RATS


2 posted on 05/13/2004 11:25:04 PM PDT by ambrose (AP Headline: "Kerry Says His 'Family' Owns SUV, Not He")
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To: Dems_R_Losers

I dont care what he was doing, or what his beliefs were, no one deserves to die in such a fashion.


3 posted on 05/13/2004 11:27:41 PM PDT by Husker24
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To: Dems_R_Losers

His poor, stupid grieving father is a DemRat for sure ... whoring out his son's death for political purposes already in his pocket.


4 posted on 05/13/2004 11:29:11 PM PDT by jwfiv
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To: Dems_R_Losers

One thing I noticed that no one in the media seems to be dwelling on is the fact that Berg's body was found 2 weeks before the prison scandal had hit worldwide headlines, yet from the captors statement, they made reference to the above said prison scandal, citing specifically Abu Ghraib, before he was beheaded.


5 posted on 05/13/2004 11:31:15 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper (John Kerry: An old creep, with gray hair, trying to look like he's 30 years old.)
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To: Husker24
I dont care what he was doing, or what his beliefs were, no one deserves to die in such a fashion.

Absolutly BUT Iranian currency? Come on.

6 posted on 05/13/2004 11:33:25 PM PDT by Texasforever (The French love John Kerry. He is their new Jerry Lewis)
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To: Husker24

Your right that no ones deserves to die this way, but there are way to many dots to be connected. The anger the father showed toward Bush and the war its self where totally out of context with with what is being reporting about Bergs activities. His father has just as much blood on his hands as anybody.


7 posted on 05/13/2004 11:34:19 PM PDT by boxerblues
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To: Texasforever

you have another Johnny Taliban here...

why did his father say "they didnt know who they were killing"

and what is that bit about Zarquari using Berg's email address.


8 posted on 05/13/2004 11:37:45 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
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To: Dems_R_Losers
He spent some time in another risky country--Uganda.

Cornell University statement on Nick E. Berg

All members of the Cornell University community are shocked and saddened by the devastating news of the death of Nick Evan Berg, who was a student here for two and a half years.

Nick enrolled as a freshman student in the College of Engineering at Cornell in the Fall of 1996. He spent the Spring 1998 semester in Uganda through Cornell's Study Abroad Program. He took a voluntary leave of absence from the university after completing the Fall 1998 semester.

Nick Berg is remembered by his professors and classmates at Cornell as an excellent student who made the Dean's List every semester that he studied here. His adventuresome nature took him to Uganda, where he studied development issues. He was a serious, caring individual who expressed the desire to help people and have a positive influence in the world.

We extend our deepest condolences to the Berg family and to Nick's many friends and colleagues during these difficult days.

9 posted on 05/13/2004 11:40:41 PM PDT by syriacus (Ted Kennedy-did you criticize Clinton and Reno's attack on Waco which resulted in children's deaths?)
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To: BigSkyFreeper

Where did you here or see that he was killed two weeks before?


10 posted on 05/13/2004 11:40:42 PM PDT by eastforker (The color of justice is green,just ask Johny Cochran!)
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To: BurbankKarl

It was Moussoui.


11 posted on 05/13/2004 11:41:18 PM PDT by hobson
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To: BigSkyFreeper
One thing I noticed that no one in the media seems to be dwelling on is the fact that Berg's body was found 2 weeks before the prison scandal had hit worldwide headlines

His body was found Saturday.

12 posted on 05/13/2004 11:42:19 PM PDT by saquin
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To: BurbankKarl

Supposedly just a coincidence but DAMN how many coincidences does it take to make a conspiricy? Iranian currency, anti- American family, links to a known terrorist, no visible means of support in Iraq, an Iraqi relative in Mosul who ask him to get the hell out for both their sakes. Lord have mercy.


13 posted on 05/13/2004 11:44:01 PM PDT by Texasforever (The French love John Kerry. He is their new Jerry Lewis)
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To: Dems_R_Losers

I think this article lays to rest alot of speculation on this guy...or at least I want to believe it...

Now I am torn on this...hmmm


14 posted on 05/13/2004 11:44:20 PM PDT by antaresequity (This is not the "War on Terror", Islam is the common denominator)
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To: Texasforever

I still believe the guy was a thrill seeker, and who could only see the good in people. That's why he was there.

Coincidence that he had a rabid leftist for a father.


15 posted on 05/13/2004 11:47:00 PM PDT by ambrose (AP Headline: "Kerry Says His 'Family' Owns SUV, Not He")
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To: ambrose

I used to work with a guy like that and yes they are out there but man this is a real head scratcher.


16 posted on 05/13/2004 11:48:57 PM PDT by Texasforever (The French love John Kerry. He is their new Jerry Lewis)
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To: eastforker

All over the blogosphere.


17 posted on 05/13/2004 11:49:24 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper (John Kerry: An old creep, with gray hair, trying to look like he's 30 years old.)
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To: BurbankKarl
and what is that bit about Zarquari using Berg's email address.

That was Zacarias Moussoui.

18 posted on 05/13/2004 11:51:02 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper (John Kerry: An old creep, with gray hair, trying to look like he's 30 years old.)
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To: Dems_R_Losers

As far I'm concerned this is total absolution, I think this was a good kid who got killed. Maybe he had the money like a tourist would! Iranian currency? Why is that a smoking gun for you??


19 posted on 05/13/2004 11:53:20 PM PDT by faithincowboys
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To: Husker24
"I dont care what he was doing, or what his beliefs were, no one deserves to die in such a fashion."

I must have missed the part where someone said that Berg deserved to die in such a fashion.

By the way, I think OBL, and every member of AQ deserves to die in such a fashion, but that's just me...

20 posted on 05/13/2004 11:59:21 PM PDT by Gigantor (Today's LEO's are reminiscent of the "standing army" that the Founders warned us against...)
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