Posted on 05/15/2004 9:53:17 PM PDT by Piranha
Jamie Francis has made two trips to Iraq, most recently in April when he and senior correspondent Susan Taylor Martin spent four weeks there looking at the war's effect on the country.
On a warm evening in Baghdad's old Jewish quarter last month, I was taking photos in a crumbling building when I was literally pushed toward a Westerner with ivory skin and a red beard. He was lifting weights inside the Arnold Classic Gym. He wore black steel-toed boots as he grunted out exercises beneath dozens of portraits of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The Iraqis called him Mr. Nick.
I was amazed to meet another English speaker inside the local gym, but I was there to photograph Iraqis and had little interest in being sidetracked with small talk. But soon, I found myself in a casual conversation with an engaging young man, whose intelligence and friendly nature allowed him to move easily in and out of a strange culture.
Now, more than five weeks after the chance meeting, I have learned that Mr. Nick was actually Nicholas Berg, the 26-year-old Pennsylvania man who was beheaded by a group of hooded men in Iraq. The grisly murder was videotaped, and it's now thought that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an associate of Osama bin Laden, carried out the execution.
Times colleague Susan Taylor Martin and I were first lured to the gym by a small sign along one of Baghdad's most traveled streets. The sign, which showed a bare-chested man with rippling muscles, seemed out of place in Arabic culture. The owner of the gym, Sabah Taleb Mehdi, hung the advertisement for his business, which is an homage to Arnold Schwarzenegger, his childhood idol.
I suppose Mehdi felt compelled to push the two Anglos together. He said Mr. Nick was a regular who had been coming for weeks, and he seemed to enjoy shouting the American's name: "Mr. Nick, Mr. Nick, Mr. Nick," he would say as if singing an Arabic melody. "Mr. Nick good, Mr. Nick very good."
And the young man would cast his brilliant smile and try to answer back with a few words of Arabic. At the end of his workout the two embraced and patted each other on the back. As always, Mehdi refused payment from Mr. Nick for the use of his gym.
We were together for maybe 45 minutes or an hour and exchanged a few personal details. He made his way around the circuit of dinged weights, doing arm curls, squats, military presses, pull ups. He was curious about my digital cameras and the places I have traveled for the Times.
Mr. Nick told me he was a contractor. I didn't push; I waited for him to say more. In today's Iraq a pleasant conversation can spoil quickly with aggressive questioning, since everyone is defensive about security.
We both expressed a level of comfort about Iraq, even as conditions spiraled out of control all around us. Just a few days earlier four American contractors had been killed, dismembered and burned in Fallujah. Each hour seemed to bring new tension. Gunfire and explosions had become background noise.
Berg didn't mention being held in custody from March 24 until April 6. According to news reports, he was jailed in Mosul because his activities aroused suspicion. And if the reports are correct, our meeting came only one day after his release and two days before his kidnapping.
He said he was not working because conditions were too violent, but yet he had taken to traveling the country by local taxi - highly unusual for most foreigners. (Susan and I were doing the same thing as we filed stories and pictures to the Times.)
Mr. Nick described trips to Mosul and Kirkuk, riding in the ubiquitous orange and white taxis with car loads full of Iraqis. But he said nothing of where he might go next.
I was unsure about his nationality. He talked of family in America but also of being in Israel. He looked the part of a construction worker, but there was never a mention of who he worked for or more specifics about what he did. It's impossible to know much of a person in 45 minutes, but this much is sure: He had a wonderful smile, and he was likable, engaging and adventurous.
His skin, hair and thin beard made him stand out in a gym filled with Iraqis. But his muscular build placed him in the brotherhood of those who pump iron, and although language was a problem they managed to hold a warm, if halting, conversation with his fellow bodybuilders. When a street vendor arrived selling apple juice, the Iraqis and the American drank from the same cup.
I only learned late Thursday evening of Mr. Nick's identity. CNN was pursuing the story and had learned he was a regular at the gym. Mehdi gave them our names and a producer called.
I immediately told the CNN producer that she had made a mistake. No, I had never known a Nicholas Berg. She would e-mail me pictures, she said. But as she strung together the words - Arnold Gym, Sabah Taleb Mehdi, Nicholas Berg - I didn't need the pictures. I went numb.
Then the pictures arrived on my computer. In an endless five seconds of silence I gazed into his eyes. I imagined the video of his beheading and was disgusted. I recalled an NPR report that described the details so vividly that I turned the volume down so my 3-year-daughter could not hear.
The TV pictures and still images of a captive Nicholas Berg were nothing like the man I met. His skin was pale, his youthful beard thick and sculpted, and he seemed smaller.
I failed to connect the dots, I think, because Mr. Nick was so confident and comfortable surrounded by people unlike him. He displayed a faith in humanity common to all of us who travel in dangerous places and sometimes must entrust our lives to strangers.
So when I heard the news of an American's beheading, I just assumed it was someone I never knew. Someone who made a huge error in judgment. Someone who had made a tragic blunder. Maybe someone who had trusted the wrong person.
I don't know how much we had in common, but I recognized Nicholas Berg as a kindred spirit, someone who sometimes sees adventure where others see danger. I saw a piece of myself in him, and that's what frightens me. That's why on Thursday night, I lay sleepless in my bed listening to the wind, with Mr. Nick's smile etched in my mind.
[Last modified May 15, 2004, 01:00:35]
read later
The three muslims who firebombed a Jewish school in Montreal have been charged today. We are naive to think we are safe anywhere.
Hopefully there are many outraged Iraqis from the gem that will pass on the truth to their neighbors.
He also mentions a "red beard."
This woman sounds sad, but not outraged. She does not sound like someone who thinks that the US should be more dedicated to the war on terrior?
He never saw/realized, the enemy until the very end.
So many horrors; but this one; this man; sits; pale; terrified; and not without evidence of suffering; and looks into the eyes of the world. . .and our eyes follow; as he forced out of this life.
For many; it feels like a small part of us; leaves with him.
Actually, it's a guy (his picture is on the link).
I think he's more shellshocked from realizing who Nick Berg was than anything else. I imagine he decided to keep the article personal instead of political (which may be a good thing; who knows what his opinion is on the war on terror and the US war with Iraq?).
Arnold Schwarzenegger should be proud!
"brotherhood of those who pump iron."
Weider Nominated for the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize
Recognized for Promotion of Peace Through Sport
When Ben and his brother Joe created the IFBB in 1946, they had two priorities-the promotion of bodybuilding and assurance that the IFBB would be free from political, racial, and religious prejudices. The IFBB was created to unite countries in the spirit of friendship and sport as noted in the IFBB Constitution:
"In sport there are no limitations, no barriers of race, religion, politics or culture. In sport, we are in touch with each other. BODYBUILDING IS IMPORTANT FOR NATION BUILDING."
Moussaoui also worked out. He went to a gym while he was in Norman, Oklahoma.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28592-2001Dec11?language=printer, [excerpts]
Even the mundane details of Moussaoui's life -- down to joining a gym and opening a bank account -- take on new significance when laid side by side with the movements of the Sept. 11 hijackers. [snip]Moussaoui, beefy and outspoken, tried to blend into Norman's university scene, dressing like an American student, playing computer games and working out at the student gym. He made some acquaintances in his short stay there, including some at the local mosque.
GBU, Nick Berg.
OK, Spill it. How did you connect those dots? And the bigger question...do you think one spotted the other?
bflr
It sounds like you've hit on the connection - Nick Berg was always working out - this article shows that. He even had weights in his hotel room in Baghdad. Since it's known Moussaoui went to the college gym in Oklahoma, there's a good chance Berg, who also went to school there (assuming it was at the same time), knew Moussaoui or one of Moussaoui's friends from that gym.
Someone else can correct me, but I think that they were not in Oklahoma during the same time period; Berg left before Moussaoui ever arrived.
Berg knew Moussaoui. They met on a bus as Berg was going to a class near the airport and Moussaoui was travelling to his flight school. Berg allowed Moussaoui to use his computer and that led the FBI to watch Berg and interview him in 2002.
It is truly barbaric want happened to Nick Berg. I feel for his family and friends.
As this story unfolds, the word "naive" might be bit premature based on the weird consequences surrounding his life.
Time will tell. Hopefully, I'm wrong.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.