Posted on 05/27/2004 9:26:51 PM PDT by Rennes Templar
May 27, 2004 | Filmmaker Michael Moore filmed an interview with American Nicholas Berg in the course of producing his documentary film "Fahrenheit 9/11" before Berg left for Iraq, where he was taken hostage and killed, Moore confirmed to Salon in a statement Thursday. The 20 minutes of footage does not appear in the final version of "Fahrenheit 911," according to the statement.
Word of the footage reached Salon through a source unaffiliated with Moore or his film "Fahrenheit 9/11," which is reported to feature stark images of U.S. civilians and soldiers grappling with conditions in war-torn Iraq, as well as examining the relationship between President George W. Bush and the bin Laden family. It received the Palme d'Or, the Cannes Film Festival's highest honor, on Saturday.
In a statement widely circulated by Moore's people after an initial request for comment by Salon, Moore said, "We have an interview with Nick Berg. It was approximately 20 minutes long. We are not releasing it to the media. It is not in the film. We are dealing privately with the family." Moore's camp declined to comment further on any aspect of the interview. Because the footage is not in the film, a spokeswoman for Miramax Films, the production company behind "Fahrenheit 9/11," said the company had no comment.
It was not clear from Moore's statement whether footage from the interview with Berg had ever been included in early cuts of "Fahrenheit 9/11." Reports about a film industry controversy surrounding distribution of the film first hit the news on May 5, a week before Berg's death. The film officially screened for the public and the press for the first time during the Cannes festival on May 17.
The news that Moore spoke to Berg while he was still in the United States only adds to the mystery surrounding the young man's presence in Iraq and tragic death. The interview was shot before the 26-year-old Berg left for Iraq late last year as a private contractor in the hopes of helping to rebuild the ravaged country. Though it was unclear what Berg spoke about in his interview with Moore, or how the two men met, unrelated reports following his death indicate that he headed for the Middle East with plans to work to improve the country's technological infrastructure and communication abilities. He ran his own company, Prometheus Methods Tower Service, in a suburb of Philadelphia.
Berg did not find employment in Iraq, and when he attempted to return to the United States he was detained by Iraqi police and questioned by American forces. He was released after his family complained. But shortly after, he is believed to have been kidnapped by Islamic terrorists. Video of his beheading was released on an Islamist Web site on May 11. Salon was unable to reach the Berg family for comment before publication.
Moore's film chronicles the United States' military, political and business involvement in the Middle East in the years before and after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. His previous politically charged films, including "Roger & Me" and "Bowling for Columbine," have created controversy and won him praise (including an Oscar, for "Columbine"). "Fahrenheit 9/11" has already sparked a media storm; in early May, Miramax's parent company, Disney, announced that it would not allow Miramax to distribute the film, which is highly critical of Bush and his administration.
Miramax has yet to make a deal with a distributor, though the film's warm reception at Cannes and the publicity surrounding the film have made it a hot property that is generating a lot of interest in Hollywood. "Bowling for Columbine" grossed $21 million, making it the highest-grossing non-IMAX documentary of all time.
A source close to "Fahrenheit 9/11" said that a new distributor will be announced shortly, and that the film is expected to be released in theaters during the first week of July, as originally planned.
Knowing in advance that most of you will madly delete this message due to its generic form-letter quality, I submit this brief summary of my travels thus far.
Read this as "delete this message as soon as you have read it."
I did manage to scrape together some olive leaves for rigging,
Does anyone have a technical meaning for this term? I have never heard it before, but of course this could be some insider lingo related to climbing or electronics.
After a rather lengthy interrogation courtesy of the Israeli Airport Police and then Internal Security, I set off to City Center
Does everyone who enters Israel have "lengthy interrogations" with Israeli Internal Security?
Being tired and anxious to set down my 200' climbing rope (wrapped around my head in a manner suggestive of certain Palestinian tribes), I wimped out and got a room at a "regular" establishment, rather than a C-W or C-H Motel as those of you familiar with Prometheus Towers SOP whilst traveling, will understand.
OK...he is carrying 200 feet of rope on his head? Wrapped in a manner suggesting the headress of certain Palestinian tribes? Does this not seem odd? Like perhaps he is letting the reader know he is trying to make contact with certain Palestinians?
Furthermore, what is a C-W or C-H Motel? What does THAT mean? What is the Prometheus SOP whilst traveling?
several free gallons of tap water
OK...this is another weird thing. Why would you brag about getting several free gallons of tap water? Do they CHARGE for water at hotels in Israel? This makes no sense to me unless it is some sort of code.
Olive green slacks and a khaki vest, sure to say "I might be a westerner but I won't admit it" right away. On my way to Jordan I got several comments from the many border guards I saw, so I am confident my mission succeeded.
This is another cryptic comment. WHAT mission succeeded? Looking less like a westerner? Or is this another way to tell his reader that he accomplished some other mission?
I left Tel-Aviv for the Jordan Valley Border Crossing, passing some beautiful land and a large prison on the way.
Again he notices a prison. If I were traveling through Israel, I doubt a prison would be something I remarked upon or noticed. An odd comment, whose meaning I can't fathom.
into good ole' Arab-speaking lands
This is a REALLY odd comment from a Jew, particularly one who was, according to one account, going back to being observant.
So I safely reached Amman and found a really cool place called Firas Palace which featured an Elevator and a tape recorded sound track reminiscent of the Havana Inn in Kampala, circa 1998.
Why is the "E" in elevator capitalized? Could be a typo, but he seems to have made no other typos. We also learn from this that he was at the Havana Inn in Kampala in 1998, unless this is a signal that he hooked up with some Cubans (tin foil has now completely encased me, by the way).
will give more detail on my next message. For the stockholders out there – we've made some contacts and I am seeing some opportunities here. Bear with me and I promise dividends. For the mean time I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday of whatever form you chose. Feel free to respond anytime you like…
Can we find any other e-mails? Since the company wasn't publicly traded, he could be referring to members of the family, or he could be referring to something else.
FOX AND FRIENDS WILL COVER SOMETHING ABOUT MICHAEL MOORE, ACCORDING TO MY HUSBAND.
Hotel staff said he left at 7AM on the 10th, left behind several of his things, including his exercise weights and his work-contact business cards, and would hopefully return 'in a few days'.
please add me to your NICK BERG ping list too, thanks
According to Glenn Beck, who flew to Israel last year, they/Israel conducts extremely detailed, lengthy interrogations when flying El Al (sp?). It is probably the same for entering the nation proper by other means.
SOP=standard operating procedure
Do you know anything about olive leaves for rigging?
Pbbt. That's all they say.
Leaving for a couple of hours. Will return later this morning.
Great find on Infante!
The Japanese "hostages" who were later found to have been anti-war activists were structured in nearly the same way, although there were three of them. They were also involved in some kind of dubious newsgathering scheme combined with going to villages and "inspecting" them for damage.
One of the members was a photographer. He seems to have had some professional credentials, although he wasn't exactly a photojournalist and I think most of his work had been published in "alternative" media, except for a few pictures he sold now and then to newswires, etc.
It emerged from their e-mails that the group had some sort of plan, and got together once they were in Iraq (that is, I think each of them arrived separately). They talked about what a great thing they were going to do and how they had finally achieved what they had been trying to do (arrange a meeting with AQ, presumably). Then they ended up appearing in a video with knives pressed to their throats.
It sounds very similar to Berg's situation, especially if he was working with Infante.
This is the sentence I find peculiar:
For the stockholders out there – we've made some contacts and I am seeing some opportunities here. Bear with me and I promise dividends.
If Prometheus Methods was not a public company and had no stockholders, this is clearly a message.
I wonder how many people he sent this e-mail to, and who they were?
I cannot fathom what he's trying to say...unless the olive leaves were camouflage for his photography equipment. LOL That's a stretch, isn't it?
I don't know anything about olive leaves for RIGGING but I do know that OLIVE LEAVES are a universally recognised sign for PEACE.
I just noticed a post in which Howlin says that Berg's family and friends were the investors, so it's possible that "stockholders" referred to them. In which case it wouldn't be a particularly suspicious reference.
However, since it seems from earlier threads that the company was unregistered and there aren't any records on how it was structured, what profits it made, etc., I guess this would be pretty hard to check out.
This entire e-mail is full of puzzling things.
I think these may be hotel classifications. In Spain, C-H indicates a low-end boarding house type of place (Casa de Huespedes), usually run in somebody's home or extra rooms. Perhaps the same classifications are used in certain formerly European-influenced parts of Africa, where Berg appears to have spent some time.
I think it probably meant that he normally stayed in these sort of low-end places but this time had to stay at a regular hotel.
Thanks for the link.
I just saw from that information that Prometheus Methods actually was a registered corporation (established in the state of Virginia).
It's unheard of for a company to actually have skilled specialists here – I think this gives us an advantage, but we have to get past the "I have a friend" stage. I'm hoping a good business manager will move this along.
That email has intrigued me for some time. Notice how many times he says "We".
I thought he was there alone. Who was he with?
But weren't two supsects in Nick Berg's murder arrested in Iraq. Maybe they told Iraqi investators something about Moore and Nick Berg, and after their arrests the revelation of Nick Berg's interview with Moore.
Any way that fact of some of the suspects arrest should be included in the timeline as well as the date of the Salon article which revealed the interview of Berg by moore.
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