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.
I only saw that reported by the Tribune... and no one else.
Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Ill.: May 13, 2004To stay fit, he lifted weights in his room. Sometimes he drove around town in a beat-up car he bought after arriving in Iraq last winter.
No response to ping of his web server IP address, ergo, it's not just web server process getting overloaded - that machine is OFF the Internet.
Posted by Objective Reality
Also, I just tried the link that you said works for you and I can't get it.
Interesting to finally read the e-mail. I don't know if it really reveals anything useful. But I am wondering, who was directing Berg to go to these various towers and what was he paid?
Your stepfather is/was rotten. We lived with my now ex husband's family for a spell. I was 19 and had a huge gray, long haired cat. One day I couldn't find him, and my father in law told me that he saw him under a neighbor's house. I crawled around on my hands and knees calling for that cat, until I heard my inlaws laughing at me from inside the house.
Years later, one of the neices told me that she was in the car when her mother threw the cat out...going at highway speed.
Those are the kinds of people that would make excellent human shields.
bookmarked...
For later reading.
Nick claims he went to Mosul in January 2004 , NOT to meet his uncle-by-marriage, but the BROTHER of an uncle-by-marriage. So then I stopped to think of ALL of my uncles-by-marriage or aunts-by-marriage, (and I have a LOT of them), and I ask myself: Do I KNOW ANY of their siblings? (who have no relation to me) - No. And that would be a much stronger NO, if that aunt or uncle lived in a foreign country where I had never been.
If its truthful that Nick WAS meeting a sibling of an uncle-by-marriage, it could only have been at the request of his anti-war business manager/father: Michael Berg, who would more likely have known the siblings of HIS in-law.
But personally, I think the whole 'relatives' cover-story is a huge steaming pile of B.S.... Michael's jewish sister, married a muslim in Iraq, PLUS the Berg family in the U.S. stayed close to that muslim family on the other side of the globe? (enough to even know the muslim man's BROTHER?) No way.
Nick's actions seem to better fit the concept of an undercover anti-war activist working for M.Moore. And that would better explain why the M.Moore film-crew was weeping at hearing of Nick's death.
During 2003, Mosul was relatively peaceful, outside the Suuni triangle, and was noted for rock throwing and occasional gunfire.
Apr 16 2003 After a Rock throwing and gun fire incident in Mosul...
On March 20 2004, Insurgents in Mosul attacked the PUK office. Five mortar shells were fired at the building, [that was 3 days before NB went to 'visit' Mosul for the second time.]
And in April 2004, not only was Mosul having a well-armed insurgency problem. But in Fallujah there was also a new group nearby called the Ahmad Yasin Brigades, which like M.Moore, understood the power of 'video' [the following is from a Vermont sedition website]:
Musab Yasin --Iraqi with New Jersey apartment where Ramzi Yousef first went.
Abdul Rahman Yasin--Musab's brother, led FBI to apartment where bomb was made; employee of Iraqi government; indicted fugitive, presently in Baghdad.
[Ramzi Yousef was the man who had entered the United States on an Iraqi passport, and masterminded the 1993 WTC bomb/cyanide gas attack.]
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=20051418
[Vice President] Taha Yasin Ramadan [the 10 of Diamonds] was arrested Aug 19 2003 in Mosul, where he had been born,
Mukhabarat Assistant Director of D4: Brig. Mohammed Yasin, from Mosul [Iraqi Intelligence Service]
Could be. Berg was an agent, there's no doubt. Where his ultimate loyalty was directed, that is very much in doubt.
The poll is gone but its still a great idea. Urge Bill O to ask M.Moore WHY he was interviewing N.Berg, and was Nick an employee or volunteer for Moore! Was there plans to film a follow-up with Berg?
Oreilly@foxnews.com - The O'Reilly Factor - Bill O'Reilly
But personally, I think the whole 'relatives' cover-story is a huge steaming pile of B.S.... Michael's jewish sister, married a muslim in Iraq, PLUS the Berg family in the U.S. stayed close to that muslim family on the other side of the globe? (enough to even know the muslim man's BROTHER?) No way.
I brought up the issue of a Jewish woman marrying a Muslim and moving to an Arab state, a while back. I am now educated as to the fact that there are Christians and Jews living in Iraq. I mentioned that here on an earlier thread, btw...(educated=sarcasm)
I agree with you. I can't keep track of my blood relatives...nevermind if they were by marriage, and living in an other country.
You've done some good homework FL, thanks :-)
I still find it significant that Nick is running around Baghdad telling people he's Jewish and his father saying he's a Bush/war supporter. As if they were trying to create a persona/cover story . . . not one who would be "Al Queda's best friend."
What do we know about Michael's sister?
Have you read that email that Nick sent from Israel and Jordan?
As a Jew, he supposedly only knew a few Jewish words.
Yet he had a fair understanding of Arabic, enough apparently to carry on a conversation.
We'll see if he picks up the story.
I'm trying to put together a timeline of NB's activities and I could use everyone's help. It will be appended to the one I posted previously.
I'll try to get it posted tomorrow.
This whole thing is fishy...hope we get to the bottom of it someday.
Sorry to hear about your cat. You can certainly understand how I felt. I never could forgive. Nor do I trust anyone who isn't kind to animals. Thanks for the reply.
>> What do we know about Michael's sister?
She's dead, and it would be nice to hear her name, and
when and where and how she died because that might be
significant to these events.
>>Have you read that email that Nick sent from Israel and Jordan?
I'm not sure. I did read one that sounded like he was
talking down about the Israeli's, but I assume he knew
someone could be evesdropping on any email from over there.
THEY KILLED THEIR BEST FRIEND!
That may be only true statement Berg snr made.
We don't know anything about Michael's sister except that she's dead. But what do we know about her husband, other than his name is Mudafer Yassin? Where is he now? Where did they live? What did he do for a living?
Yes and what did Nick's Aunt (his dad's sister) die from?
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