Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 11:57:52 -0600
Subject: Prometheus Towers/Nick howdy from the Middle East
Hi folks -
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.
If you would like me to remove you from the receive list, or want to add
someone, please let me know. Sorry to clog the boxes of those who are
uninterested...
So I flew El-Al, just barely, on the 22nd (Monday). They were not able to
check my equipment on the same check, meaning I arrived at Ben-Gurion with
some climbing rope, my notebook, and a jacket. I did manage to scrape
together some olive leaves for rigging, but not much in the way of change of
clothes or anything. After a rather lengthy interrogation courtesy of the
Israeli Airport Police and then Internal Security, I set off to City Center
and found my way in to my first real gyp of the trip. 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. Anyhow, I ended up at the beautiful Metropolitan Hotel nearly
on the Mediterranean just south of City Center and (I found out the next
morning while running) adjacent to the US Embassy. It really was a nice
place and for the 300 some Shekels it cost I really rammed them for almost
two days worth of service and several free gallons of tap water.
Grandpop/mom Berg would have been proud... My conclusion after about 24
hours on the waterfront there is: coastal Tel-Aviv is sort of like Atlantic
City, only backwards, and not as much Yiddish.
Anyhow - those of you who recently consulted in the great clothes-buying
epidemic of December 2003 will be horrified to hear – rather than spending
my first (and last, for a little while) full day in Israel in the Negev
looking for a good rock to climb, I found myself in the common market buying
clothes. I left there looking rather dapper, I must say. 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.
OK – I'll summarize here. This anecdote will necessarily leave off before
my current location, so don't anyone get wise on me and pick up a map. I
left Tel-Aviv for the Jordan Valley Border Crossing, passing some beautiful
land and a large prison on the way. The crossing was not as involved as I
expected but still very lengthy. I had no problem leaving Israel and only a
little suspicion entering Jordan. At the time my combined Hebrew vocabulary
consisted of about five words, though, so I was in a weird way happy to
leave and get back into good ole' Arab-speaking lands (seeing as how my
pre-trip Arabi vocab sported at least 15-20 words). Five minutes into the
150 km-long taxi ride to Amman, though (it was too late for the public bus I
tried to catch), I realized how different the East African/Swahili accent
and the "true" Arabi are. I'm just now realizing that, although I can
write
words and expressions for a number of occasions, and say them, too, my
pronunciation is so off that I must sound to these guys like a Texan Mexican
does to a Peruvian or Spaniard.
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. (Michael Jackson, over and over
again). Other than several beautiful Minirets and a good 600' tower, I
can't say much about Amman.
I 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…
Sincerely
Nick Berg
Prometheus Towers
Thanks. I hadn't seen this particular email. Besides clearing up which country Berg crossed into from Israel, I found some disturbing remarks in this account.
"At the time my combined Hebrew vocabulary
consisted of about five words, though, so I was in a weird way happy to
leave and get back into good ole' Arab-speaking lands."
So much for being a religious Jew. That's just the one remark I'll comment on. At this point I need tinfoil slippers...
I've been following the Nick Berg threads, and like many others, think there's something very stinky and weird. Very.
This absolutely JUMPED out at me from N. Berg's email:
"For the stockholders out there
– we've made some contacts and I am seeing some opportunities here. Bear
with me and I promise dividends."
From what I've read, the Prometheus business he had was not publicly traded, had practically no business. I think these are code words. I think his Prometheus Towers or whatever it was called was totally connected with the other Prometheus thing in PA whose purpose was to promote (IIRC) leftist programming in 3rd world countries. I think these "stockholders" are fellow enthusiasts in his line, whatever it was. And I don't think it was pro-war or pro-Bush, since only his father and a couple of oddballs on FR say he was.
IMHO, of course.
He seems to end his emails with "man is more than fire tamed." That may just be some weird catch phrase for evolutionists, I guess. But, I typed in the keywords, with Koran...and came up with this:
(12) Dominating Nature
Islam has openly proclaimed that man's true worth lies in the measure he has conquered nature and tamed it. The 20th verse of the 31st sura reads as follows: "Have you not seen that Allah has subjected to your (use) everything, all things in the heavens and on the earth and has made His bouties flow to you in exceeding measure, (both) seen and unseen ?..."
Moreover verses 32-34 of the 14th sura have the following wording:
"It is Allah who has created the heavens and the earth, sent down water from the sky, brought out fruits therewith to feed you; rendered ships to your service that they may sail through the sea according to His will and He subjected streams and rivers to you."
And He has subjected sun and moon to you, both diligently pursuing their courses. And the day and the night has He subjected to you and He has given you all that you ask for. And if you count the favours of Allah, you won't be able to number them. Verily, man is unjust and ungrateful."
These verses and many others point to the possibility of man to dominate nature. Fourteen centuries ago man had progressed only so far as to control sheep and cattle, camel and elephant. He had learnt to use their milk and meat and hide, ride them or bear his cargo on their backs. He had learnt to conquer somehow the restless sea, ride its billows in small or large vessels and cross that seas with his merchandise. He had also learnt to harness turbulent rivers and by building dams or channelling off their angry waters drive them to serene orchards and fields.
But did man always have control of such things? There was a time when even such paltry things were beyond his reach. On the contrary, fearing all or some of them, he could not muster courage to face them.
In the course of time he came to learn that he had no reason to fear them and casting off his irrational fear, his inner faculties opened up and in the light of labour and thought, he conquered and came to master them.
Now the Koran inspires man to consider his area of influence wider. Let man know that day and night, the sun, moon and stars and in a word Nature in all its majesty is awaiting his conquest, on condition that he does justice to himself and does not give in to ignorance and lust, on condition that he does not strike the wrong path but chooses the straight road which God has set before him and that he be not thankless to his Creator.
Like I said, I may be paranoid. But, you commented on his flowery speech patterns...and I agree. It seems codelike...or maybe he was just a bit strange. I thought I would post my finds...for whatever it's worth.
Of course, I could be reading too much into it, but I think a couple of things in that e-mail raise further questions.
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.
Stockholders = ANSWER, MOVEOUT, GEORGE $OREA$$ AND MICHAEL MOORE?