State has no records of Berg's firm (Nick Berg)

The Daily Local ^ | 05/14/2004 | JONATHAN TULEYA

[calcowgirl]

Prometheus Methods Tower Services Inc., the business that cost Nick Berg his life in Iraq, has no records with the Pennsylvania Department of State.

The company that specialized in building communications towers never registered with the Pennsylvania Corporation Bureau, said Brian McDonald, spokesman for the state department.

McDonald conducted a search of the bureau’s online list of registered businesses, but found no matches.

The same search done by a Daily Local News reporter produced the same results -- several businesses contained the word "Prometheus" in their names. Only one is located in West Chester, and it is not related to Berg’s business.

Companies are not legally required to register with the state, but McDonald explained it is usually the first step an owner takes.

"You’d be very foolish not to register your business with the department," he said. "It is nearly impossible to exist without doing it."

Registering allows an owner to set up his business’s tax structure. It also establishes how the business is run, for example, whether or not it is for-profit or nonprofit.

"It is basically the infrastructure by which businesses are set up in the commonwealth," McDonald said.

McDonald added it is possible the business could be listed in the bureau’s records under a different name.

Searching the statewide yellow pages online found two company names containing the word "Prometheus" in Philadelphia. One is an Internet consulting business.

An employee at the second one, which is called Prometheus Radio Project, said it was not affiliated with the business owned by the local man slain in Iraq by members of al-Qaida.

Officials at the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue and the Internal Revenue Service said state and federal laws prohibited their agencies from providing any records they had of Prometheus Methods Tower Services -- even whether the company had ever filed a return.

"Any information that we get or is contained on a tax return I can’t release," said Steve Kniley, press secretary for the state revenue department. "It is considered confidential under tax law."

Tax records become public information only if a lien is filed against a business. According to Kniley, there are no liens against Berg’s company.

Bill Cressman, spokesman at the IRS’s Philadelphia office, said the only companies with public tax records are nonprofit corporations.

At least one person claims he can confirm Prometheus’ existence.

Jay Shur, who works at the radio station WCHE 1520 AM in West Chester, said on Wednesday he was in the process of hiring Berg to build a communications tower for the station when news of his death came out.

The station was awaiting approval of plans from both the borough and an environmental agency before construction could begin, according to Shur.

"There’s a lot of paperwork to go through, and the area we were looking at was a marsh- land so we had to get clearance," he said."When I do get the OK, I’ll have to look for another contractor."

Michael Berg briefly spoke about Prometheus during a press conference Thursday morning outside his home.

"My son was not over there to make money," Michael Berg said. "My son’s business, which was very profitable before he went to Iraq ..I will make good on anything the company owes anybody, but it’s pretty much going to be defunct."

It is unclear how many employees Prometheus had. Michael Berg spoke of a "foreman" during the press conference. However, Nick Berg traveled to Iraq alone.

Staff Writer Jill Nawrocki contributed to this article.

[Trinity_Tx]

*blush*

Thanks, y'all. If only I deserved such company. ~8]

It would be nice to have a fresh start, but it wouldn't be my thread, it would be everyone's who has contributed the info I gathered.

So if any of y'all think I should, I'll try to think of a good subject line, then ... dive in with a new thread. 8] Unless I chicken out... lol
It's late tho... Might wait and see what tomorrow morning brings.

[Alamo-Girl]

I think it would be great to have a separate research thread summing up everything you've got so far and then Freepers can add to it as more information is uncovered!

[Southack]

Nick Berg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Berg, October 2003

Nicholas Berg (c.1978 - April or May 2004), an American businessman seeking telecommunications work in Iraq during the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, was captured and beheaded, apparently by Islamist militants possibly connected to Al-Qaida, in May 2004. His killing was said to have been carried out to avenge abuses of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison. The act was condemned by many Muslim leaders as contrary to Islamic law and harmful to their cause.

Berg, aged 26 at the time of his death, was a native of West Chester, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, where he owned his own company, Prometheus Methods Tower Service. He inspected and rebuilt communication antennas, and had previously visited Kenya, Ghana, and Uganda on similar projects.

Berg graduated from West Chester Henderson High School in 1996 and attended four universities: Cornell, Drexel, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Oklahoma, although he never completed his college degree. He once traveled to Ghana to help a village, by among other things teaching villagers how to make bricks. He returned in an emaciated state because he gave away most of his food and clothes.

Table of contents[]

1 Travels and detention

2 Disappearance

3 Death

3.1 Video details

3.1.1 Possible video inconsistencies

3.2 Controversy

4 Reaction

5 Family Activism and Claimed Link to Zacarias Moussaoui

6 External links

Travels and detention

Berg, unlike most of his family, was a supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and of Bush administration policy. He traveled to Iraq in the hope of helping to repair its damaged infrastructure. He first arrived in Iraq on December 21, 2003, and made arrangements to secure contract work for his company. He also went to the northern city of Mosul, visiting an Iraqi man whose brother had been married to Berg's late aunt. Leaving on February 1, he returned to Iraq on March 14, 2004, only to find that the work he was promised was unavailable. Throughout this period, he maintained frequent contact with his family in the United States by telephone and e-mail.

Berg had intended to return to the United States on March 30, 2004, but he was detained in Mosul on March 24 by Iraqi police at a checkpoint. His family claims he was turned over to U.S. officials and held for 13 days without access to legal counsel. FBI agents visited his parents to confirm his identity on March 31, but he was not immediately released. After his parents filed suit in federal court in Philadelphia on April 5, claiming that he was being held illegally, he was released from custody. He said that he had not been mistreated during his confinement. The U.S. maintains that at no time was Berg in coalition custody, but rather that he was held by Iraqi forces. The Mosul police deny they ever arrested Berg.[1][2] According to the Associated Press, Berg was released from custody on April 6 and advised by U.S. officials to take a flight out of Iraq, with their assistance. Berg is said to have refused this offer and traveled to Baghdad, where he stayed at the Al Fanar Hotel. His family last heard from him on April 9. Berg had his last contact with U.S. officials on April 10 and did not return again to his hotel after that date. [3]

Disappearance

Berg's family became concerned after not hearing from him for several days. Although a U.S. State Department investigator looked into Berg's disappearance, official government inquiries produced no leads. Berg's family, frustrated with what they say was a lack of action by the U.S. government, also hired a private investigator and contacted both their Congressional delegation and the Red Cross in search of information.

Death

Nick Berg, in orange, seated, shortly before his decapitation by the five men standing over him.

Berg's body was found decapitated on May 8, 2004 on a Baghdad overpass by a U.S. military patrol. Berg's family was informed of his death on May 10. Military sources stated publicly at that time that Berg's body showed "signs of trauma", but did not disclose that he had been decapitated.

On May 11, 2004, the website of the militant Islamist group Muntada al-Ansar [4] broadcast a video with the opening title of "Abu Musa'b al-Zarqawi slaughters an American," which shows Berg being decapitated. Both al-Zarqawi and Muntada al-Ansar are associated with the Al-Qaida movement. The video is about five minutes and thirty-two seconds long.

Berg is seen in the video wearing an orange jumpsuit. He identified himself: "My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my mother's name is Susan. I have a brother and sister, David and Sarah. I live in West Chester, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia."

Surrounded by five men wearing ski masks and head scarves, after reading his statement, Berg was decapitated by a number of blows with a knife. On the video, a scream can be heard as the men around him shout "Allahu Akbar" (a common Arabic expression meaning "God is greatest!"). The men in the video also stated that Berg's killing was in direct retaliation for the abuse of prisoners by U.S. troops at Abu Ghraib prison.

On May 13, news outlets quoted a CIA source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, that a voice analysis of the tape has led the agency to conclude that it is the masked man who reads the statement and carries out the killing is "with high probability" al-Zarqawi.

During the video, the man reading the statement threatens further deaths: "We tell you that the dignity of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood and souls. You will not receive anything from us but coffins after coffins ... slaughtered in this way." The video further threatens U.S. President George W. Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

The video bears some similarities to the videotape showing the murder and decapitation of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002. Like Pearl, Berg was Jewish, although it is uncertain whether his captors were aware of that.

Warning: Very graphic photo

Image of veiled person holding severed head

Video details

From 00:00:08 to 00:00:22, Berg introduces himself. Then a pronouncement is read by a masked man standing between four other masked men. At 00:04:30 in the video, one of the men attacks Berg with a knife; the men surround him; very quickly, screams can be heard as Berg is held by the men and beheaded. At 00:05:20, the head is presented to the camera.

WARNING: This video contains graphic violence which may be offensive and/or disturbing to some viewers.

• The complete video, including the beheading of Nick Berg
  • http://www.consumptionjunction.com/downloads/cj_34947.wmv (8.2 MB WMV format)
  • http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/decapitation_video.htm (5.4 MB WMV format)

Possible video inconsistencies

The video contains some apparent inconsistencies which suggest that it may have been been edited extensively by parties unknown. Technical problems in the film may conceal significant facts. The sound is out of sequence with the image, indicating that it may have been recorded separately. The time-stamp display indicates that several edits have been made. A significant discontinuity (over 11 hours) in the video's time-stamp from 2:44:12 to 13:45:47 occurs just after the killing begins. It is also possible that two video cameras recorded the event simultaneously. The two were then edited together to produce the released version. This would explain the time stamps -- two different times for each camera.

While the video is of poor quality, the sequences showing the beheading after the time jump appear to show very little arterial bleeding associated with the removal of the head, indicating that this act may very likely have been performed post-mortem (which would explain why Berg did not move, and mean that his "death scream" was dubbed).

Reaction

In the Muslim world, the killing of Berg was strongly condemned. Scholars at Al-Azhar University in Cairo issued a declaration of condemnation, as did numerous Muslim groups in the West including CAIR. Shiite Islamist group Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas denounced the murder; Hezbollah issued a statement calling it a "horrible act that does an immense wrong to Islam and Muslims by a group which falsely pretends to follow the precepts of the religion of pardon".

Iraqi conservative and fundamentalist religious leaders also denounced the killing. Muthanna al-Dhari, of the Board of Muslim Clergy, said the act "does disservice to our religion and our cause. Even if he was a military personnel he should be treated as a prisoner who, according to Shari'ah, must not be killed." Iyaad Samarrai of the Islamic Party commented "This is absolutely wrong. Islam does prohibit the killing or the maltreatment of prisoners." [6]

Others see Berg's slaying as a reminder of why the United States is waging a War on Terror. [7] White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan commented, regarding the incident: "It shows the true nature of the enemies of freedom. They have no regard for the lives of innocent men, women and children. We will pursue those who are responsible and bring them to justice."

Family Activism and Claimed Link to Zacarias Moussaoui

Berg's family blamed the U.S. government and policies that led to his arrest and detainment in April, for creating the circumstances that led to Nick's death. Michael Berg stated that if his son hadn't been detained for so long, he might have been able to leave the country before the violence worsened. [2] His father reportedly stated: "I think a lot of people are fed up with the lack of civil rights this thing has caused. I don't think this administration is committed to democracy." The FBI claims that Berg specifically refused government assistance in leaving Iraq. On May 14, Michael Berg attacked the Bush administration's foreign policy, blaming the American actions in Iraq for his son's death.

The elder Berg said he has been a member of the anti-war activist group ANSWER (Act Now to Stop the War and End Racism) since participating in a rally in Washington, D.C., in March 2003. "I think stopping the war and ending racism are extremely important things that this world has to do right now. I am proud to be a member of ANSWER and I plan to be at the march on June 5. I know it is considered a radical group," [8]

On May 13, it was revealed that Nick Berg had been investigated during the U. S. government's investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui. Berg's email address had been used by Moussaoui prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Berg's father, Nick Berg had a chance encounter with Moussaoui on a bus in Norman, Oklahoma, and Moussaoui had asked Berg to borrow his laptop computer to send an email.

External links

• Video on al-Qaida linked Web site shows beheading - CNN news story (no video)
• Berg's encounter with 'terrorist' revealed - CNN news story.
• Berg Had Been Advised to Leave Iraq - Associated Press news story.
• Al-Zarqawi Murdered Berg, CIA Concludes FOX News story. This article has a link to an edited version of video that does not include the beheading.
• Bloggers doubt Berg execution video - Al Jazeera article citing skeptics of video's authenticity.
• Nick Berg's Killing: 50 Fishy Circumstances, Contradictory Claims, and Videotape Anomalies - Article posted on Kuro5hin listing unusual circumstances surrounding the killing and videotape.

[Trinity_Tx]

Thank you! I wish I were naturally organized! I just have a hard time thinking thru things without outlining stuff like that. lol

I wish I coulda made it shorter, I tried, but dang, there's a lot of info! lol

watchwoman, thank you for the "Amen". I'm afraid some will think of that as my being a wet blanket, but I cant escape that "chill". : /

[Trinity_Tx]

Awesome! Thank you, Southack. I didn't know they had gotten him in there yet.

[Trinity_Tx]

OK. I can't think of anyone whose advice I'd be better to trust. : )

I'll amend it with the info southack just provided, then start a new thread.

[Alamo-Girl]

That is great news! Please do ping me when you've got it all posted. I love research threads!

And thank you so very much for the encouragements! Hugs!!!

[Southack]

Notice that he's in Kenya in 1998. I believe that our embassy there was bombed on August 7, 1998.

Notice that he was at the Abu Ghraib prison (on what amounts to an observation tower) when the insurgents were shelling it with mortar rounds trying to cause a jailbreak.

Notice that he had a bus ride with Moussaoui, in Oklahoma, and that Moussaoui or an associate got his email address and password.

Notice that he spent time in Uganda, the current African stronghold of Al-Qaeda.

He physically met *two* of al-qaeda's top terrorists (Zarqawi and Moussaoui). He's even been in Zarqawi's home country of Jordan.

...All by the time he was 26.

[vaudine]

My first thought was CIA, but dismissed it because Young Berg was not professional enough in his credentials, etc.

Was he some young ideologue reaching out to "understand" the enemy? Was he some kind of recruit? in view of his father's Bush msg. seems like he was an inadvertant suicide bomber--kind of in reverse.

vaudine

[Fraulein]

If things weren't bad enough, we're about to experience even worse: rising tolerance for Birkenstocks among conservatives!

LOL!

[onyx]

Trav, I hope you've read Southack's #748.

[Trinity_Tx]

Hmmm... I just read the info on that page. Keep in mind that Wikipedia is merely an open-source collection of info gained online by various reports - the same we post here. We know that a few of the reports this entry is based on were from the first days, and later disproved. Specifically, the paragraph about his bus encounter.

As I wrote in the summary, (#725) No such data exists. It was speculated by his friend and father that it was Moussaoui he met on the bus. But Aschcroft says that it was not so. He says that it was a person believed to be acquainted with Moussaoui 2 years later. He says there was never a thought that Berg ever met him, or any of his contacts.

Quotes from the FBI report: an e-mail address traced to him was used by an unidentified person believed acquainted with Zacarias Moussaoui,

an e-mail address once used by Berg apparently was obtained by the Moussaoui acquaintances while Berg was briefly an engineering student at the University of Oklahoma in 1999

Moussaoui came to the United States in February 2001 and enrolled at a flight school in Norman, Okla., also the home of the university.

Ashcroft told reporters there is no evidence that Berg knew Moussaoui or any of Moussaoui's contacts in Oklahoma.

When you say "Notice that he had a bus ride with Moussaoui, in Oklahoma, and that Moussaoui or an associate got his email address and password. (Bus ride was with a later acquaintance of Moussaoui - not Moussaoui or an associate of him, and as stated in the file, there was a spate of e-mail account thefts at that time - not just Nicks.)
... He physically met *two* of al-qaeda's top terrorists (Zarqawi and Moussaoui). He's even been in Zarqawi's home country of Jordan.&... He physically met *two* of al-qaeda's top terrorists (Zarqawi and Moussaoui). He's even been in Zarqawi's home country of Jordan."

I assume you are referring to the meeting with Zarqawi being the one in which Zarqawi cut his head off. Nick's being in Jordan is in the file.

[onyx]

Ooooh, good PI work.
Huge discrepancy of dates in OK.

[onyx]

Trav, do not miss #752 either.

[Trinity_Tx]

Regarding the other country visits... and dates of visits as well as the Abu Ghraib prison timeline ... are you using Kuro5hin site's discrepancy list as a source? I can find nothing else...

I will look tho.

Kuro5hin.. is an opinion site, and that report is so chock full of fallacies, based on wild tinfooil guesses like those like those at DU and other weird ones, I don't consider it at all credible. : (

If we can find a credible source for the dates of the other visits, it would be a good idea... I'll include the fact that he visited those places until then... (forgive typos please.. not gonna edit.. gettin sleepy lol)

[onyx]

I haven't tried to verify anything
(sloth that I am) I have accepted yall's
work at face value.
I know Southack is one of our best researchers
as well as a careful poster of facts.
You're in the same category.

I'm fixing to call it a night also.
I'll write you a FR mail tomorrow.

[calcowgirl]

Here's what I've been collecting, so far

Nicholas Evan Berg

1996                      Graduates from Henderson High School, West Chester, Pa
Fall 1996 - Winter 1997:  Cornell
Spring 1998 Semester:     Ghana (Cornell Study Abroad Program)
Spring 1998 Semester:     Drexel University
Fall 1998 Semester:       Cornell
End of Fall Semester:     Voluntary leave of absence from Cornell
1999 (one semester):      University of Oklahoma, civil engineering major
???:                      University of Pennsylvania
2000                      helped set up the electronics equipment at the
                          Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.
2002                      Formed Prometheus Methods Tower Service
2003                      Kenya - installing mobile phone masts 
Dec 2003-Jan 2004         Performs work in Iraq
Mid-Mar 2004              Returned to Iraq to seek work

[Trinity_Tx]

Oh that's perfect, calcowgirl! Thank you. I'll add it first thing in the morning.

[calcowgirl]

There are some conflicts in the news reporting... like how can someone be taking classes at Drexel at the same time they are studying abroad for the semester in Ghana... but, the sources were official (some sources below). (PS... my preference is just to keep all this good info on one thread... but I think I've been outvoted! lol)

---

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.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/May04/Berg_statement.html.

---

Drexel University Announces Endowed Scholarship to Honor Former Student Nick Berg

Drexel has established an endowed scholarship in honor of Nick Berg, the American telecommunications contractor executed in Iraq, it was announced today by University President Constantine Papadakis. The scholarship will be awarded annually to a student graduating from B. Reed Henderson High School in West Chester, Pa. Berg graduated from Henderson in 1996.

“On behalf of Drexel's students, faculty, staff, alumni and trustees, I extend deepest condolences to the family and friends of Nick Berg,” said Papadakis. “This scholarship in his name will help ensure that Nick's legacy remains fresh in the hearts and minds of the Drexel and West Chester Henderson High School communities.”

Berg attended Drexel as a student in the Goodwin College of Professional Studies in the spring 1998 term. He took 11 undergraduate credit hours in physics, education and constructional design.

Scholarship contributions can be forwarded to:
Drexel University
Office of Institutional Advancement
Nicholas E. Berg Endowed Scholarship Fund
3141 Chestnut Street, Suite 310
Philadelphia, PA 19104.

For additional information, please contact 215/895-2600.

http://www.drexel.edu/ia/front/berg.html.

[piasa]

The best way to get a clearer idea of what the truth is ... is to delete any info from an article which is unsourced or anonymously sourced. Sometimes it won't leave anything at all, or merely a few lines of info. But in general, you'll be alot closer to the truth than if you accept unnamed sources.

Sometimes anonymous sources turn out to be right- but more often they are just frauds.

Unfortunately, in this case not enough people are filtering out unsourced info.