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.
Temple? Mutual friends with similar interests? A PI might be a good way to find out. The way things are going, if there is a connection, the trail is cold.
Doesn't the FBI see this?????And there's something about that AZIZ guy that I can't remember right now, but he fits into this little group quite well also!!
>>A PI might be a good way to find out.
I don't see the purpose in digging into Michael Berg's
brothers to THAT degree. The question here is how much
culpability M.Moore has for Nick's death.
We already know the Dad is a radical 60's commie, and wants
to defeat GW. One more related male Berg won't change a
thing. And Berg is SOOOOO common a name!
We don't know much about that sister that died, but that
WOULD be helpful to help explain Nick's trips within Iraq
among other things.
I'd like us all to remember we are still at war, and
trying to smear our military over that beheading should
only be done on anti-american sedition websites.
~Kim4VRWC's~
>>Do you know anything about berg's aunt? How close was she to his sister? Did they both die?
Nick Berg's AUNT was Michael Berg's sister. Its just one
woman, not two. We know almost nothing about her so far.
Does anyone have a link to that website that shows the connections to people/agencies that looks like a spider web? If you go to their website you can put in a name and it will generate a spider-web map.
I think someone even linked it earlier on this thread but I'm not sure. Howlin, was that you?
I assume you posed those questions somewhere other than FR as it is not in your posting history (Welcome to FR, by the way).
The question has been asked and explore here... but other than acknowledging that Philip J. Berg and Michael S. Berg are both radical Bush-hating lefties from the same general area of western Pennsylvania, supporting many of the same causes, no one has come up with a definitive link. There are several posts re: PJB starting HERE, including pictures of him (which show more physical resemblance to Teddy Kennedy than Michael Berg).
PIs are cheap. $200 - the price of a fine meal for two - might be enough to satisfy people's curiosity. Or an individual's curiosity.
Nita... the site is namebase.
They collect names from written books or news articles. The names are graphed in proximity to how many times their names are mentioned on the same page as the written material. I don't think it would help in this case, but here is a link:
http://www.namebase.org
I meant to Ping you to the above.
Not sure you saw the old stuff on Philip Berg... providing FYI
Thank you very much.
You need a refresher! Lose a turn and go back to the start...(homour!)Aziz has been well and truly nailed - he was under criminal investigation while he was in the US. I imagine that the FBI knows much more than we do about the connections between the numerous characters and orginisations involved. Aziz was the 'business partner' Berg 'found' in Iraq. They shared an office...
Remember, we are looking for a connection between Fatso Moore and Nick Berg.
I still can't get past my original impression that the prison 'abuse' photographs and video, and the first part of the 'beheading' film all have the Moore MO all over them, that they are posed.
In the still photograph of Berg when he is sitting in the chair, (if it was him) he looks unconcerned. In the photograph where he sitting on the floor, his posture, position of arms is identical...knees up,feet pointed upwards...it looks very unnatural to me. Sit on the floor yourself and see how it feels.
I have not been able to bring myself to watch the video, but I did see the part where Nick identifies himself, on the News. From that, it was difficult for me to tell if he was speaking or if the footage was dubbed.
Compared to the three Japanese who were shown being terrorised by their captors, Berg appears very calm under the circumstances. OK...it's been said he may have been drugged. Now try sitting like that on the floor (without toppling over) only half conscious...guess I will have to brace myself and watch the film after all.
I am prepared to believe that the body found was Berg. The rest, well, it looks like a bad Hollywood script that went very very wrong...
I've been trying to follow up on "Mustafa al-Muzfar" relative to the uncle.
I'm coming up with some interesting hits on Al-Muzaffar.
Chandra Muzaffar, Malaysia.Nothing tied out yet and I'll be gone for a couple days so I won't be able to follow up.
President, International Movement for a Just World (JUST).
http://www.just-international.orgSami al-Muzaffar
Prior dean of the University of Baghdad
Dismissed from position after refusing to abide by an Iraqi Governing Council decision to exclude senior Ba'athists from the university's teaching and administrative staff (Sep 2003)Lieutenant General Mahmud Al-Muzaffar
Appointed “scientific counselor” at the Iraqi embassy in Belgrade in 1997
(Interesting Milosevic connections and alleged Iranian-Iraqi oil smuggling deals)
Now that link it pretty cool! WE can type in bill clinton, hillary clinton, roger clinton..and come up with many famous names..
FBI? How about Homeland Security? I just don't know anymore. I believe that we've all fallen down the rabbit hole. George Soros, Michael Moore, and a cast of thousands of traitors.
Some of our most excellent sleuths are probably doing the legwork for the FBI. Don't think they don't lurk here along with the grape koolaid crowd.
If you remember anything else about Aziz, let us know. I had never really heard about him(or forgot if I did), so I'm interested in seeing where he fits in.
No, they probably go to the same political gatherings: anti-war meetings, ANSWER fundraisers, democratic meetings, etc. Remeber, they're in the same city in the same far left wind of the democratic party. The likelyhood that they cross paths is high. If so, was Nick Berg involved with Philip J. Berg?
BTW, Philip Berg's lawsuit reads exactly like the plot of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11:
Berg said: “The events surrounding "911" to date have yet to be uncovered. While America was under attack, for approximately the next seven (7) to eighteen (18) minutes Defendant GWB continues to listen to the goat story while Plaintiff's husband was just murdered and does not immediately assume his duties as Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces. Plaintiff, with her amended complaint intends to expose the truth to remember the dead and to prevent continued deaths of American military personnel due to President Bush's "failure to act and prevent" the worst attacks on our nation since Pearl Harbor.
Another coincidence?
You can read PJ Berg's full text here: http://www.911forthetruth.com/pages/PRNotice.htm
You got it.
There are several posts re: PJB starting HERE, including pictures of him (which show more physical resemblance to Teddy Kennedy than Michael Berg).
Yes, if related, the thin gene went to Michael.
Here's a list of the research I've kept links to:
Summary Analysis on Aziz (businesses, history, etc.)DOJ Press Release on Russian Organized Crime and Aziz Indictment
Philadelphia Inquirer article "Berg Met with Shady Iraqi" (halfway down the post)
Aziz Real Property transactions (wife Amina Bouayad and son Sarkout?)
Visit to Aziz Headquarters of the American Iraqi Council in Annandale, VA.
I presume the man above is the same as the "Sami Mahdi Al-Mudafer" described in the article below.
This heavily-redacted article from the bird-cage liner LASlimes is not for commercial use.
It is solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.
Los Angeles Times
May 18, 2003 Sunday
Faculty's Lesson in Democracy: Picking a University President
Tyler Marshall, Times Staff Writer
BAGHDAD
It was back-to-school day at colleges and universities throughout Iraq on Saturday, but at Baghdad University, faculty members made a brief but important detour on the way to their classrooms.
They practiced democracy.
For the first time in the memory of even the most venerable professors, the faculty had been granted the right to vote for the university's president plus two senior deputies. And in oven-like heat they crowded into a stifling auditorium to do what comes naturally to any American: nominate candidates, listen to them speak, bicker over procedure, challenge rules and -- eventually -- cast their ballots.
Before it was over, the 500-plus voters had selected Sami Mahdi Al-Mudafer, a Basra-born chemistry professor.
(snip)
When organizers opened the floor to nominations, hands shot up immediately and within minutes there were 11 nominees. All were men. After the names were written for all to see, each candidate addressed the audience with a description of his past.
A computer scientist named Hilal Bayati told his colleagues that he had been jailed by the Hussein regime for more than a decade and that he and his family had been tortured.
Most focused on their academic histories and ended with statements that they had never been affiliated with the Baath Party. A candidate who declared that he had "retired" from the party was the only one to receive no applause after his remarks.
The silence was but one sign of anti-Baath sentiment in an institution where party membership was a prerequisite for senior positions a few months ago. Outside the auditorium, placards urged faculty members to vote against any Baath candidates.
U.S. civil authorities banned high-level Baath members from public life Friday; those who had served in the party's lower ranks were free to participate.
As faculty members ascended stairs toward the auditorium, they passed haunting photos of about 40 young people who disappeared during Hussein's rule.
Some of those in the auditorium had also been shocked by an incident last week , when U.S. authorities were forced to cancel their first attempt to conduct the election because of irregularities, including identification checks that allowed many ineligible voters into the auditorium and several Baath Party figures seemingly in charge.
With squares of white paper serving as ballots, each candidate Saturday was allotted just two minutes to introduce himself, and with votes counted on a blackboard, the event seemed more akin to a student council election than a vote for the head of country's largest university.
(snip)
Thanks for that validation!
You're coming up with some really great finds, btw.
Thanks! Wait til you see Kubba/Kuba... I'm still working on it, lol.
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