Serious questions need to be asked about Berg...

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May 13, 2002
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#1
"The Houston Chronicle reports that Berg's murder has the potential to provide US President George Bush with "a little breathing room,"

"The White House seems to be locked into a very public clash with the family and friends of Berg over the details surrounding his detention in Mosul in the weeks leading up to his abduction and death."

"Iraq – U.S. authorities said Wednesday a young American who was beheaded by militants had been warned by the FBI to leave Iraq and was offered a plane ride to safety at a time when a new wave of violence spread across the country, making road travel extremely dangerous.

Mystery surrounded not only Nicholas Berg’s disappearance but also why he had been held by Iraqi police for about two weeks and questioned by FBI agents three times. Berg’s family disputed U.S. officials’ claims that Berg was never in U.S. custody."

The Iraqi police do not tell the FBI what to do, the FBI tells the Iraqi police what to do. Who do they think they’re kidding?” Berg’s father, Michael, told The Associated Press from his home in West Chester, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb.

In Washington, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it was likely that al-Zarqawi himself was “the lead perpetrator.” Al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, is wanted in the killing of an American diplomat in Jordan in 2002 and is suspected of ordering many suicide bombings in Iraq. [MSNBC reported Al-Zarqawi was killed in a bomb blast a couple months ago]

U.S officials say Berg was arrested by Iraqi Police because they thought he was an Israeli spy...In Mosul, however, police told the AP they had no knowledge of the Berg case. Police official Safwan Talal said the only American arrested there in recent months was a woman who was released soon afterward.
Since Iraq remains under U.S. military occupation, it seems unlikely that the Iraqi police would have held Berg, or any other American, for such a length of time without at least the tacit approval of U.S. authorities.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0513/dailyUpdate.html

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15 Questions:
1) extremely convenient "wag the dog" timing at the height of furor
regarding U.S. torture of Iraqis
2) CNN poll question: "Is the Berg killing a reason for withholding any
remaining Iraq prisoner abuse pictures?" Bush has been reported to be
struggling with question of whether Pentagon should release additional
torture photos. Given that the alleged decapitation of Berg was allegedly
prompted by the first wave of torture photos, Bush could now cite "national
security" issues for witholding additional materials.
3) Berg's last known whereabouts was in U.S. custody.
4) Berg shown in video wearing orange jumpsuit known to be of U.S. issue
(compare with pictures at Guantanamo).
5) Berg mysteriously captured by Al-Quaeda (still wearing jumpsuit). Either
he escaped from U.S. captors or U.S. let him out -- with orange suit and
all -- to be immediately apprehended by Al-Quaeda (before he had a chance to
change).
6) Tape obviously spliced together and heavily edited. Goes from a) Berg
sitting in chair talking about family, to b) Berg sitting on floor with
hooded "militants" behind, to c) blurry camera movement, to d) almost
motionless Berg on floor as head cut off.
7) Audio clearly dubbed in.
8) "Arab" reader flips through pages of "statement" and keeps ending up on
the same page. Perhaps doesn't even known enough Arabic to recognize what
page he's on?
9) "Arabs" have lily-white hands and (other exposed) skin.
10) "Arabs" have Western-style body posture and mannerisms.
11) When Berg decapitated, there was almost no blood. If Berg were still
alive at this point, with the cut starting at front of throat, blood would
have been spraying everywhere. Berg's severed head, the floor, Berg's
clothes, and even the hand of the "Arab" who decapitated Berg had no visible
blood on it.
12) Berg's body didn't move while on the ground. Although held down, Berg
would have tried to instinctively wiggle and writhe away from captor's grip.
13) Camera angle made it impossible to see if Berg's eyes were even open.
14) Alleged "scream" from Berg sounded to be that of a woman and was clearly
dubbed in.
15) Berg goes to great trouble to identify himself, providing information
about his family. Why? To elicit greater sympathy? Or to provide a
positive ID. FBI visited Berg family in an attempt to "verify his
identity". Guy in video looks very little like Berg photos provided by
family.
^^^^^Provided by Big D
 
May 13, 2002
49,944
47,801
113
44
Seattle
www.socialistworld.net
#4
The time-imprinted sequence of the video scenes (no date is imprinted) is irregular: After displaying a title in Arabic, the video opens showing only Berg in a chair, at time 13:26:24 and runs for 3 seconds to 13:26:27. In the next scene Berg is still alone in a chair at time 2:18:33 and runs for 9 seconds to 2:18:42. In the third, longest, scene, starting at 2:40:34, Berg is sitting bound feet and hands behind on the floor in front of five masked persons. The middle person reads from a 2 pages for almost four minutes, then pulls a curved knife from beneath his cloak, grabs Berg by the hair, yanks him prone and prepares to cut his neck at 2:44:12. The video shows a struggle, the time is erratic and then skips to 2:45:48. At the first cut of Berg's neck the time jumps to 13:45:47. Berg's head is severed with several cuts then raised to the camera and the video ends at 13:47:52. The time imprinted on the video is slower than that of the running video: the running video shows that 45 seconds passed in severing Berg's head while the imprinted time is just over two minutes.
http://cryptome.org/
 
May 16, 2002
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#5
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4FFA61A3-9C33-4597-A8D9-8079E91F2784.htm

Revolting millions around the world, the video footage of an American citizen's execution has also raised numerous questions concerning its authenticity.

Even at first glance, internet bloggers were asking on Thursday why Nick Berg was wearing an orange jumpsuit – just like US prisoners wear.

Other net-surfers point to the unlikely timing of the executioner's dubbed announcement that Berg was to die for "Iraqi prisoner abuse".

Berg was last seen alive on 10 April, when his father Michael Berg believes he was killed - two weeks before the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal broke in the world's media.

Some discussions focus on the timing of the video's release - guaranteed to divert attention from the outrage regarding US torture of Iraqis.

Video oddities

There are plenty of questions raised concerning the video too. The body is completely motionless even as the knife is brought to bear – not so much as an instinctive wriggle.

More graphically, some claim that cutting the throat's artery would cause a significant amount of blood. But little emerges and when the head was raised – not a drop of blood is seen to fall.

In a possible explanation, one discussion room member suggested that Berg was killed and then beheaded later.

However, the circumstances of the video release are also strange. A Reuters journalist in Dubai first named the Muntada al-Ansar al-Islami website as the source for the video – at www.al-ansar.biz.

Although the site has now been shut down, Aljazeera.net had looked at the site within ninety minutes of the story breaking – and could find no such video footage.

But Fox News, CNN and the BBC were all able to download the footage from the Arabic-only website and report the story within the hour.

Days leading to death

Other questions presented by bloggers are Berg's peculiar circumstances in the weeks before his death. Why would a private Jewish American citizen choose to wander around Iraq by himself?

Additionally, some have pointed out that his last email on 6 April to his family stated he wished to return home as soon as possible – yet the FBI claim he refused an offer of help to get home.

In the wider press, FBI involvement has also generated much discussion as to why Berg was really arrested and detained for two weeks in Mosul.

The unemployed visitor was suspicious enough for Iraqi police to arrest him – with FBI knowledge.

He had only just been released from prison where he had been held for 13 days by Iraqi police for reasons he said he did not know.

Family blames government

A US newspaper claims an official familiar with the case knew that FBI agents had interogated Berg, but had left him for two weeks because he was in Iraqi - not American - custody.

But the official was unable to clarify the legal difference between the two, given the US occupation.

On 5 April, Berg's family filed a suit in federal court in Philadelphia - contending that their son was being held illegally by the US military in Iraq. The next day he was released and left to get himself home.

The last time the family heard from him was on 9 April, his headless body was found near Mosul on 8 May.

"That's really what cost my son his life, the fact that the United States government saw fit to keep him in custody for 13 days without any of his due process or civil rights," Michael Berg said.

Final question

Some bloggers focused on the accent of the purported executioner. Many deny the accent is either Iraqi or Jordanian - while claims the voice is Egyptian or Iranian have been made.

The Jordanian accused of the beheading Berg is himself believed to have been killed in March, according to two Islamist groups.

An eight-page leaflet circulated this week in Falluja, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in the Sulaimaniya mountains of northern Iraq during a US bombing.

But even if it was the Jordanian, one discussion room member observes his face is so well-known that "why would he bother to cover it?"​
 
May 16, 2002
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#8
This story is getting weirder and weirder.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Northeast/05/13/berg.encounter/

Berg's encounter with 'terrorist' revealed



WEST CHESTER, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- When Nicholas Berg took an Oklahoma bus to a remote college campus a few years ago, the American recently beheaded by terrorists allowed a man with terrorist connections to use his laptop computer, according to his father.

Michael Berg said the FBI investigated the matter more than a year ago. He stressed that his son was in no way connected to the terrorists who captured and killed him.

Government sources told CNN that the encounter involved an acquaintance of Zacarias Moussaoui -- the only person publicly charged in the United States in connection with the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

According to Berg, his son was taking a course a few years ago at a remote campus of the University of Oklahoma near an airport. He described how on one particular day, his son met "some terrorist people -- who no one knew were terrorists at the time."

At one point during the bus ride, Berg said, the man sitting next to his son asked if he could use Nick's laptop computer.

"It turned out this guy was a terrorist and that he, you know, used my son's e-mail, amongst many other people's e-mail who he did the same thing to," Berg said.

Government sources said Berg gave the man his password, which was later used by Moussaoui, the sources said.

The sources said the man who used Berg's e-mail knew Moussaoui, now awaiting trial on federal charges that could bring a death sentence. But the sources would not disclose details of how the men were connected.

Moussaoui, 36, was arrested in August 2001 after he aroused suspicion at a Minnesota flight school when he arrived for 747 simulator training without holding a pilot's license. A French national of Moroccan descent, Moussaoui has admitted in open court that he belonged to al Qaeda, the radical Islamic group behind the September 11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

But Moussaoui has fiercely denied being involved in the September 11 plot, and the prosecutors' theory of his role has shifted from being a possible 20th hijacker that day to possibly piloting a fifth hijacked jetliner targeting the White House.

Berg said his son cooperated fully with an FBI investigation into the matter.

"He was happy to cooperate, and that was never an issue," he said. He emphasized that the individual was not a friend of his son's or even an acquaintance -- "just a guy sitting next to him on the bus."

"Whoever was next to my son was treated with great respect and friendship. Like I said, he knew no dangers from people. The FBI were satisfied with that."

CNN Justice correspondent Kelli Arena contributed to this report.