Family Demand U.S. Answers Over Beheaded Son

[Dover]

By Jon Hurdle

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (Reuters) - The parents of Nick Berg, the American civilian beheaded in Iraq, said on Tuesday their son might be alive if he had not been held for nearly two weeks by Iraqi police and they were angry at the lack of information from the U.S. government about his detention.

Their congressman, Republican Rep. Jim Gerlach, said after visiting Berg's parents that they had been frustrated by lack of information from the U.S. government when Berg was detained without charge by Iraqi police from around March 24 until his release on April 6.

"Had he not been detained for so long it's quite possible he would have made it back to the U.S.," Gerlach said, adding that Berg had missed a plane flight because he was incarcerated .

"They did not feel they were getting the full information they wanted to help them understand what was happening," Gerlach, whose constituency includes the Bergs' Philadelphia suburban hometown of West Chester, Pennsylvania, said at a news briefing.

He said he would be seeking further information from the U.S. government as to why they had not provided information to the family....>

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=C2GJHMB43E5AECRBAEZSFEY?type=domesticNews&storyID=5110381

[saigon68]

1. The freepers are touting this guy as the next Pat Tillman hero

something ain't right here-- it just doesn't pass the smell test..

cbs never said anything about him except to imply he was another unfortunate govt contractor who was killed on a mission to help the iraqis?

[0rganism]

2. Odd indeed, since they had his bro on their "enemy list" 2 months ago

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1092851/posts

HERE IS THE ENEMY -- they have posted their names
A.N.S.W.E.R. | 3-7-04 | dfu

Posted on 03/07/2004 7:02:01 PM PST by doug from upland

Here you are, FReepers. Here is the enemy. Working in conjunction with A.N.S.W.E.R., they have given us their names.

How about this one --- Jameel Rashid, U.S. Coast Guard, Portsmouth, VA

Well, sailor. I guess it is time for me to call your commanding officer and see what he thinks about this.
====

MARCH 20, 2004


GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION
on the FIRST ANNIVERSARY of the U.S. BOMBING and INVASION of IRAQ


Bring the troops home now!


End colonial occupation from Iraq to Palestine and everywhere!


Money for jobs, education, healthcare and housing - Not war!
Stop the attacks on civil rights and civil liberties!
Madison Square Park (Madison Ave. & 23rd St.) in New York City, Dolores Park in San Francisco, Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles, Michigan & Pearson in Chicago, and in cities across the U.S.


<snip of all the names they posted>

Michael S. Berg, Teacher, Prometheus Methods Tower Service, Inc.,
West Chester, PA

<snip>

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1092851/posts

ed: thanks to Tinoir for sussing this out yesterday

[saigon68]

3. i agree something smells

I also heard that some one doubted it was al quaida. apparently their Arabic accents were wrong---explain to me how that is--

-there is so much disinformation, the truth takes on a fleetng existence.

They didn't like him then

they sure as hell like him NOW


To: kattracks
I want them dead NOW!

8 posted on 05/12/2004 1:10:51 AM PDT by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: upchuck
Democrats and the press are greatly responsible for this by giving a life to the pictures.

9 posted on 05/12/2004 1:11:52 AM PDT by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies >

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters

and then this gem from the CHRISTIAN NEWS SERVICE

http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewCommentary.asp?Page=\Commentary\archive\200405\COM20040511d.html

Berg's Killers Are Right About One Thing
By David Thibault
CNSNews.com Managing Editor
May 11, 2004

We knew it wouldn't take long for the barbaric animals in their long robes and headscarves to use the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse as an excuse to lash out at an innocent American.

[Dover]

4. Is Michael the brother or the father?

I thought it was his father.

[OKNancy]

6. Michael is the father

The brother is named David. I read another article that says the US officials warned him to leave Iraq, but he wouldn't do it.

[Tinoire]

27. They are eh? 3/7/04 his father was listed tat FR as an Enemy of the State

and they were turning everyone on ANSWER's list in to the proper authorities.

Fucking murderous idiots. Someone should make them take a little stroll down their own memory lane!

Makes you wonder who got the FBI etc to be interrogating the Bergs in their home and Nick in Iraq.

Freepers - had a hand in this with their hatred and Nazi fondness of turning people in to the Gestapo.

How much of Nick Berg's blood is their hands?

====

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1092851/posts

HERE IS THE ENEMY -- they have posted their names
A.N.S.W.E.R. | 3-7-04 | dfu

Posted on 03/07/2004 7:02:01 PM PST by doug from upland

Here you are, FReepers. Here is the enemy. Working in conjunction with A.N.S.W.E.R., they have given us their names.

How about this one --- Jameel Rashid, U.S. Coast Guard, Portsmouth, VA

Well, sailor. I guess it is time for me to call your commanding officer and see what he thinks about this.
====

MARCH 20, 2004


GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION
on the FIRST ANNIVERSARY of the U.S. BOMBING and INVASION of IRAQ


Bring the troops home now!


End colonial occupation from Iraq to Palestine and everywhere!


Money for jobs, education, healthcare and housing - Not war!
Stop the attacks on civil rights and civil liberties!
Madison Square Park (Madison Ave. & 23rd St.) in New York City, Dolores Park in San Francisco, Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles, Michigan & Pearson in Chicago, and in cities across the U.S.


<snip of all the names they posted>

Michael S. Berg, Teacher, Prometheus Methods Tower Service, Inc.,
West Chester, PA

<snip>

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1092851/posts

[Joanne98]

5. Odd. I wonder what he was arrested for.

People were arguing yesterday about how white Al-Quaida looked. I don't know if that means anything but if he was a member of ANSWER that would be weird.

[OKNancy]

7. The father is an anti-war activist

However I don't know if the father is a member of ANSWER.

Edit: did a little googling and there is a South Carolina man named Michael Berg that is very active in the anti-war movement. Got a lot of hits...here is one:
http://www.carolinapeace.org/viewArticle.php?id=60

[gulfcoastliberal]

21. The Michael Berg on freepereupblic is his Dad

You can tell because the company name Promtheus Methods Tower Service is next to his name, and if you google prometheus ethods tower, it brings up freeperepublic.

[Dover]

8. The Right Wing Radio YoYo's are milking this as a "greater atrocity"

than all those wimpy prisoner abuse photos the liberals have been passing around.

Or as Hannity put it (paraphrasing)- "...now we can see the difference between mistreatment and atrocities".

Or put another way....their bogeymen are badder than our own, therefore our abusiveness should be dismissed.

[booksenkatz]

11. Will rapists be able to use this in a court of law?

"Yes, I admit that I committed rape, but did you see what that guy in the courtroom down the hall did? He killed someone! That's much worse than rape. What I did was mere mistreatment, but what HE did is a real atrocity! So you should let me go, your Honor."
/tired of living in an alternate universe

[colonel odis]

9. this really is beginning to smell like a fish after 3 days

the heat gets turned up on bush about atrocities in the prison, and poof! -- here comes something intended to show that them a-rabs is worser than we are.

the guy who does the beheading is allegedly jordanian, but arab experts say the guy who read the statement had a different accent.

berg bounces around between the iraqi police and u.s. authorities, but somehow can't manage to get out of iraq?

his family doesn't hear from him for a month, but there's no mention in the media about him being kidnapped? when everytime someone else is kidnapped, the authorities seem to know it quickly?

and this is just my observation, which may be way off base -- but those guys behind him sure looked tall. granted, berg was sitting on the ground. but there was something about those five that just didn't look right.

[leQ]

20. and remember, most iraqis already knew about the abuse

but did no beheadings until the outrage was up'd a few notches in America, and like you said *poof* instant rationalization for the abuse.

yah, something stinks to high heaven about this.

[acmavm]

10. What happened to this man was one of the most dispicable acts of

this mess so far. But I have just one question. The propaganda coming forth so far says this is Al Quaeda, not Iraqis, right? And it's being called paybacks for the photos that came from the prison abuse. And if so, that beheading was way out of proportion to what happened to the Iraqis that were put in humiliating circumstances. But what makes me wonder is the fact that amongst those pictures were photos of beaten dead Iraqis. And the military is investigating how many suspicious deaths in Al Ghraib and the other prisons? Is 25 the number some people are tossing around? So maybe, just maybe it's not necessarily the photos of the naked Iraqis forced to masterbate on camera, maybe the dead the Iraqi shown packed in ice had something to do with it.

Regardless, the whole thing would never have happened if bush* & Co. would have focused on Al Quaeda instead of going after Saddam and the oil fields. We had a legitimate target in Al Quaeda. But instead they decided to focus on Iraq, a country that was not a problem, no 'immediate' danger, and pretty much weakened by years of sanctions.

And now I hear it was Iraqi police that had Berg in jail for two weeks. That is the mystery that really needs to be explained. Because if not for that fact, this wouldn't have happened. This story just doesn't ring right for so many reasons. But the mind boggles at the depravity of what happened to this poor man.

[wtmusic]

19. Way out of proportion? According to whom?

Iraqis interviewed about being forced to strip naked and embrace each other claimed they would have rather been shot.

Iraqis were killed in jail as well. Berg's murder was despicable. But y'know, that's kinda what happens...

[tlcandie]

12. And don't forget that Rummy knew about all this abuse, etc...

a LONG time ago. Were they looking for a way to MIHOP or LIHOP this BEFORE the US abuse photos became public knowledge?

There was a date/time stamp on this video which showed it had been edited.

What was the timeline of the US abuse photos?

Once Rummy/military found out the first of the year (I believe this is correct), wouldn't this timeframe (March/April) be about right for them to create a diversion such as this?

Someone with a more analytical brain can get what I'm trying to say and hopefully pull this out of thin air.

Again, I agree, something is NOT right here. Even the parents know something isn't right!

[primavera]

13. Don't hold your breath

If there's anything this administration is about, it's lack of accountability.

[reprobate]

14. There is absolutely NOTHING that I would put past this cabal.

Why would ONE murder give them pause when they are already responsible for almost eight hundred american deaths.

Not to mention the three thousand deaths that gave them an excuse for all of this.

I've almost reached the conclusion that their coupe has been successful and they will never stand before the bar of justice.

Gore Vidal was right. The people will have to take to the streets to restore the idea that once was America.

[primavera]

18. We have taken to the streets

By the millions, yet the shrub conveniently arranges to be out of town whenever we do and the media refuses to report on it. Where do you turn then?

[reprobate]

28. Kevin, I was using the politically correct term

In essence what Vidal meant was that the citizens will finally rise up and overthrow the fascist cabal.

[primavera]

30. Damn, that sounds good...

Sorry, the bitterness of the ignored protestor getting the better of me.

[soleft]

15. Is the link working for anyone else - it's not working for me

[maddezmom]

16. not working for me, here's a link

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=5110381

[maddezmom]

17. Beheaded hostage 'had been warned to leave Iraq'

~snip~
Today, a US official told the Associated Press that Berg had been in Iraq "of his own accord", and had been advised to leave the country but declined to do so. The official refused to elaborate, but said more information would be released later today.

According to his family, Berg, from Philadelphia, owned a small telecommunications business and wanted to find work rebuilding Iraq.

He spoke to his parents on March 24 - when he was later detained by Iraqi police at a Mosul checkpoint - and told them he would return home on March 30. He was then handed over to US officials and detained for 13 days. His father, Michael, said his son had not been allowed to make phone calls or contact a lawyer.

On April 5, the Bergs filed suit at the federal court in Philadelphia, contending that their son was being held illegally by the US military. He was released the next day, and told his family that he had not been mistreated.
~snip~
more:http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1215103,00.html

[nodehopper]

22. changed story?

I swear I read something almost identical yesteday where it said the parents were angry at the US ARMY for holding him for two weeks. Although I guess officially the two aren't separated at the moment, the Iraqi police and army? They are technically the same institution? I don't understand.

[chelaque liberal]

24. Iraq does not have a government, hence no laws.

That is way the "independent contractors" have not been charged involved with prisoner abuse but the military people have been. Interviewer on Fresh Air yesterday (P.C. Price? Ancient computer here, I can't go back and forth to verify) said that the new Iraq police are being trained by the contractors.

Does Iraqi police = independent contractors?

[Neecy]

23. hmmmm

Note how often the Reuters article specifies that Berg was held by the "Iraqi police".

Okay, so yesterday ALL of the reporting indicated that he was being held by our military, now the news wires are parroting the US line that he was being held by the Iraqi police.

This really smells to high heaven.

[daleo]

26. Like the Iraqi police are going to hold an American

If there even was such a thing as Iraqi police, independent of the U.S. military.

[Failure]

25. I just read what you posted, but there's no mention of Berg

being in US custody...



Why?

Failure.

[Occulus]

29. His father maintains

that the Iraqi police and the FBI/US jailers of his son are one and the same, in effect.

I really don't know what to think at this point. Maybe that's the whole purpose.

[maddezmom]

31. there are emails from Berg

~snip~
However, in a Jan. 18 e-mail, Berg said his company had been announced as an approved subcontractor for a broadcast consortium awarded a contract for the U.S.-controlled Iraqi Media Network.

"Practically, this means we should be involved with quite a bit of tower work as part of the reconstruction, repair and new construction of the Iraqi Media Network," he wrote, referring to the network as "something like NPR in the U.S."

~snip~
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=716&e=3&u=/ap/20040512/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_berg