Beheaded hostage 'had been warned to leave Iraq'

[maddezmom]

~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

the more information that is released, the more this story stinks.

[Just Me]

1. Doncha' wonder why unidentified US official is being so defensive?

All the "damage control" is just making the situation even more suspicious.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

23. breaking: MSNBC US gov't saying they never had Berg in custody WTF?

[Just Me]

26. Why the hell are they out-n-out lying?!?!?!

This makes me both hoppin' mad and it makes me firm in my belief this was a black op or a merc job!

:argh:

[maddezmom]

31. are they saying who warned him to leave? n/t

[Just Me]

40. I've been watching for that clarification....nothing. n/t

[Just Me]

44. CNN just confirmed FBI told parents their son was in US custody.

FBI told them that he had been picked up by Iraqi police then transferred to US custody. Then, they filed a writ against Rummy.

[maddezmom]

50. FBI: Agents Advised Berg to Leave Iraq

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=1276&e=1&u=/ap/20040512/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/fbi_berg

[samsingh]

2. again the official is lying.

[PeaceProgProsp]

3. If they wanted him to leave, why didn't they help him?

Isn't that what the US State Department is supposed to do when citizens are in trouble?

This story reminds me of the movie Missing.

[Minstrel Boy]

6. Wasn't he prohibited from leaving via Baghdad airport?

Last communication to his parents was he was trying to find a safe route to either Jordan or Turkey.

The attitude of US officials seems to be "it was his own fault," but as you say, isn't it the State Department's duty to aid American nationals overseas, especially, one would think, in such a dangerous region?

The whole thing stinks, and makes me terribly sad.

[keithyboy]

4. The question about the 'orange jumpsuits' and 'yellow walls' is a good one

It was posted by a fellow DUer.
Then, someone sent me this link in my e-mail. All these things make one go hmmmmmmmmm.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=3446

[skypilot]

5. A little too convenient

"The video of Berg's beheading bore the title "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shown slaughtering an American," referring to an associate of Osama bin Laden who is believed to be behind a wave of suicide bombings in Iraq. It was unclear whether al-Zarqawi was shown in the video or had simply ordered the execution."

Does anyone else think that it's just a little TOO convenient that the video bore this title? I heard this on the news last night and thought that it was a bit strange. Why would Zarqawi hide his face if he was going to identify himself in the video's title? Also, has he ever directly claimed responsibility for any of the terrorist attacks that have been attributed to him?

[bushgottago]

8. CNN says not al-Zarqawi's voice

I don't have the link - but they said it's not his voice. And there are other problems. (tin foil hat)

1) Terrorists are WHITE and FAT
2) Victim wearing American prison outfit
3) Terrorist wearing bulletproof vests
4) Bad Arabic
5) Terrorists yell like Americans

Are we seeing prison guards dressed like terrorists?

[maddezmom]

12. here's link...

<The voice on the tape could not be verified as that of al-Zarqawi. CNN staffers familiar with al-Zarqawi's voice said the voice on the tape did not sound like him.>

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/12/iraq.berg/

[TahitiNut]

16. Not just 'white' ... PALE.

Just how many INDOOR 'terrorists' are there? I'm 'white' ... but when I returned from Viet Nam, I sure wasn't 'pale' even though I ws a REMF spending most of my duty hours in an air-conditioned office. I had that "dirty tan" so typical of Viet Nam vets... and it took a good 4-6 months before it faded after I returned.

There's something very wrong here.

[underpants]

17. Now the US officials (Dan Senor) say he was never held

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x549641

[City Lights]

49. MSNBC said yesterday that the speaker had an Egyptian accent.

This was stated by some analyst they had on. Also said the speaker used bad grammar and that he was probably illiterate.

[underpants]

11. Add in the timing of the release and it seems REALLY convenient

My wife said exactly the same thing last night and I hadn't told her anything about it-totally from her own intuition.

If you remember not only did MSNBC report that US military officials have three shots at Zarqawi that they didn't take (HE was the "alQaeda is IN Iraq" link you see) but his supposed trip to Baghdad (supposed PROOF of a link) was to have "medical treatment" which consisted of having a leg amputated.........well guess what he now has both legs again.

Sorry for the run on there but now we have legs growing back as well as capturing Chemical Ali a month after Rummy gleefully announced that we had killed him. We killed Saddam twice before we captured him as well.

[skypilot]

13. The Zarqawi story that you describe...

...tracks almost identically with the Osama bin Laden story. Missed oppurtunities to take him out, medical treatment and more missed oppurtunities. Strange.

[RapidCreek]

47. If the executioner claimed he was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Why wear a Mask????

RC

[Eye and Monkey]

54. Bears repeating - WEARS A MASK, YET GIVES HIS NAME ???

good catch.

[maddezmom]

7. Kimmitt and Senor on CNNI now talking about Berg n/t

[maddezmom]

9. referring all questions about arrest to Iraqi police

now asking about orange jumpsuits...doesn't know if Iraqi police use them.

[maddezmom]

10. reporter says they have contacted the Mosul Police dept...no response

Senor says he will get back to the reporter about non-response. CNNI breaking away.....:eyes:

[Rabrrrrrr]

14. I'm so aghast at this whole thing,

I just don't know what I can possibly say about it.

Sigh.

[Just Me]

15. I feel so terribly sad for his poor parents.

They must be devastated. :cry:

[underpants]

18. Not to bash the press...okay I'm going to bash the press

First they just HAD to have footage of his father receiving the actual news of his sons murder and falling to the ground

This morning I see the talking head for the Today Show with the Berg house in picture behind him. The whole neighborhood (NPR said the NEWEST neighbors moved in 10 years ago-very close) is a parking lot for satellite TV trucks.

Leave them alone!

[Minstrel Boy]

19. Didn't know that; haven't been watching TV.

I can hardly believe it. That's fucking despicable.

[underpants]

21. Mr.Berg was told by a REPORTER of the video (picture)

RETRANSMITTED FOR CAPTION CLARIFICATION AND TO CHANGE OBJECT NAME Michael Berg, left, collapses to the ground in front of the family house in West Chester, Pa., Tuesday May 11, 2004 and is comforted by his son, David, after learning from a reporter of the exstence of a video posted Tuesday on an Islamic militant Web site showing the beheading of an American civilian, who identified himself as his son, Nick Berg. Berg's family said U.S. State Department officials on Monday had told them Berg's decapitated body was found near a highway in Baghdad on Saturday. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)

[molly]

20. West Chester, Pa is about 20 minutes from me

I would never think of driving over there to experience that family's grief. This is such a horrible thing - every parent's worst nightmare.

[Rabrrrrrr]

24. I heard that on NPR, too

Poeple afraid to leave their homes for fear of being accosted by reporters.

Leave these people alone, you morons! (not you Underpants, the reporters)

[ElsewheresDaughter]

22. compare pics "yellow walls" in video they are exactly like Abu Ghairb

and the fat terrorist look same fat as the contracter in the torture photos? and they sound like arabic is their second language?

[Roy]

25. Whats with the soldier in green cammo

Wasn't it submitted as proof that a photo of a prior incident was fake because green cammos were not worn in the desert?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

28. yeah but this is proof that some in Iraq do where green cammies.......

and the arguement about the rape of an iraqi women by 3 soldiers in green cammies because "they don't wear green cammies in Iraq" was wrong....and i think the guy in this photo with green cammies on is brass from the pentagon

[Just Me]

30. Maybe it's just me but your second pic isn't showing. n/t

[ElsewheresDaughter]

32. it must be just you Just Me...try again

[Just Me]

35. All I see is one of those red x in a box thingy. Oh, well. n/t

[ElsewheresDaughter]

43. i'll try it again here

[readmylips]

34. Those hooded guys are standing at a military pose....

See the tall guy on the left, he's standing at a US military 'at ease' pose. Look at #2 guy with white hood. These are not US kids who've been in the military a couple of years. Those men look experienced, matured, and must have years of military service to naturally fall into an 'at ease' pose. Those hooded guys look exactly the same as the bunch in the photo who were raping that young girl, and the same as the bunch who were torturing the naked Iraqis. Even their hands look the same. In all the photos of Al Q, they all wear their traditional lose cotton clothing. Those uniforms would be extremely hot to wear out in the desert, and they're all wearing the same style boots. We've never seen Al Q wearing combat boots.

Something really stinks.

[Sentath]

39. second image missing

due to a bandwidth cap.

[Just Me]

45. Yup,...I see yellow walls. Damn!!! n/t

[maddezmom]

27. UDATED LINK: mentions orange jumpsuit and GITMO

~snip~
Berg, who disappeared April 9, was shown in the video on a Web site bearing the title "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shown slaughtering an American," referring to an associate of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) believed behind a wave of suicide bombings in Iraq (news - web sites).


The video posted Tuesday showed a bound Berg in an orange jumpsuit — similar to those issued to prisoners held by the American military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was sitting in front of five men, their faces masked, as one read an anti-American text.

~snip~
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20040512/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[dArKeR]

29. Berg 'never under US custody' - News24

Baghdad - The young American who was decapitated on a videotape posted by an al-Qaeda linked website was never under US custody despite claims from his family, coalition spokesperson Dan Senor said on Wednesday.

Senor told reporters that Berg, 26, from West Chester, Pennsylvania, was detained by Iraqi police in Mosul. The Iraqis informed the Americans and the FBI met with Berg three times to determine what he was doing in Iraq.

Senor said that to his knowledge, "he (Berg) was at no time under the jurisdiction or detention of coalition forces."

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1525937,00.html

[lostnfound]

33. Which has more credibility -- the US CPA or grieving parents?

Do the grieving parents have any reason to lie about their son having been in US custody? Or any reason that Nick would have lied to his parents about it?

Does the CPA have a reason to lie?

Which party has a history of telling lies?

[maddezmom]

36. When will the CIA be done reviewing the tape???

keep hearing and reading today the CIA is reviewing the tape to confirm authenticity....but yesterday I swear it was reported that officials thought the video was authentic. Anyone have any links?

[sadiesworld]

37. If he was detained by the Iraqis (who are under US occupation) and

questioned by the FBI on three occasions, he was in US custody. Put this under the heading of "a distinction without a difference".

[DU GrovelBot]

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[maddezmom]

53. huh?

enjoy your stay :eyes:

[damnraddem]

41. Berg was guilty of a heinous crime:

trying to do business in Iraq while not being Halliburton.

You know what happens when someone tries to move in on a gangster's 'territory'? Well, that happened to Berg.

[anarchy1999]

42. I've never been so sick in all my life!

I just have no words left. There are just no words I can find. I think we all need to support the Bergs and make sure "they" don't get away with this. But then, "they" get away with everything, don't "they".

Once again, just no words left.

[maddezmom]

46. April 10, Berg told US consular officer in Baghdad he wanted to travel...

State Department spokeswoman Kelly Shannon said that on April 10, Berg told a U.S. consular officer in Baghdad that he wanted instead to travel to Kuwait on his own.

Berg apparently had an Iraqi in-law in the Mosul area, according to emails to his family.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=1&u=/ap/20040512/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

This is the first I've heard of an in-law....did I miss it somewhere??

[Just Me]

48. That's definitely new info about the Iraqi in-law. n/t

[maddezmom]

51. UPDATE;FBI: Agents Advised Berg to Leave Iraq

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=1276&e=1&u=/ap/20040512/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/fbi_berg

[Eye and Monkey]

55. In-laws in Mosul? Is is married to an Iraqi? Someone in his family?

[maddezmom]

56. link from WaPo: Excerpts From Nicholas Berg's E-Mails

there is one before this
~snip~
SUNDAY, Jan. 18, 11:36 a.m.

So between the 11th January and the time of writing, I have been on six major sites, inspecting towers and cataloging the extent of looting/sabotage damage. Most of the destruction was intentional looting or even sabotage on the numerous (at one time twenty-six) tall towers in Iraq. There are twenty-two left, and at least ten have some major problems. The worst site I have been on was the Abu Gharib I tower, a 320 meter (1040') guyed tower in the main broadcast complex for Baghdad, near the Abu Gharib political prisons. ...

So anyhow, Thursday about 1200 I left Baghdad and enjoyed a beautiful sunny afternoon and a peaceful bus-ride to Diwaniya (about two and a half hours). I get off the bus in this little town and set out to find this site, on the outskirts of town. ....

So I finally find the site at around 1900, it's dark and I can barely make out the tower. But I found it and learned what I needed to know. I make my way back to the Garage Baghdad (which is where the service-taxis leave periodically throughout the day). By this time I had missed the last public service-taxi to Baghdad, so I started to negotiate with a throng of taxi drivers (none of whom had a car - that's kind of an afterthought to actually winning the negotiations). I've got one down to 30,000 ID (about $20 at the time) when the IP (Iraqi National Police) swings by on patrol. It seems they had reports about unknown Iranian people infiltrating their town, and at night they can't see much of my face. Anyhow, the story ends in a rather anti-climatic fashion - the police collect me and take me off to the Lieutenant who is more worried for my safety than about me being an Iranian spy.

By the time the story get's told and retranslated a few times, they've got me being picked up at the sheep market amidst a bunch of Turkish truck drivers. So I am invited to spend the night in Diwaniya (which I do) and the next morning after hours of waiting and retelling the sheep story I get on my way back to Baghdad. ...
~snip~


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21951-2004May12.html