Nick Berg Morning Edition Segment

[gulfcoastliberal]

After falling asleep last night hearing echos of Nick Bergs last breaths, I woke up this morning to a profile of him on Morning Edition. This kid was really special. Very bright, and interested in doing good. He went to Iraq not to profiteer, but out of a desire to help the Iraqi's rebuild their country. I'm sorry he died. I personally don't think the weird circumstances surrounding his murder being discussed here at DU dishonors him at all. I wonder what his Dad thinks right now. Morning Edition even aired his Dad saying he sued Rummy for his release. Did anyone else hear the segment? It's at http://www.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.php?prgDate=12-May-2004&prgId=3

I recommend everyone listen to it.

Spelling Edit

[Ripley]

1. The Rumsfeld lawsuit is JUST ONE TROUBLING ASPECT.

To this poor guy's horrible death. Clearly he is dead, they have his body, but the entire sequence of events and the oddities about the tape itself suggest something is not kosher.

I would suggest to all those skeptics about American involvement, to consider why it is that this guy was interrogated by the FBI for 2 weeks incommunicado, his folks sued Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld is fighting for his job on all the TV channels and the guy ends up in al queda's hands, murdered, all at the same time?

Sometimes there are weird coincidences in life. War is hell. Terrorists are "brutal, animals." But sometimes things just don't sound right. Gut feeling takes over and when there is a history or our government doing nefarious things (remember the coupe in Haiti not too long ago) and jeez, what else is on TV? Oh yeah, our soldiers torturing people.

I am not a "blame America first" person. But when the garbage stinks, it needs to be taken out, not sprayed with perfume.

[LeahMira]

4. Crying wolf once too often...

But sometimes things just don't sound right. Gut feeling takes over and when there is a history or our government doing nefarious things (remember the coupe in Haiti not too long ago) and jeez, what else is on TV? Oh yeah, our soldiers torturing people.

Mr. Berg's body was found on May 8, but he has been missing since April. I don't know when the video came into the hands of the U.S. government, but while I hate to imagine it, it is possible that its release yesterday was a deliberate decision on the part of the government in order to deflect attention from the Abu Ghraib situation.

Sometimes, horrible coincidences do happen. I just wish I could trust our own government to tell what reasonably resembles the truth. The deliberate lies about going to war in the first place are just too huge to overlook, and I don't see how anyone can trust them about anything now. The liars won't be believed (at least by me) even if they tell the truth now.

[Timefortruth]

5. Bingo.

One doesn't have to be paranoid to realize that those who found his body likely found the video at the same time. Does anyone know who owns the web page where it was released?

That the FBI released him in an orange jumpsuit speaks loudly about the value they placed on his life. Oh never mind, we value life.

edit: Never mind, I thought the body was found shortly after he went missing.

[carolinayellowdog]

2. Dismissive reference to "conspiracy theories" among Iraqis

Hey,

Earlier there was a segment from Iraq in which the reporter (Kestenbaum?) said most Iraqis condemned the murder but some had conspiracy theories about it. As if to say these were mutually exclusive, that you can't regard something as horrendous and also regard it as a conspiracy. On the face of things this was a conspiracy-- it wasn't just a random group of people who happened to be in the same place at the same time and suddenly decided to kill someone. The question is not whether this death was the result of a conspiracy, but the precise nature of that conspiracy. How the hell did "conspiracy theory" get to be shorthand for "nothing to see here, move on"?

CYD

[gulfcoastliberal]

3. I Noticed that Too

Thanks for pointing it out. It was the first thing he said, and the way he said makes me think that half the people he spoke said something about a "conspiracy theory". Note how he didn't elaborate on what those theories were. I feel bad about Nick Berg. Did you catch how he went the Ghana on his own to teach villagers better methods of fabricating bricks? Sounds like he was raised by some good parents. Another casualty of the BFEE.