Point Blank: Was Nick Berg Tortured in Iraqi Prison?

[Must_B_Free]

1. Torture seems to be standard practice there. He was interrogate 3 times over 13 days. Apparently they felt they weren't getting what they wanted in the first two sessions.

When he was released, he was supposedly around for 4 days in Bhagdad.

2. He didn't cut his hair or shave - i.e. didn't go back to his normal looks after being in prison for

3. He didn't contact his parents.

4. He didn't change his orange prison jumpsuit.

4 days?????

All details seem to indicate that Nick Berg was never released! There are only 3 people who said they saw him after release - they could easy be plants to tell the story the Bushies want us to hear.

[Sticky]

1. From Baghdad Burning:

May 15th Entry:

The assumption that Al Zarqawi himself was doing the beheading seems a little far-fetched. So now the heads of terrorism in the world seem to be Ossama Bin Ladin, Aimen Al Dhawahiri and Abu Mussa'ab Al Zarqawi. Here's some food for thought- Ossama is from Saudi Arabia, Al Dhawahiri is Egyptian and Al Zarqawi is Jordanian. Which countries in the region are America's best allies? Let's see now… did you guess Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt?! Fantastic! You win a trip to… Falloojeh!! (And no- it doesn't count if you give Saudi Arabia a little slap on the wrists and poke Egypt in the ribs- you're still buddies).

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

[parasim]

6. unbelievable...

another exerpt

-snip

Today they bombed the oldest cemetery in Najaf (and one of the holiest in Iraq)

-snip


wtf? We're bombing cemetaries now?

[leftofthedial]

7. just in case any of them were faking

and were still alive.

HAve they released a body count from the cemetary bombing?

[charlie]

8. Not just any cemetaries

Cemetaries in the Shiite version of Jerusalem. Descrating the dead in most holy of cities for the largest religious bloc. This is fuckwittage on a monumental scale.

[parasim]

9. you said it!

I mean, what, these guys just sit around and try to outdo themselves in finding ways to enrage Muslims?

[Kazak]

2. Not necessarily indicative...

but Berg seems pretty at ease in the video up until the beheading.

[kentuck]

3. Nick "Berg" ?

:)

[NNN0LHI]

4. There are no Iraqi prisons. There are only US prisons in Iraq right now

The US is the occupier of Iraq which makes the US responsible for whatever happens there.

Don

[markses]

5. Very scanty on evidence

2. He didn't cut his hair or shave - i.e. didn't go back to his normal looks after being in prison for 13 days

It's not clear what his "normal appearance" was in Iraq. All we have is the January photograph. In addition, he seems to have shaved any mustache growth (sporting an Abe Lincoln look at the time of his death), so you can't really say he didn't deliberately shave! He clearly did deliberately shave. It is just as reasonable to assume that he had grown out his hair and beard in order to reduce his Western appearance while in Iraq.

3. He didn't contact his parents.

This is strange.

4. He didn't change his orange prison jumpsuit.

Absolutely unsubstantiated. You don't know:
a. Whether he was ever issued an orange prison jumpsuit
b. Whether he kept an orange prison jumpsuit on after release (but of course simnce you don't know a. you couldn't possibly know b.

[Must_B_Free]

10. True

I think it is likely the suit of his captors. Can we be confident of that?

His favorite clothing was western.

All other pictures of him we have seen thus far his has short hair and someone in the story said he had short hair and looked like a GI.

The Abe Lincoln aspect is interesting. Didn't someone say he looked Muslim groomed?

was #3 wrong? Did someone say he called his parents after release?

Was he rich or something? How does he get all this money to fly around all over the world carefreely?

[charlie]

11. His freelancing in Iraq paid for it

"He was here for the very simple reason that for a telecoms guy this was a golden age," said Duke. "In the month he was here I would estimate he made $70,000."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1215558,00.html

[w13rd0]

12. Shamefully...

...I must admit that the thought of it crossed my mind as fiscal situations grow more dire here at home. Granted, I sobered up, but hell. 70k in a month....