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Berg: Top 50 Oddities and Irregularities (latest Update 05/17)
1) Inconsistencies in the Timeline Edit
WM-----|-----Video Clock-----|-----Screen Shot
0:00 ---|--- nothing ---|-------Arabic letters
0:05 ---|--- 13:26:24 ---|--- Nick Berg speaking
0:09 ---|---- 2:18:33 ---|--- Nick Berg sitting
0:20 ---|---- 2:40:33 ---|--- Speach in Arabic
4:36 ---|---- 2:44:56 ---|--- Speaker pushes Berg over
4:38 ---|--- 13:45:48 ---|--- Decapitation begins
4:43 ---|--- 13:45:52 ---|--- Picture lost
4:44 ---|--- 13:45:59 ---|--- Picture returns, decapitation continues
2:42:11- Notice that #3 keeps moving his head from the pages to the camera very frequently and there is more page flipping where the voice does not take a pause.
13:46:19- #3 is finishing off the head while #2 is holding Nick's arm.It seems as if any motion of Nick's body are due to #'s 2&3 pulling on his body, not any resistance, which has been mercifully absent since this last filming segment started.
13:46:31- Head is being severely tilted back as what looks like the last cut in being made
13:47:48- ANOTHER TAPE GAP: This segment begins with #2 lifting up the head. How did it get transfered to him?
More:
-By the time any cutting started on the neck, the body was lifeless.
-Nick was not killed directly after being pushed over; that was some 11 hours earlier
-The severed head did not look tormented.
-Between 13:26:24 (when Nick is last seen sitting in the chair in the very first clip) and 13:45:49 or so (when the cutting started in earnest, the body has become lifeless. How is unclear.
-Citing an 11-hour gap in the sequence is probably nonsense.
The video is shot with 2 video cameras with their internal timestamps set differently.
2) One of the men has a large silver watch with a large bulbous crystal on his left hand.
If you find that watch in any of the Abu Ghraib abuse pictures, you'll know who one of the murderers are.
3) The guy in the white hood is not the same as in the last frame: He goes from holding Berg's body (at the back) to suddenly being the guy making the final cuts and holding up his head.
4) Extremely convenient "wag the dog" timing at the height of furor regarding U.S. torture of Iraqis
5) Berg's last known whereabouts was in U.S. custody
6) Berg shown in video wearing orange jumpsuit known to be of U.S. issue
7) 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)
8) 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.
9) Audio clearly dubbed in, but probably also CODEC problem
10) "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?
11) Arabs" have lily-white hands and (other exposed) skin
12) "Arabs" have Western-style body posture and mannerisms
13) 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.
14) 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.
15) Camera angle made it impossible to see if Berg's eyes were even open
16) Alleged "scream" from Berg sounded to be that of a woman and was clearly dubbed in
17) 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
18) Nick Berg's Connection with the "20th hijacker" of 9/11, Zacarias Moussaoui, is yet not really explained
19) Fat, white fidgety terrorists wearing tennis shoes, the leader of which:
a) is wearing the sort of large gold ring that is expressly forbidden in fundamentalist Islamic communities, and
b) starts cutting the head, but is replaced (as the camera time signatures change) by someone wearing a white head covering when it's time to show off the head.
20) Video is out of synch soundtrack and jumping time signatures on the video production.
21) For the first time in recorded history, Arab terrorists post a video of an atrocious murder on a website -- right in the middle of Bush Admin's most damaging national scandal -- a scandal driven completely by its own disgusting pictorial and video imagery.
22) Berg had been held in US custody (or in the Abu Ghraib prison?) for two weeks without charge or access to phones or legal help just days before he was last heard from. And the US now denies this, despite the family's insistence and overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
23) Berg was an American Jew traveling alone in Iraq without a job. He reported that he was taking lots of picture around the suburb of Abu Ghraib. He also reportedly worked "on the tower" in Aby Ghraib
24) Ugly yellow paint, orange jumpsuits, and the white plastic "Walmart chair" -- appear in both the Berg video and the Abu Ghraib prison videos
25) Zaqawi rises from the dead, has a letter fall into coalition hands that just happens to confirm everything BushCo is dreaming about the Iraqi situation, grows another leg, loses his Jordanian accent, puts on a forbidden gold ring, reads from a long speech that he's written in a mysterious mobius fashion across both sides of a single sheet of paper, decides to give up his hobby as a poison expert to get down and dirty with a dull knife, and carefully hides his face while screaming, "Yoo hoo - Zaqawi here!"
CIA claims it has examined the video and concluded that the hooded figure is Zaqrawi, a high level al-Qaeda operative. However, anyone who has seen the video will attest to the fact that there is no way to identify anyone from it, including the victim. Second, according to an US military report in April -03, Zaqrawi was killed in the bombing of Falluja. CIA does
not elaborate whether Zaqrawi has magically sprung back to life or whether the April report was wrong.
The US media claimed that Zaqrawi lost a leg in 2001. Now, it says that he did not lose his leg after all. This flip flop seems too coincidental as the purported figure in the video doesn't appear handicapped. The US does not elaborate on which intelligence is wrong.
Even Colin Powell claimed that Zarqawi was fitted with a prosthetic leg in a Baghdad hospital
26) JackBlood.com has Traced the Address Of 'Islamic Website' that Posted the Berg Decapitation video To London, England, NOT Iraq
27) The Chilean freelance journalist Hugo Infante ...stays at the $30-a-night Al Fanar Hotel, where Berg was staying, and regularly chatted and shared drinks with him.According to an own INN Research, there is also someone named Hugo Infante (Bogota, Columbia), but he works at the World Bank and sent some disturbing messages in 2002: "We do not have LEADERSHIP, and the concept of globally
world is the now, but our leadership is weak because we
NOW need Globally Leadership."
28) Berg's company Prometheus Towers has no records with the Pennsylvania Department of State
29) When told of the video by an Associated Press reporter, Berg's father, Michael, and his two siblings hugged and cried. They knew he had been decapitated, but didn't know the details of the killing
30) Nicholas Berg's father was listed in a freeper- "hate list". On March 7, 2004, an 'enemies' list of anti-war groups and individuals was posted on the Free Republic
31) Berg's body arrived Wednesday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. His parents had requested permission to be at the base when the coffin arrived, but that request was denied
32) The voice on the tape could not be verified as that of al-Zarqawi. CNN staff members familiar with al-Zarqawi's voice said the voice on the tape did not sound like him
33) The man on the far left in the video is standing at "Parade Rest" . This seems further evidence the raises suspicions that these men were NOT Arab faction Terrorists! Parade Rest is also - and would be a REFLEX action - that is TRAINED into Military personnel and becomes a HABIT
34) We see the wedding ring on the left hand, the sinister hand, the hand that Islam reserves for toilet functions
35) We notice the voices in the background not sounding like Arabs, some dialects also linked to russian language, instead of Jordanian
36) Why is Zarquawi not showing his face, given the fact, that his face is worldwide known anyway?
37) Firearms experts have stated the AK-47 carried by one man was a "Gilal." This actually is an Israeli-made weapon that improves on the famous AK- 47. Feyadeen and other insurgents almost universally use AK-47s
38) The US military has stated that Berg was never in US custody and that he had been in custody of the Iraqi police. The Iraqi police adamantly deny he was ever in their custody. On April 1, an e-mail from Beth A. Payne, the U.S. consular officer in Iraq, was sent to the family of Nick Berg. It stated that Ms. Payne had located Nick
39) The Berg's filed a lawsuit in federal court in Philadelphia on April 5. A day later, Nick Berg was released. He contacted his parents and told them that he was coming home. The following day he checked out of his hotel in Baghdad, and disappeared
40) Notice on one frame that Berg's head has been cut off at 13:47:49 (1:47) yetat 2:44 nearly "an hour later" he is sitting with his head intact
41) An NBC reporter stated: "...the CIA did it to take the heat off the Pentagon"--, but his remark wasn't picked up again (at Tom Brokaw, May 12th)
42) One article of BillingsGazette claims, when his body was found, it only mentions "signs of trauma" , instead of "headless". The article claims, the body was found Saturday
In another report, it says, "a body found on Monday by US military patrol along a roadside over the weekend was identified as Berg's"
43) More odd, if the body was found on Monday (May 10th), or previously "over the weekend" (prior), how could the execution and video be taped on May 11th, as is reported? "The statement in the video was signed off with Zarqawi's name and dated 11 May" (Drudge and Aljazeerah).
44) Why did the story of Berg change about his OK-contact with Moussaoui? First it was 2001, then already 1999?
45) Michael Berg, told the AP that Michael’s sister, now dead, married an Iraqi man named Mudafer, who became close to Nicholas. In one of the e-mails, Nicholas Berg described going to the northern city of Mosul, where he introduced himself to Mudafer’s brother, identified as Moffak Mustaffa. Who is Mustaffa?
46) Berg has sensitive electronic equipment on his person that he has no paperwork for
47) Berg's hotel was full of peace protestors and next to CIA's "HQ", Baghdad Hotel.
Was there not enough police surveillance, after he arrived?
48) Again, If Berg was in Iraqi custody, why did the FBI visit him three times, and in what ways did the U.S. authorities have operational control over his custody? Why do the Iraqi police, working with the U.S. government, insist they never held him?
49) Berg met with shady Iraqi Aziz Kadoory Aziz, also known as Aziz al-Taee
50) Berg Video: "Someone with U.S. military cap seen in frame"
The Video Was Uploaded From London, Not Iraq
After several hours of research, JackBlood.com has learned the web addresses for the ‘Islamic Websites’ that posted the Nick Berg decapitation video. The website addresses are www.al-asnar.net and www.al-asnar.biz . Both websites have apparently been disabled by 'authorities.' The location of the web server is reportedly in Malaysia. However, the addresses of the publishers for these sites are located in London, England and Nurnberg, Denmark.
The addresses began to disappear from the internet listings as we reported this development on The Power Hour Radio Show. Apparently, ‘Big Brother’ had been listening to the show and didn’t like the news at all.
The location of the publishers for al-ansar.net appears to be at an Arab Press Building, which appears to be shared by different Arab news publications. The name of the organization is the Arab Press House. The building is apparently the headquarters for news magazines such as, Al Jamilla, Sayidaty, and Al Majallah among others.
The London address is the following:
www.al-ansar.net
Arab Press House
Abdel Rahman al-Rashed
184 High Holborn, WCIV78P, London
tel. 020 78318181
The other address is located in Nurnberg, Denmark. It apparently belongs to a man named Omar AbuOmar. His email address is:
alansar_alansar@hotmail.com .
The complete mailing address is the following:
www.al-ansar.biz
Omar AbuOmar
New Dream St. 33
Nurnberg, Denmark, 42114
Phone: +965.15441211
Email: alansar_alansar@hotmail.com
=============98% Chance That This is a Military-Industrial Complex Psychological Operation
Infowars.com
Alex Jones
May 14, 2004
One would have to be totally blind to ignore the incredible stench of P2OG Pentagon theater in the case of Nick Berg. We've got Nick Berg in US custody for 13 days, a diplomat's email confirms this, the FBI admits it and the Iraqi puppet government confirms it.
Meanwhile the Defense Department was desperately trying to deny it. Now they have to admit that Berg was indeed in their custody. Then, Berg gets released and within days is in al-CIAeda hands
Many doctors have looked at the video and it is questionable. when you cut someone's head off blood can spray up to 10 feet.
Now we learn that he was under investigation by the FBI right after 9/11 for having the same password as one of the al-CIAeda decoys.
On top of it all, we now learn that he had done work at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison.
Don't forget who stands to gain from all of this. Right when Bush's bacon needs to be pulled out of the fire this video magically pops up -- Al-CIAeda helping, as usual.
Remember Colin Powell testifying before Congress, saying that Saddam was working with Bin Laden, then, magically, that day, a new Arab-CIAeda tape gets released where Bin Laden agrees and says he is working with Saddam?
This is the same military theater company that plants fake letters from troops in papers and consults Jerry Bruckheimer, the famous director on how to stage the rescue of Jessica Lynch (a rescue story that she called a fable).
Remember two years ago the fat Bin Laden in the blurry video telling us that the carried out 9/11? The government later admitted that it was fake, but wouldn't say who created it.
And, of course, there's more. The supposed Al-CIAeda leader in Iraq, al-Zarqawi, who they say cut Berg's head off was reported in the March 4, 2004 MSNBC to be killed in a bombing raid in Mosul in Northern Iraq.
There are about twenty other fishy points. When added all together it spells Psychological Warfare Operation.
============JUST ANOTHER 'COINCIDENCE'
Amazing, chairs at Abu Abu Ghraib prison and the 'stage' of Nick Berg's execution are exactly the same. Berg worked at the Abu Ghraib shortly before his 'disappearance'.
MSNBC: During his time in Iraq, he struggled with the Arabic language and worked at night on a tower in Abu Ghraib, a site of repeated attacks on U.S. convoys and the location of the notorious prison where U.S. soldiers abused Iraqi inmates.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4953015/
==============
15 Anomalies Surrounding Death Of Nick Berg (Original 15)
What Really Happened.com Letters
5-14-4Arab linguists have said the man posing as the Jordanian Zaraqawi did not speak with a Jordanian dialect. Others have suggested the man reading the written statement may not have been a native speaker of Arabic.
Zaraqawi was missing one leg and had been outfitted with an artificial leg that did not fit or function properly. He was unable to walk or stand normally with his ill-fitting limb. No man in the group showed evidence of such an infirmity.
Numerous indigenous sources have said Zaraqawi was killed by a US helicopter attack months ago when he was unable to move quickly enough to escape the targeted house. While others managed to exit the house in time to survive, he died in the collapsed building.
As any surgeon will testify, the alleged beheading was a fake. A beheading would result in a tremendous amount of spurting blood. There would have been blood everywhere had an actual beheading taken place. When the executioner holds up Berg's head immediately following what is represented as an actual decapitation of a living person, there is no significant blood flow from the neck or blood splatters showing anywhere on the executioner. Furthermore, the cut was simply too neat to have been done crudely and with such amazing speed by a man wielding a knife. Anybody who has ever carved a turkey knows there is something wrong with the supposed beheading. The suspended head looks more like Berg had been neatly beheaded by a guillotine.
The orange jumpsuit was standard US military issue to men in custody. It is unlikely Berg would have continuing wearing a US custodial uniform if he had been released by the military as they claim. The fact he was still wearing the suit is both anomalous and suggestive. One is forced to speculate as to whether there was an immediate transfer of Berg from the US military to unknown persons, thusly preventing Berg from discarding his US prison garb.
Several of the men in the film were fat by Iraqi standards. If they were Feyadeen or mujahadeen, they probably have been living underground since the first days of the occupation. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been shown on news stories as they have marched and demonstrated. One would be hard pressed to point out a single fat man among these thousands.
Some men had what can only be described as pasty-white hands. Once again, one would be hard pressed to find Arab men with pasty-white hands.
The lack of spurting blood suggests Berg was already dead at the time of the alleged decapitation. It is possible Berg's dead body was displayed with his head already partially or totally severed. In any case, he almost certainly was killed before the staged beheading. If so, it suggests the captors had no stomach for an actual beheading of a living person, and they opted to fulfill their assignment quietly and with the least amount of gore.
The scream that is heard has been interpreted as a woman's scream by many viewers. Videotape cognoscenti have further said the scream was amateurishly added to the tape.
The U.S. government translation of one statement made on the film is: "Does al Qaeda need any further excuses?" This is a falsification. The actual statement urged fellow insurgents to get off their hind ends and do something. One assumes the translator being used by the US military is a native speaker of Arabic, so this cannot be explained as an innocent flub. This suggests the US government wanted to inject an alleged al- Qaeda group into the murder of Nick Berg.
Iraqis who have seen the videotape on Arabic news broadcasts are universally saying the men in the film are not Iraqis. Are they saying this partly because the speaker does not employ an Iraqi dialect? Where does their certainty come from?
Firearms experts have stated the AK-47 carried by one man was a "Gilal." This actually is an Israeli-made weapon that improves on the famous AK- 47. Feyadeen and other insurgents almost universally use AK-47s.
The man in the videotape who is purported to be Zarqawi is wearing a gold ring. This is absolutely proscribed by Islamic law.
The US military has stated that Berg was never in US custody and that he had been in custody of the Iraqi police. The Iraqi police adamantly deny he was ever in their custody. On April 1, an e-mail from Beth A. Payne, the U.S. consular officer in Iraq, was sent to the family of Nick Berg. It stated that Ms. Payne had located Nick, and he was currently in custody of the US military. We have to conclude that either the email was bogus or the US military has been lying.
The chair that Berg was seated in during the filming was a standard issue military chair of the exact same kind as seen in a color photo taken at the Abu Ghraib Prison. The chances a terrorist cell would be using this same chair are minimal at best.
15 Original Fishy Circumstances and Flawed Timelines Surround American's Beheading
Infowars.com
05-12-04UPDATE 12:45PM Central: This just in -- U.S. spokesman says decapitated American was never held by U.S. forces
With several news outlets reporting that Berg's family is angry from the US government over their son's violent death and revelations that "Berg was detained by Iraqi police at a checkpoint in Mosul on March 24. He was turned over to U.S. officials and detained for 13 days" (in other words, he was detained by the US military just prior to his death) -- (AP 5/11/04) we have to question what really happened and who was really behind Berg's horrific murder.
We have received several emails from listeners questioning what really happened including this one:
me and a friend were discussing recent news events and trying to piece together the information presented to us, thought you might want to look into this further, they said in the news that nicholas berg was killed 2 weeks ago (i think), however in the video the culprits who killed him said they were "avenging iraqi prisoner abuse" but those photos weren't released until last week, so my question is how is that even a possible motive if he was killed prior to the abuse photos being released?? maybe i am misinformed but thought id ask the question to someone who would look into it
And this one:
Hey Alex, I know people like me who have learned not to trust our government tend to see a conspiracy under every rock. With that said... The picture the media is now showing of the guy the terrorist beheaded as revenge for what went on in the Iraqi prisons looks odd to me. If you look at the men dressed in black, they all seem well fed. Actually most look fat. That bothers me, because these guys are fighting a war and eating on the run. They are constantly on the move and should be either very fit and trim or scrawny and malnourished because of the same reasons. One thing they should not be is fat like couch potatoes. If you look at all of the photos of the prisoners who were naked who supposedly were just plucked of the street, most of them are thin. Just an observation Alex
And this one:
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.
I believe that Berg (or this look-alike character) was first killed (perhaps by lethal injection, poisoning, etc.), then decapitated after dead (explains lack of blood spraying everywhere). Berg was killed by Al-Quaeda (known to
be a CIA - Mossad joint venture). Berg video released at height of furor over U.S. torture of Iraqis and just before Bush was to decide whether to release additional torture videos. Now torture videos will be withheld from public for reasons of national security. Now "patriots" everywhere will laud the virtues of U.S. torture of "enemies". Sensitivity level of public
gets heightened in terms of what's acceptable treatment of prisoners. Juxtaposed with decapitation, piling naked men into pyramid is nothing. Such treatment will be considered more and more acceptable even in domestic situations. George W. Bush sleeps well tonight while Berg family lives in torture. Serves Berg's father right for opposing Bush and the war of
aggression against Iraq.Jeff Rense has compiled some important information on Berg's detainment and questioning what really happened in his article, " Why Did The US Take Custody Of Nick Berg?"
Bloggers doubt Berg execution video
By Lawrence Smallman
Friday 14 May 2004, 0:08 Makka Time, 21:08 GMTAljazeera
Was this really Nick Berg's last moment or was he killed earlier?
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 over US abuse 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 to gush out. 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 looked at the site within 90 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 before 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 claims 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.
Some claim the face in the video
looks remarkably unlike Berg'sThe 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 interrogated Berg, but had left him for two weeks because he was in Iraqi - not American - custody.
Father Michael Berg has blamed
US forces for his son's deathBut 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 said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in the Sulaimaniya mountains of northern Iraq during a US bombing.
But even if it were the Jordanian, one discussion room member observes his face is so well-known that "why would he bother to cover it?"
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<> LA VOZ DE AZTLAN NEWS BULLETIN <>
<>.<>.<> Los Angeles, Alta California <>.<>.<>May 12, 2004
Nick Berg decapitation video declared "a fraud" by medical doctor
The first casualty of war is the truth and this one has been no exception. La Voz de Aztlan obtained a copy of the video showing the beheading of American Nick Berg of Philadelphia and immediately something very odd was readily apparent. Not only were the purported screams of Nick Berg not in synchrony with the decapitation but their was also a total lack of blood spurting out as his jugular and other veins and arteries were being cut.
We forwarded the video to Doctor Raul Castro Guevara, a surgeon and forensic expert in Mexico City for his expert opinion. He wrote back and commented, "No hay manera que el individuo en el video estaba vivo y su corazon funcionando cuando le estaban cortando la cabeza. En estos casos, el corazon impela sangre con gran presion, y se corta las arterias del cuello, hay una gran cantidad de sangre que salpica por todos lados. En mi opinion el video es un fraude."
Doctor Raul Castro Guevara is saying that there is no way that the individual in the video was alive and his heart pumping while his neck was being cut. The doctor adds that in these cases, while the heart is pumping, cutting a person's artery in the neck, would cause copious amounts of blood to spurt all over the immediate environment. He says that in his opinion the video is a fraud.
We hope that our readers view the video and see for themselves. We will provide a copy to any of our subscribers that have been supportive of our publication. Send a request to La Voz de Aztlan at Fake_Video@Aztlan.Net
If you are able to view the video, please pay close attention to the five so called Al queda terrorists making the political statement. Look at their height, weight, skin color and their mannerisms. Do you think these people are Arabs or Iraqis?
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
La Voz de Aztlan
http://www.aztlan.net/fake_video.htm
ARTICLE: NICK BERG GAVE PASSWORD TO TERRORISTS 5/13/2004
==============
Octavia Nasr debunks Washington's Al-Zarqawi & Al Qaeda claims in Berg Beheading Case
Published: May 12, 2004 Author: OCTAVIA NASR, CNN Sr. Editor for Arab Affairs
For Education and Discussion Only. Not for Commercial Use.
Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
O'BRIEN: Interesting. All right, now one final thought here. You did a very careful translation of your own, of the statement. And in it, you see no reference to al Qaeda. And yet the official U.S. government translation does. Explain how that happened.
NASR: Oh, I find it very interesting, because out of the blue, there is a mention of al Qaeda on the U.S. government translation. It says: "Does al Qaeda need any further excuses?" Any speaker of the Arabic language is going to notice a difference between the word al Qaeda, which means "the base," and al qaed, which means "the one sitting, doing nothing."
My translation says: "Is there any excuse for the one who sits down and does nothing?" Basically they're telling people, you have no excuse for not doing anything, for not acting and defending Islam and so forth. Whereas the U.S. government translation has this factual error, I'm sure it's an honest mistake, but basically it sort of adds al Qaeda to the statement, which is not on the statement.
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O'BRIEN: Responses throughout the Middle East are reflected, of course, in Arab TV coverage. Our senior editor of Arab affairs, Octavia Nasr, who watches Arab the Arab television assiduously, is here to give us a little sense of what's being said and perhaps more important in this story, what is being shown and not shown. The big question is, of course, on this tape, just horrific tape, which is available on the Web, obviously. Are places like Al-Arabiya, Al Jazeera, are they showing it in its entirety?
OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SR. EDITOR FOR ARAB AFFAIRS: No. Arab viewers of the big networks, as well as the local TV stations did not see the actual execution. They did see at the beginning of this tape, just like we saw here on CNN and most Western networks, you saw the beginning of the tape right before the beheading. They reported on it, and as a side story. It certainly isn't playing as a big story or as the story.
O'BRIEN: That's very interesting. When we hearken back to Danny Pearl, "The Wall Street Journal" reporter who was killed in Pakistan in 2002, the entirety of that, which included a beheading, was shown on these outlets. What happened? What changed?
NASR: What changed is the learning. And also the reaction to showing gruesome pictures and atrocities and the reaction from viewers and authorities alike. Also, it has been a few years since then. Back then, there was no Al-Arabiya. Al-Arabiya is brand new. It started a few weeks before the war last year.
Again, it's a learning process. It seems that the networks are responding to their viewers. Remember, Al Jazeera is seen all over the world, the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia, all over the world. And viewers there are not accepting of these images as people in the Arab world are.
O'BRIEN: Well, let me ask you this. You've had a chance to really listen to this tape and get a sense who might be responsible, just by deciphering, say, accents. And certainly, there in the Arab world, they're very attuned to that. And given the fact of who this may or may not be, does that have some effect on how it is being played?
NASR: Yes, and if you listen to these voices that we're hearing on Arab networks, Iraqis are condemning this execution. And they're saying these are foreigners. These are not Iraqis. They do not represent us and so forth.
Now, of course, the original claim was that Zarqawi is the actual man who performed this execution. Our experts listened to the accent, as you said, and they determined the accent is not Jordanian...
O'BRIEN: He is a Jordanian who is working supposedly, allegedly, at the behest of al Qaeda in Iraq. So go ahead.
NASR: Right, he is very close to bin Laden, and works, you're right, as an agent of al Qaeda in Iraq. Now, the accent is not Jordanian so that takes the Jordanian element out of the story immediately.
O'BRIEN: Interesting. All right, now one final thought here. You did a very careful translation of your own, of the statement. And in it, you see no reference to al Qaeda. And yet the official U.S. government translation does. Explain how that happened.
NASR: Oh, I find it very interesting, because out of the blue, there is a mention of al Qaeda on the U.S. government translation. It says: "Does al Qaeda need any further excuses?" Any speaker of the Arabic language is going to notice a difference between the word al Qaeda, which means "the base," and al qaed, which means "the one sitting, doing nothing."
My translation says: "Is there any excuse for the one who sits down and does nothing?" Basically they're telling people, you have no excuse for not doing anything, for not acting and defending Islam and so forth. Whereas the U.S. government translation has this factual error, I'm sure it's an honest mistake, but basically it sort of adds al Qaeda to the statement, which is not on the statement.
O'BRIEN: All right, Octavia Nasr, we don't know exactly how that got in there. We'll try to get more on that. We appreciate you bringing that all to light and appreciate your insights, of course.
NASR: You bet.
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