Curioser and curioser...The story of the Al Qaeda decapitation of Nick Berg (a US citizen, wrongly detained and eventually lost by the US and its Iraqi "police") has bumbed or at least split the lead with the US prisoner abuse story in the "US Mainstream News Media," timed as it was with Gen. Taguba's testimony. It will probably provide Rumsfeld and the incredible shrinking _resident the cover they need to survive this fire storm...There are some very strange and disturbing aspects to the Berg story. Stay tuned. "There is something rotten in the state of..."
Jason Straziuso, Associated Press: Michael Berg said
he blamed the U.S. government for creating
circumstances that led to his son's death. He said if
his son hadn't been detained for so long, he might
have been able to leave the country before the
violence worsened.
"I think a lot of people are fed up with the lack of
civil rights this thing has caused," he said. "I don't
think this administration is committed to democracy."
Repudiate the 9/11 Cover-Up and the Iraq War Lies,
Show Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
Berg family angry with American government over son's brutal death
By Jason Straziuso
Of The Associated Press
May 11, 2004, 2:34 PM EDT
WEST CHESTER, Pa. | -- The family of an American
civilian shown beheaded on an Islamic militant Web
site huddled in in tears Tuesday after learning of the
existence of the graphic videotape.
The video showed Nick Berg, 26, in a staged execution
carried out by an al-Qaida affiliated group. The video
said the killing was to avenge the abuse of Iraqi
prisoners by American soldiers.
"My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my
mother's name is Suzanne," the man said on the video
before being killed. "I have a brother and sister,
David and Sara. I live in ... Philadelphia."
Berg's family said U.S. State Department officials on
Monday had told them Berg was decapitated. The family,
though, had wanted that information to remain private.
When told about news of the Web site Nick Berg's
father, brother and sister, collapsed to the ground in
a tearful hug in their front yard.
"I knew he was decapitated before," said the father,
Michael Berg. "That manner is preferable to a long and
torturous death. But I didn't want it to become
public."
Michael Berg lashed out at the U.S. military and Bush
administration, saying his son might still be alive
had he not been detained by U.S. officials in Iraq
without being charged and without access to a lawyer.
Nick Berg, a small telecommunications business owner,
spoke to his parents on March 24 and told them he
would return home on March 30. But 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.
His father, Michael, said his son wasn't allowed to
make phone calls or contact a lawyer.
FBI agents visited Berg's parents in West Chester on
March 31 and told the family they were trying to
confirm their son's identity. On April 5, the Bergs
filed suit in federal court in Philadelphia,
contending that their son was being held illegally by
the U.S. military. The next day Berg was released. He
told his parents he hadn't been mistreated.
Michael Berg said he blamed the U.S. government for
creating circumstances that led to his son's death. He
said if his son hadn't been detained for so long, he
might have been able to leave the country before the
violence worsened.
"I think a lot of people are fed up with the lack of
civil rights this thing has caused," he said. "I don't
think this administration is committed to democracy."
The Bergs last heard from their son April 9, when he
said he would come home by way of Jordan.
Berg had traveled several times to Third World
countries to help spread technology, his family said.
He had previously traveled to Kenya and Ghana, where
they said he had purchased a $900 brick-making press
for a poor village, the family said.
Berg's mother, Suzanne Berg, said her son was in Iraq
to help rebuild communication antennas.
"He had this idea that he could help rebuild the
infrastructure," she said.
Michael Berg described himself as fervently anti-war,
but said his son disagreed with him.
"He was a Bush supporter," Berg said. "He looked at it
as bringing democracy to a country that didn't have
it."
Suzanne Berg said she was told her son's body would be
transported to Kuwait and then to Dover, Del. She said
the family had been trying for weeks to learn where
their son was but that federal officials had not been
helpful.
"I went through this with them for weeks," she said.
"I basically ended up doing most of the investigating
myself."
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press