| ||||||||||||||
WHAT HAPPENED TO NICK BERG?Father of Nick Berg Blasts Bush-Cheney Administration
Nick Berg's body was found on May 8, just outside of the war-ravaged city of Baghdad. A native of West Chester, Pennsylvania, he was in Iraq as a freelance contractor. At a vocal anti-Iraq War rally in front of Lafayette Park, just north of the presidential mansion, Michael Berg said, "I have to hold the Bush administration accountable for denying my son his Constitutional rights for 13 days of his illegal detention [by the US while in Iraq]. If they were going to take illegal action, instead of violating the heart of the Constitution of the United States of America--why didn't they just illegally deport him from Iraq to let us prove who he was at home?"
Michael Berg continued, "Their callous behavior, in effect, 'tied him to the track' until it was no longer possible for him to escape that speeding 'hate train.' I don't expect the men who ran the 'hate train' to take responsibility for their actions. And I don't expect the Bush Administration will change its policies to do its part to make the 'hate train' into a 'peace train'." Here is what we do know about Nick Berg's sensational murder. He was detained by US forces on March 24 in Mosul, Iraq, without charges. It may be significant that he was Jewish and had an Israeli stamp on his passport. He was held for 13 days and repeatedly questioned by the FBI. He was only released from custody on April 6, after his father filed a federal lawsuit in Philadelphia. Nick Berg was beheaded some time after April 10, ostensibly by hooded Arab "militants" who videotaped his murder. The US government immediately tried to shift responsibility to the Iraqis for Nick Berg's almost two-week-long detention, but this was proven to be false. After the release of e-mails addressed to the Berg family in Pennsylvania, sent from Beth A. Payne, the US Consular Officer in Iraq, it was clear that Nick Berg had been held by US forces, and not the Iraqis. Young Berg, in the video exhibit, is dressed in an orange jumpsuit like those regularly worn by prisoners detained in US.run penal facilities, be it the Metropolitan Correction Center in NYC or the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Some of Berg's captors in the video had "pasty-white hands" and contrary to Islamic law, one of them even wore "a gold ring." The "white plastic chair" Berg is seen sitting in is similar to the one shown in images from the Abu Chraib sex torture photos. A voice is clearly heard on the video saying, "How will it be done?" A "military cap" shows up, too, in one of the frames. All of the "militants" have "Western-style body posture and mannerisms." One of the "militants" is even wearing " white tennis shoes," while another, on the extreme left, is seen standing as if he is at "parade rest." (For extensive commentary, photos and audio segments detailing inconsistencies, visit: http://Rense.com, "Nick Berg Beheading.") Some who decline to accept the Establishment's view of Nick Berg's killing are convinced that his execution was a "psychological operation," managed and/or controlled by US Intelligence operatives, possibly with the assistance of the Mossad or British operatives, to serve "black propaganda" needs for a "diversion" to the Abu Ghraib scandal. Other questions concern young Berg's bizarre background as a so-called "computer expert," including his possible links to US Intelligence and even ties to 9/11, going back to when he lived in Oklahoma City. In a Reuters story, Michael Berg said he believes that the USA Patriot Act was a "coup d'etat." At the rally, he said, "We the people of the United States of America and the rest of the world can act now to stop war and end racism. Let's make that happen now." After listening to a number of other speakers at Lafayette Park, the protesters marched about 25 blocks north to the mansion home of Bush's Secretary of Defense, the embattled Donald Rumsfeld. They chanted slogans along the way. Some at the rally denounced as "war criminals" not only Rumsfeld, but Paul Wolfowitz, a prime architect of the Iraqi War who has strong connections to fellow neocons Richard Perle and William Kristol. The primary sponsor of the "Speak Truth to Power" rally was the ANSWER Coalition. About 3,000 protesters took part in the event.
© William Hughes 2004. William Hughes, a Baltimore attorney, is the author of Saying ''No' to the War Party (IUniverse, Inc.). He can be reached at liamhughes@mindspring.com.
In researching this story, Mr. Hughes reports that there is no record of Nick Berg's company, "Prometheus Methods Tower Service, Inc.," having been registered with Pennsylvania's Department of State. One of the references Mr. Hughes cites for his story is Rense.com. Copyright © 2004 The Baltimore Chronicle.
All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent. This story was published on June 8, 2004. |
Local News & Opinion
Travel
Books, Arts & Education
08.05 "American Teen": A Winning Documentary about Real-Life High Schoolers 07.31 Francis Boyle's "Palestine Palestinians and International Law" Letters
Ref. : Letters to the editor Open Letters: 08.16 Out Damn Blot: A Letter to Colin Powell Health & Environment
08.14 The End of Cheap Oil: The Future is Now 08.05 Obama is Right: It's Easy to Reduce the Nation's (and Your Own) Fuel Bill Dramatically Media Watching
08.21 Mixed Truth of the Russia-Georgia War 08.16 John McCain's Party of Hate 08.15 Corporate Media Bashes New Chavez Enabling Law Decrees 08.15 Georgia/Russia Conflict Forced Into Cold War Frame 08.13 WPost and the Great Disconnect 08.12 WPost Admits Bungling Obama Quote 08.06 Why McCain May Well Win 08.06 Media Fall for 'Race Card' Spin 08.01 Wall Street Journalomics: The Case of the Missing Tax Facts 07.31 CNN Scoffs at White House Critics 07.31 WPost Calls Out 'Uppity' Obama US Politics, Policy & Culture
08.21 McCain's Ties to Neocon Hard Lines 08.21 Peace Mom v. Guardian of Power 08.20 Are You Ready For Nuclear War? 08.19 A Book Written to Defeat Obama 08.19 McCain's 'Cone of Silence' Caper 08.14 Is Perpetual War Our Future? 08.12 5 Years After Blackout, Power Grid Still in 'Dire Straits' 08.12 Olympic Shame 08.12 Thinking About Intermissions 08.11 ‘Medaling’ With Free Speech at the Olympics 08.11 Targeting Immigrants - The Largest Ever US ICE Raid 08.09 A Novel Approach to Politics 08.07 The Hamdan Principle and You 08.07 McCain Adopts Cheney's Energy Plan 08.06 The Serpent's Egg: Solzhenitsyn and the Origins of America's Gulag 08.05 Mining Racism and Murder in a Northeastern Pennsylvania Coal Town 08.04 The Other Presidential Candidates 08.03 McCain, Anthrax & the Afghan Blunder 08.01 Justice Probe Still Threatens Gonzales 07.31 Obama's Surge in Berlin 07.30 War Without End, Amen: Into the Afghan Abyss with Obama 07.30 McCain's Spin on the 'Surge' 07.30 Friday's House Judiciary Hearing on Impeachment: A Victory and a Challenge US High Crimes & Misdemeanors
08.20 Musharraf, Not Bush, Follows Nixon 08.18 Fear, Procurement, Profit: Permanent War and the American Way 08.17 This Time, the World Is Not Buying It 08.15 'Imminent' Threats Should Be a Belli Laugh 08.08 American Insouciance 08.07 Extra! Dog Bites Man! Read All About It! 08.05 Marching Off Into Tyranny 08.05 Follow This Dime 07.31 Wave of 'Capitol Crime' Continues 07.29 Bodyguard of Lies: The Truth Behind the 'Surge's' Smokescreen 07.28 Secret "Torture Memo" Gave Legal Cover to Interrogators Who Acted in "Good Faith" 07.28 The Bush Administration's Secret Biowarfare Agenda 07.26 The Endless Smearing of Joe Wilson Economics & Business
08.04 Thinking About Ponzi International
08.18 Blockades: Acts of War 08.17 Rice’s Recipe for Duck Soup 08.14 The Lawless Roads: Bluster in Georgia, Rank Tyranny at Home 08.14 Marching Through Georgia V: U.S. Forces Moving Into Putin's Powderkeg 08.14 Marching Through Georgia IV: The Butt Thumper and the Bear 08.13 Using Georgia to Target Russia 08.12 From Stupid to Moronic to Evil 08.11 Marching Through Georgia III: Reality's Rout and Cheney's Viagra 08.11 Marching Through Georgia II: The Kremlin Surge 08.08 Marching Through Georgia I: Cold War II Proxy Conflict Turns Hot 08.07 Living Death: The Eternal Now of Hiroshima 08.07 War with Iran - On, Off or Undecided? 08.04 Gaza Under Siege We are a non-profit Internet-only newspaper publication founded in 1973. Your donation is essential to our survival.
|
| ||||||||||||