http://mparent7777-3.blogspot.com/2007/04/new-light-on-nick-berg-case-us.html......
For those new to the case, a brief summary follows …
Nick Berg was a 26 year-old US businessman of Jewish extraction. He was a specialist in radio communications tower repair and construction. Although Berg was, by all accounts, a supporter of George Bush and the US invasion of Iraq, his father, a member of the Democracy Now! group, was an open opponent of the war.
In Iraq, Berg found a commercial partner in Aziz al-Taee, a seedy Iraqi businessman, previously resident in the US, who was an associate of the Iranian-aligned Shiite businessman, Ahmad Chalabi. Aziz had an interesting criminal record in the US but had been instrumental in organising pro-invasion rallies before the war. It is likely that Berg combined his own fledgeling business endeavours with simple commercial intelligence-gathering for others.
Berg also had Iraqi relatives resident in Mosul. It was during a visit to Mosul, on 24 April 2004 that he was arrested by the Iraqi Police at a checkpoint because his Jewish name and Israeli stamps in his passport aroused suspicion. He was reportedly carrying a Farsi phrase book and anti-Zionist literature.
The Iraqi police turned Berg over to US military custody where he was interviewed on three occasions by the FBI. Berg was already well known to the Bureau. It is a curious fact that, while briefly a student at Oklahoma University, and before the events of 11 September 2001, his computer user ID had been used by Zacarias Moussaoui. The FBI had investigated this incident but found him innocent of any wrongdoing. The 911 investigator Michael Wright unearthed evidence supporting the view that Berg was working under CIA supervision at OU, perhaps spying on some of the alleged 911 hijackers who were living nearby at the time. Whatever the truth of this, suspicion must arise that Nick Berg was a part-time CIA operative and/or FBI informant. Certainly Berg made no complaints about his treatment by the FBI while he was in US custody in Mosul.
On 5 April, Berg’s father, who had learned of his incarceration from the US Consul in Baghdad, commenced legal proceedings for his release in the US Federal Court. The circumstances suggest that the US Consulate and the FBI spoke up for him. He was quickly released and offered a flight from Baghdad to Jordan. Reportedly he didn’t take up this offer, saying that he preferred to travel by road, with persons unknown whom he had somehow met. He left the al-Fanar Hotel on 10 April and disappeared.
No credible claim has ever surfaced that ransom demands were made, although Berg would have been a valuable, high-profile captive. A month later his decapitated body was found in Baghdad. Shortly afterwards, the infamous video of his decapitation, officially attributed to al-Qaeda, appeared on the internet. For George Bush, the timing was fortuitous, because the video provided a tailor-made “moral relativity”argument to bolster the US Government just as the story of the US torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib broke.
It is not difficult to see what might have happened in Berg’s case.
Remember that in early 2004, it was still possible for small-time would-be entrepreneurs like Berg to move about Iraq relatively freely. But operations by the Sunni and Baathist resistance were increasing. In late May, four US mercenaries were killed in an ambush in the Fallujah, a Sunni stronghold. The subsequent US attempt to subdue the city resulted in a minor disaster for US forces. A few days later US troops raided the offices of the cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, triggering a Shiite uprising. Suddenly, US troops were being attacked by the Shiites whom the US had relied upon to remain moderately well-disposed towards the occupation or at least neutral in relation to the escalating conflict with the Sunni and Baathist resistance. At the same time, in the US mainstream media, the view that the US had been tricked into invading Iraq on behalf of Iran began to be advanced. The fortunes of Ahmad Chalabi, until then something of a favourite with US ruling circles, suddenly plunged. The whole Neocon game-plan was falling apart. Behind the scenes rampant political confusion and paranoia would have reigned.
more.......
Family of Beheaded U.S. Man Releases Statement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=547956Body found on Baghdad overpass identified as that of
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=547236CNN Transcript On Nick Berg Murder
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=550541FBI Saw Berg During Iraq Police Detention
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=550119Pa. family angry with American government over son's brutal death
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=547830Parents blame Bush for son's execution
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=549188Body found on Baghdad overpass identified as that of American
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=547236Arab media disagree on story of beheading
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=551805Reporter says Berg held in custody entire time by US authorities
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=551660http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=551186Bush Condemns Execution of Berg in Iraq
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=550095Beheaded hostage 'had been warned to leave Iraq'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=549507FBI Saw Berg Before Beheading
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=550573Berg worked at night on a Abu Ghraib tower
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=550780CBS: Bizarre New Link in Berg Murder (Berg and Moussaoui)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=553244CNN: Was Berg in U.S. custody? Answers conflict
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=554749Diplomat's E-Mails Show Berg in Custody
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=552638E-mails from U.S. consulate to Bergs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=553391Spokesman Says Berg Never Held by Forces
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=549641The victim: More than work drew him to Iraq
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=551848Diplomat's e-mails show Berg in custody
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=552645Berg died for Bush, Rumsfeld 'sins' - father
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=552677U.S.Iraq Consular Officer Payne)Diplomat's E-Mails Show Berg in US custody
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=552989Al-Zarqawi Murdered Berg, CIA Concludes
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=553143FBI told police to hold Berg
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=553087Beheading not linked to Iraq prison scandal: White House
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=549888Berg beheading: No way, say more medical experts
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=571473CNN Breaking: 4 arrested in the Berg Murder (2 released)...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=571514Beheaded man named on Free Republic's "Enemies List"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=551264Bush: Berg's killers must be found
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=557156Last days of Nick Berg a mystery
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=559749US Gov't Disavows E-Mails About Berg's Detention
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=559647EXECUTION: FOUR ARRESTED
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=563009BERG MET WITH SHADY IRAQI (Berg's business partner was a Chalabi wannabe)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=560487