Ten years ago on this date, May 7,
2004, Nick Berg, an American Businessman, was abducted and illegally executed
by terrorists in Iraq. There are some justice served after one of the alleged
leaders of the terrorists, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,
was killed in a targeted killing by the US Air Force.
We offer our condolences
to the families of Nick Berg, and we will remember him every year on this date.
INTERNET SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Berg
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American hostage Nick Berg
seated, with five men standing over him. The man directly behind him, alleged
to be Zarqawi, is the one who beheaded Berg.
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Nicholas Evan Berg
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Born
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April
2, 1978
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA |
Died
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May 7,
2004 (aged 26)
Iraq |
Cause of
death
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Decapitation
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Occupation
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Businessman
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Nicholas Evan "Nick" Berg (April 2, 1978 – May 7,
2004) was a American businessman who went to Iraq after the US invasion of
Iraq. He was abducted and later executed according to a video released in May
2004 by Islamist militants in response to the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner
abuse scandal involving the United States Army and Iraqi prisoners. The CIA
claimed that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi personally murdered Berg.
The decapitation video was released on
the Internet, reportedly from London to a Malaysian-hosted homepage by the
Islamist organization, al-Ansars.
Early life
and education
Berg was a native of West Chester,
Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, where he owned his own company,
Prometheus Methods Tower Service. He inspected and rebuilt communication
antennae, and had previously visited Kenya and Uganda on similar projects.
Berg attended Henderson High School in
West Chester, where he received a diploma in 1996. Berg attended four
universities: Cornell, Drexel, the University of Pennsylvania, and the
University of Oklahoma. While at the University of Oklahoma, according to
Nickberg.org, Berg developed a "paper brick" that was to be the
precursor to his "Bovl Block" pressed construction blocks. He once
traveled to Kitende, Uganda to help a village, by among other things teaching
villagers how to make Bovl Blocks, a modular concrete block Berg invented for
use in tower construction where steel is not readily available or is
cost-prohibitive. In addition, Berg set up a subsidiary of his company,
Prometheus Tower Services, Inc., in Kenya.
Travels
and detention
Berg first arrived in Iraq on December
21, 2003, and made arrangements to secure contract work for his company. He
also went to the northern city of Mosul, visiting an Iraqi man whose brother
had been married to Berg's late aunt. Leaving on February 1, 2004, he returned
to Iraq on March 14, 2004, only to find that the work he was promised was
unavailable. Throughout his time in Iraq, he maintained frequent contact with
his family in the United States by telephone and e-mail.
Berg had intended to return to the
United States on March 30, 2004, but he was detained in Mosul on March 4, 2004
by Iraqi police at a checkpoint. His family claims he was turned over to U.S.
officials and held for 13 days without access to legal counsel. FBI agents
visited his parents to confirm his identity on March 31, 2004, but he was not
immediately released. After his parents filed suit in federal court in
Philadelphia on April 5, 2004, claiming that he was being held illegally, he
was released from custody. He said that he had not been mistreated during his
confinement. The U.S. maintains that at no time was Berg in coalition custody,
but rather that he was held by Iraqi forces. The Mosul police deny they ever
arrested Berg, and Berg's family has turned over an email from the U.S. consul
stating "I have confirmed that your son, Nick, is being detained by the
U.S. military in Mosul." According to the Associated Press, Berg was
released from custody on April 6, 2004 and advised by U.S. officials to take a
flight out of Iraq, with their assistance. Berg is said to have refused this
offer and traveled to Baghdad, where he stayed at the Al-Fanar Hotel. His
family last heard from him on April 9, 2004. Berg had his last contact with
U.S. officials on April 10, 2004 and did not return again to his hotel after
that date. Berg was interviewed for filmmaker Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit
9/11. Moore chose not to use the footage of his interview with Berg, but
instead shared it with Berg's family following his death.
Disappearance
Berg's family became concerned after
not hearing from him for several days. Although a U.S. State Department
investigator looked into Berg's disappearance, official government inquiries
produced no leads. Berg's family, frustrated with what they say was a lack of
action by the U.S. government, also hired a private investigator and contacted
both their Congressional delegation and the Red Cross in search of information.
Death
Berg's body was found decapitated on
May 8, 2004, on a Baghdad overpass by a U.S. military patrol. Berg's family was
informed of his death two days later. Military sources stated publicly at that
time that Berg's body showed "signs of trauma", but did not disclose
that he had been decapitated.
On May 11, 2004, the website of the
militant group Muntada al-Ansar posted a video with the opening title of
"Abu Musa'b al-Zarqawi slaughters an American" (Arabic: ابو مصعب
الزرقاوي يذبح امريكي),
which shows Berg being decapitated. Al-Zarqawi had an association with the
jihadist group Al-Qaeda, as does Muntada al-Ansar. The video is about five and
a half minutes long.
Berg is seen in the video wearing an
orange jumpsuit. He identifies himself: "My name is Nick Berg, my father's
name is Michael, my mother's name is Susan. I have a brother and sister, David
and Sarah. I live in West Chester, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia."
The video shows Berg surrounded by
five men wearing ski masks and shemaghs. A lengthy statement is read aloud. The
masked men then converge on Berg. Two of them hold him down, while one
decapitates him with a knife. A scream can be heard as men shout "Allahu
Akbar". After the head is severed, one of the men displays the head to the
camera, then lays it down on the decapitated body.
On May 13, 2004, news outlets quoted a
CIA source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, that a voice analysis of
the tape has led the agency to conclude that the masked man who reads the
statement and carries out the killing is "with high probability" Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi.
During the video, the man reading the
statement threatens further deaths: "We tell you that the dignity of the
Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood
and souls. You will not receive anything from us but coffins after coffins ...
slaughtered in this way." The video further threatens U.S. President
George W. Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
Encounter
with Zacarias Moussaoui
On May 14, 2004, it was revealed that
Nick Berg had been investigated during the U.S. government's investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui. Berg's email address had
been used by Moussaoui prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks. According
to Berg's father, Nick Berg had a chance encounter with an acquaintance of
Moussaoui on a bus in Norman, Oklahoma. This person had asked to borrow Berg's
laptop computer to send an email. Berg gave the details of his own email
account and password, which were later used by Moussaoui. The FBI found that
Berg had no direct terrorism connections or direct link with Moussaoui.
Arrests
and confessions
On May 14, 2004, citing "Iraq
Sources", Sky News reported that four people had been arrested for
the murder. Two were later released after questioning.
On August 5, 2004, Le Nouvel
Observateur published a feature story by Sara Daniel detailing her meeting
with one Abu Rashid, a leader of the mujahadeen council in Fallujah. He claims
that he killed Nick Berg, Kim Sun-il and Iraqis who collaborated with the
American forces. He also states that they attempted a prisoner exchange with
Berg and were rebuffed by the U.S. government.
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