As you know, Nick Berg’s family claims that he was in US custody and deprived of due process. Had he not been detained, his family alleges, he would have been out of Iraq and alive today.
U.S. military and DoD officials have disputed this allegation and say that Berg was in custody of the Iraqi CPA. But the Berg family has proof.
To back its claims that Berg was in U.S. custody, the family gave The Associated Press copies of e-mails from Beth A. Payne, the U.S. consular officer in Iraq.
“I have confirmed that your son, Nick, is being detained by the U.S. military in Mosul. He is safe. He was picked up approximately one week ago. We will try to obtain additional information regarding his detention and a contact person you can communicate with directly,” Payne wrote to Berg’s father, Michael, on April 1.
Payne repeated that Berg was “being detained by the U.S. military” in an e-mail the same day to Berg’s mother, Suzanne. The next day, Payne wrote that she was still trying to find a local contact for the family, but added that “given the security situation in Iraq it is not easy.”
State Department spokeswoman Kelly Shannon said Payne’s information came from the Coalition Provisional Authority. The authority did not tell Payne until April 7 that Berg had been held by Iraqi police and not the U.S. military.
“As Mr. Berg had been released, the consular officer did not convey this information to the family because he was released, thankfully,” Shannon said. “And we thought he was on his way.”
Meanwhile, it appears that Nick Berg had been the focus of an FBI investigation into al-Qaeda activities, specifically: an apparent but unclear connection between Berg and Zaccarias Moussaoui.
U.S. officials say the FBI questioned Berg in 2002 after a computer password Berg used in college turned up in the possession of Zaccarias Moussaoui, the al Qaeda operative arrested shortly before 9/11 for his suspicious activity at a flight school in Minnesota.
The bureau had already dismissed the connection between Berg and Moussaoui as nothing more than a college student who had been careless about protecting his password.
But in the wake of Berg’s gruesome murder, it becomes a stranger than fiction coincidence — an American who inadvertently gave away his computer password to one notorious al Qaeda operative is later murdered by another notorious al Qaeda operative.
UPDATE: Several questions are being raised concerning the video. Such as: Why was Berg wearing an orange jumpsuit like US prisoners wear? Why so little blood when a slashed throat would ordinarily cause torrents? Why were the major US media outlets able to download the video from the original site when al-Jazeera could not locate it? And why was Berg arrested in the first place? It’s worth noting, however, that it’s al-Jazeera raising the questions, making some folks wonder if the backlash against al-Qaeda over the brutal murder is so great that the organization is now trying to shift the blame. (Link via InstaPundit.)
UPDATE: Curiouser and curiouser. Berg told friends he was arrested because he had an Israeli stamp in his passport – something which seasoned travelers in Arab countries avoid – and yet had anti-Semitic literature in his possession on arrest. He also planned to leave via Turkey and implied to a friend that he had transportation arranged for his stay there. Strange, for someone who, unlike most Westerners in Iraq, travelled without an interpreter or driver in that country.
Thursday, May 13th, 2004, 5:16 pm | 
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May 13, 2004 at 7:04 pm
Wasn’t Berg Jewish himself? If so, what on earth was the anti-Semitic literature for?
May 13, 2004 at 7:51 pm
Yep, he was Jewish. I read somewhere that the lit was believed consistent with his “intellectual curiousity.” Can’t remember where I saw that. I’ll look for the link later.
May 13, 2004 at 8:57 pm
This story get more “twisty” by the day. As you may know Bergs father has claimed its Bush and the government that are to blame for his death. Because he was in custody by the Iraqi police or the US (no matter which) Pop is screaming Bush, Bush. But if you look at the timeline Nick was on the loose for two or three days before he disappeared and the family lost contact. Add to that he was offered and free ride out by the FBI and refused. Pop says, in an interview, because the road was unsafe to the airport.
Does that make any sense when he has been traipsing around Iraq unescorted, alone for weeks. He was arrested in Mosel that is a far greater distance from Baghdad than Baghdad to the airport. Sounds very fishy. At least Pop does. I think young Nick was just to idealistic for his own good.
But here is what smells about dear old Pops. This was found at Hootinan so the credit is laid at his feet. It appears Michael Berg (Pop) is a card carrying member of the Foil Hat Brigade. He endorsed the anti-war protest held by International A.N.S.W.E.R on March 20th. Scroll to the bottom of the link. As Tom says Dad will be all over the media screaming about Bush for the next couple weeks.
May 14, 2004 at 8:09 am
If Berg were going around the country to upgrade the infrastructure, and were meeting individual Iraqis in the process (staying where? in their homes, perhaps?), how likely might it be that someone gave him the literature to try to “educate” him, not knowing he was Jewish (or maybe even knowing)? Was the literature in a language in which Berg was fluent? Did it have anti-Semitic features that would be apparent to anyone (e.g. figures or drawings) or was it all (Arabic?) text? Was it widely available where he traveled? I don’t know what to make of the alleged Moussaoui connection, but I’m not jumping to any conclusions on the literature yet. I’ve traveled a little in countries where my hosts made gifts of books that I could not have read…
May 14, 2004 at 9:52 am
If I were Jewish and in a country where anti-Semitic literature was widely available, I’d grab some as a souvenir. Just to take it home and say, “See? See how bad it is over there?”
As for the blood, Jim’s explanation is best. (See his TB’d post.)
May 14, 2004 at 10:10 am
I don’t know that I’d grab it as a souvenir, but I might very well carry it around for protection along the lines of “See, I’m not here as an Israeli spy.” Plus, as DrSteve pointed out, it could very well have been given to him as a gift by someone wanting to change his mind (although I doubt that many Arabs would believe that Berg changing his mind about Judaism would make him any less of a Jew).
With respect to Jim’s entry concerning the questions being asked, I’m troubled by one of his assertions. Specifically, that Berg was already dead at the time of his beheading.
Besides the absence of blood (which can be explained in other ways, too), does anyone have any proof of this?
May 14, 2004 at 11:45 am
Damn, Kate, you made me break out the Stedman’s Medical Dictionary.
And if I’m reading the diagrams correctly, the carotid arteries (the main arteries supplying blood to the brain) lie deep beneath the soft tissues of the neck, adjacent to the pharynx and anterior to the cervical spine. Severing an artery will produce spurting blood.
But long before you would sever the carotids, you’d sever the jugular veins, which lie nearer the surface (it’s what you feel if you take your pulse at the neck, just below the jaw and before the ear). And if it took you a long time to (I can’t believe I’m typing this) saw through the entire neck, which by most accounts it did, brain death followed by the cessation of cardiac activity could result before the arteries were breached.
But of course, I’m not a doctor. I just type the shit. So I’ll just say it seems possible to me that there would not be some awful Friday the 13th-style bloodbath–particularly given one Freeper’s comment that about a minute seems to have been edited out of the video (I haven’t verified that; saw it linked at Protein Wisdom).
May 14, 2004 at 2:13 pm
Ilyka, although the jugular would be severed first, it would not cause instantaneous or even quick death. Remember the case of State vs. OJ Simpson? As you’ll recall, Ron Goldman’s jugular was severed (although he died from an abdominal wound) and Nicole Simpson’s carotids were severed (and she died from that). The state’s expert witness, Dr. Werner Spitz, testified that a severed jugular would not cause instantaneous death and that, even after several cuts to the neck, a severed carotid artery would disgorge large amounts of blood. (pg. 57, line 17-28)
Q. (BY MR. BAKER) Now, in terms — In terms
of your examination and determination of where everybody was in this reconstruction. If in fact the internal jugular vein was the first vein severed, and if, in fact, it bled down his left side and down his pants and down into his boot, you would agree that he would still have the ability to fight off an attacker for a period of time, five minutes or longer, true?
MR. MEDVENE: Objection. Assumes facts not in evidence, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Overruled. Hypothetical question.
THE WITNESS: Are you asking, if I may, so I can understand the question, are you asking me whether with a severed jugular vein, he could still fight for five minutes? Is that what you’re asking me?
Q. I’ll be happy to rephrase the question.
THE COURT: Excuse me. Ask the — asked the question. Answer that.
THE WITNESS: Yes. None of the injuries of
Mr. Goldman were immediately incapacitating.
Q. (BY MR. BAKER) Well, if in fact, he had the severed internal jugular vein, he could then have
fought off his attacker at the front of the gate,
could he not?
A. Theoretically, yes.
Q. He could have fought off his attacker as he went into the dirt and closed-in area where the keys and the envelope were found, could he not?
A. Theoretically, yes. He could have fought his attacker anywhere.
Q. And he could have continued to fight and kick at his attacker during the time period that the — that the struggle took place, correct?
A. Yes.
Q. And he could have actually taken a swing or hit his attacker during that period of time, could he not?
A. He could have.
On the severed carotid arteries which killed Nicole Simpson, the same witness testified (pg 94, lines 1-20):
Q. When you cut the carotid artery, Dr. Spitz, that carotid artery — well, let’s go back. When the heart pumped blood, it pumps 20 percent to the brain, 80 percent to the rest of the body, correct?
A. I never thought of it that way. Maybe that’s correct. I don’t know if it does that or not.
Q. And when it pumps blood from the heart, the two most direct sources of oxygenated blood to the brain are the carotid left and right, true?
A. Yes.
Q. And they are a force relatively close to the heart as contrasted, for example, to our abdomen, to our legs, et cetera?
A. Yes.
Q. And when that area is severed –
A. Yes.
Q. — The blood, the heart is still pumping and the blood pushes out of there when the left side contracts, true?
A. Yes.
So, there’s our proof that Berg was dead at the time of the beheading, at least as much as we’ll get without becoming forensic experts ourselves. If Berg was alive at the time of his beheading, he would not have died instantaneously when his murderers cut his jugular. Had he not been restrained, he would’ve been able to fight back. Had his heart still been pumping, the scene would’ve been hideously bloody.
Having finally watched the nightmarish video (because I don’t like opining on anything without knowing what I’m opining about), I note that there wasn’t a huge expulsion of blood consistent with what, according to Dr. Spitz, would be expected.
As gruesome as this may seem, please keep in mind that my lawyer-brain makes me obsess over apparent inconsistencies, and I’ve definitely been troubled over this one. Specifically, I’m trying to understand why al-Qaeda would try to make it appear as if they were killing Berg on the video when all the evidence indicates that he was already dead.
And, although several bloggers are now calling others, like me, “moon bats” for raising questions about some of the inconsistencies in the video, I think it’s important to note that where we clearly have one inconsistency, there may be others. IMVO it’s “moon bat” not to try understanding why the inconsistencies are there.
May 14, 2004 at 7:23 pm
I can’t believe I’m going to type this.
I’ve done animal research. I’ve also been hunting during muzzle-loader season with my Dad, when my single shot didn’t do the job. ‘Nuff said there (except, eew).
My observation: while neck wounds involving arteries usually result in spurting lots of blood, rapidly (and probably even more so when in an agitated or highly fearful state due to elevated arterial pressure), it is possible (even likely) that it might not *always* happen. An ME can say what usually happens, but they can never say that it will always happen, because living critters always manage to defy the generalizations.
I’ve seen both, and the more gory circumstance usually plays itself out more often. But, like I said…
I only watched the video once, and was not paying that type of attention to it. Maybe some (or a lot) of blood got on those doing it. Maybe the view of the spurt was blocked by an arm?
Ilyka’s reading does support the notion that the sequence is important. It did appear to me that they went from the back first – meaning they’d cut the spinal cord before the carotids. If so, a massive drop in blood pressure would follow very quickly after severing the cord. The heart would keep beating (leftover neurological impulses), but probably not enough to cause spurting. I do think that blood pressure would – generally – quickly become dysregulated upon severing of the cord, if it occurred first.
May 15, 2004 at 2:00 am
I honestly cannot watch that video again but from memory I could swear the knife was a straight shot in through the side of the neck and then worked forward.
Here’s both sides of a couple things I saw:
I did notice how incredibly still Berg was in the video. The murderers were very fidgety and bouncy. I only noticed a movement from Berg twice. The quality of the video would have masked small involuntary movements and it’s fair to assume he was told not to move or bad things would be done to him.
Berg also looked “flat” while the murders had a more normal and rounded appearance. This is also attributable to the lousy quality of the recording. In addition he was in front of them so the focus on him was different.
Lastly, something that supports that he was alive during the decapitation. His face goes into a rictus with hyperextended mouth during the beheading.
May 15, 2004 at 2:07 am
Crap. I put that in the wrong thread. I should know better than to type before caffeinating. I’ll put it in the correct spot. You can delete these if you’d like, Kate.
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