WAR: Video Shows Beheading of American Civilian Nick Berg by Al Qaeda Group

I just saw this video and I think it'll stay with me for a long time. Stomach-turning, terrible, terrible stuff.

War is a horrible thing. Who started this war? The US and the UK.

Who is responsible for all these deaths, whether it be Iraqi civilians, US soldiers, or civilian contractors?

It seems fairly obvious that you blame all this on those who started this war under false pretenses.

Of course Saddam is not totally blameless so let's lump him in with the other murderers (Rumsfeld, Bush, etc).

Proud?

If the US had not invaded Iraq this guy would be home with his family, alive and well.

That's the point of all this isn't it? Establishing blame?


I genuinely feel sorry for everyone who's lost someone in this war. And everytime I see your evil, malicious President smirking through a news conference, it makes me sick to my stomach.

All I can say is I'm glad I'm not American, letting my leaders throw away a hundred years of goodwill towards Americans and polarizing the world against you.


jako

you said you saw the video? Where? ive tried so many different sites but i cant get a good link can anyone help?

Homeland Security article, complete with video and translation.

www.homelandsecurityus.com...

a masked person claiming to be Abu Mus'ad Al Zarqawi

Why would he wear a mask, if he's telling who he is? I don't get it.

Before anyone reads this and calls me a Bush hater or US hater let me say that I go on record as praying for the U.S. and G.W. paying my taxes and loving this country.

This is a conspiricy site so let me throw this out there if it hasn't been already.

Having not seen the viedeo but having seen a few pics and reading articles my thought is...

Right now the military is facing scrutiny for the prison fiasco. People are beginning to yell for a pull-out of Iraq. How can we 1. Divert attention from the prison photos....2. Remind the public of the validity of our purpose in Iraq (we are civilized "they" are not)

This is only a consideration but if I were a heartless individual bent on global domination I sure wouldnt give a 2nd thought about this poor mans life if it meant achieving my purpose.
(Greater good and all that cr@pola)

The video is sickening, they saw through his neck with a big knife while he's lying on the floor and then they hold up his severed head to the camera.

I'm STILL totally freaked.

I don't know that I should post a link to it, either, it's honestly a very very disturbing video. I know I'll never forget it.

What a way to spend your last moments. Ayoye.

Are you implying that the beheading was done by American henchmen (regardless of nationality), in attempt to turn this around?

Jakomo, it's already been posted a few times, I'm sure. (I posted a link to it above) It didn't really bother me that badly, but then I like to watch horror flicks. If the quality wasn't so bad, I probably couldn't watch it, knowing it is indeed real.

[Edited on 5-12-2004 by Satyr]

I can't watch it KNOWING it's real. I like horror movies but I know that they're fake and I like the special effects.

But to watch someone's life end, someone get their throat slit as they scream, is just not something I am ever willing to get used to.

Faces Of Death is not for me.

Ugh, I'm still all freaked.

I actually had a tougher time watching the last beheading video. This one wasn't as bad, IMO. But yeah, I know what you mean. I have a weak stomach when it comes to that faces of death stuff.

Originally posted by Satyr

Are you implying that the beheading was done by American henchmen


Wait that was you... (I am a newbie sorry)

The orange jumpsuit caught me off guard. (Al-queda has them around and handy??!!!)
Also it looks like all the exocutioners are wearing sneakers and are fit trim individuals under their outfits. (hmmm that dosn't sound like average terrorist garb or build)

Again I dont know i just dont know, but the timing seems fortuitous...

I could see this building intense hatred and outrage on both sides...giving vailidity for a draft...for justification for ratcheted up military force and actions....and IF the govt was behind 911 wouldn't this be a catalyst for another 911 type event?? (Of course they bombed chicago or wherever else..just look at this video and see how barbaric they are)

[Edited on 12-5-2004 by ab2tw]

I just saw the video in its entirety. I can definitely say it was chilling. The stills do not do the actual act justice. To hear that guy scream wildly while they chant "Allah Akbar" as the guy severed his head was scary.

But, it is strange that the guy was wearing an orange jumpsuit.

Interesting information, ab2tw. I ran a search and it's true that his family is claiming he (Nick Berg) was detained by U.S. forces in March/April. They eventually released him a couple of weeks later.

I haven't watched the video and I'm not planning to.

This video comes at a strange time.

[Edited on 5/12/2004 by Bangin]

I'm sure the execution wasn't staged or faked (it definitely looks very real (too real)), but yeah, there are a couple of problems with it for all you conspiracy nuts.

First off, though it's claimed that the one who does the killing is Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, he was actually killed a few months ago. And I can't tell if he has an artificial leg, as al-Zarqawi has.

www.msnbc.msn.com...


AND, the American killed in the tape (and my heart goes out to the whole Berg family) was actually detained by the US almost up to the MOMENT he was captured by these terrorists.

www.reuters.com...;jsessionid=NZZPLQCDN0JEMCRBAEZSFEY?type=domesticNews&storyID=5110381

"The parents of Nick Berg, the American civilian beheaded in Iraq, said on Tuesday their son might be alive if he had not been held for nearly two weeks by Iraqi police and they were angry at the lack of information from the U.S. government about his detention.

Their congressman, Republican Rep. Jim Gerlach, said after visiting Berg's parents that they had been frustrated by lack of information from the U.S. government when Berg was detained without charge by Iraqi police from around March 24 until his release on April 6.

"Had he not been detained for so long it's quite possible he would have made it back to the U.S.," Gerlach said, adding that Berg had missed a plane flight because he was incarcerated ....

So there's definitely some strangeness going on, and everyone knows there's nothing better to energize and distract the U.S. public than ONE dead American.

And yet some in the military are denying that he was held.

www.boston.com...:.shtml

In this case, I tend to believe the guy's PARENTS and not some frickin government mouthpiece.

But interesting that they would deny it.

The timing of all this seems a little convenient is all, I don't know what to believe until I gather together more facts.



jako

Something else that struck me as unusual was the presence of the media (in fact it was the media that broke the news that the act was videoed and on the internet to the family) at the family's home to record their emotional outburst and pain.
We are witholding the additional prison photos why would'nt we withhold the video or take it off the net?

I am not saying that the govt is behind this. I just find this whole mess has interesting theories available for the scheming devious mind.

Think about this...those who are driving events behind the scences may WANT the US govt to topple and this is part of their efforts in doing so!!!

[Edited on 12-5-2004 by ab2tw]

At the most, this was staged by the US government as a Psy-Op.

At the very LEAST, this is being used by the Defense Department and Pentagon gleefully, since it takes off some of the luster of the Prisoner Abuse Scandal (I love how they call it abuse on some US networks, as opposed to what it is, TORTURE).

Again, everyone knows that the US public goes bananas over Americans killed by non-Americans. Wherever it is, for whatever reason.


Here's an article from before the beheading, when he was just "missing".

scrantontimes.com...

"When FBI agents arrived at the Berg's West Chester home on March 31, they were relieved to know their son was alive, but in jail. The agents questioned them about various details that only they and their son would know about.


Jerri Williams, spokeswoman for the Philadelphia FBI office, said the agency was "asked to interview the parents regarding Mr. Berg's purpose in Iraq."


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 in Iraq.


The next day, April 6, Nick Berg was released. He told his parents he had been riding in a taxi on March 24 when he was arrested by Iraqi officials at a checkpoint in Mosul. He told his parents he had not been mistreated.


Nick Berg said he would come home through Jordan, Turkey or Kuwait. But by then, hostilities in Iraq had escalated, and Michael Berg said they have not heard from their son since.


The Bergs have hounded the State Department, the FBI and the International Committee of the Red Cross, seeking information. Michael Berg said the State Department sent an official to Nick Berg's hotel, where an employee told the official they had not heard of him."



[Edited on 12-5-2004 by Jakomo]

Originally posted by Jakomo

At the most, this was staged by the US government as a Psy-Op.

At the very LEAST, this is being used by the Defense Department and Pentagon gleefully, since it takes off some of the luster of the Prisoner Abuse Scandal (I love how they call it abuse on some US networks, as opposed to what it is, TORTURE).

Torture? How quickly you forget 9/11 and the torture those people in the collapsing buildings felt as they went down and were pinned under tons of rubble...how quickly you forget the families of the dead and their emotional torture. Sure you'll say you remember and respect their pain and blah blah blah but honestly anybody who can stand and state with a straight face and say that what those Iraqi soldiers were "tortured" has no idea what torture is and has never had a chance to see the American bodies hanging from a bridge upside down, burned beyond recognition. You probably didn't hear about how their dead charred bodies were beaten and spit on and dragged through the streets.

I don't condone what the U.S. Military allowed concerning those prisoners and it disgusts me but I was far far more disgusted with the Iraqi radicals tactics long before those pictures were released.

Some of you fail to see the good that is being done in Iraq...some of you are too wrapped up in your paranoid conspiracy riddled worlds to see the kind of good that's being done.

Now this video comes out and instead of mourning a mans lost life some of you sit like armchair politicians and bluster on orange suits and gym shoes. I find it amazing that the U.S. would go through the trouble in making the film only to allow enough mistakes for some of the shut-in's over at ATS to spot the propaganda.

Yeah it's being used to blame evil on the Iragi terrorists, no doubt. But how much better are we to use this death as our own opportunity to blame the evil on the U.S.?

Very intersting! That would explain why the guy told us who he is, yet needs to wear a mask, wouldn't it? Man...the plot thickens.

I would not equate torture with 911 only because I think that torture would be a prolonged pain type of situation.
Apparently Mr. Bergs torture was relativly brief on the video.

Yes what was done to the peole who were burnt up and hung is a bit different that the prison events.

Again I am not saying that the US govt did this. I am considering the pssibilities.
Again I chose to believe that our govt overall has our best interests in mind and yes different people are going to do a better or worse job of making the types of decisions Mr. Bush is forced to make on a day-to-day basis.

(You think your job is stressful?? before you jump all over Bush as an imbicile and idiot consider for a few minutes the type of stress he is faced with especially if he is trying to do his best)

If someone/s acting on behalf of the US did this deed do you really think Mr. Bush thought it up or even ok'd it??

Do you really think that all of the troops over there right now would behave like the ones in the prison photos??

ahhh now I am straying off topic. Please I am not trying to rant or flame I am just throwing these considerations out there.

Originally posted by Satyr
Very intersting! That would explain why the guy told us who he is, yet needs to wear a mask, wouldn't it? Man...the plot thickens.

Are you being sarcastic??

How do I become a scholar as opposed to a member??
better yet could I be a "student and a drinker of wine" ?
Quote from one of my favorite autohrs.

You are right btw...Mr Al Zawilli..(whatever) has appeared on video before. Wouldn't it be more compelling to see the leader of your organization perform such an act if you were a sleeper or terrorist or whatever??
I am not any of those so I don't know buit like you said..the plot does thicken...

Originally posted by ab2tw
Are you being sarcastic??

How do I become a scholar as opposed to a member??
better yet could I be a "student and a drinker of wine" ?
Quote from one of my favorite autohrs.

Satyr wasn't being sarcastic. You can become a scholar by joining the research team, I believe.

Originally posted by ab2tw
Are you being sarcastic??

Not at all! Quite sincere, actually.

How do I become a scholar as opposed to a member??

I participated in the Titor research project awhile back.