salon.com contacts DFU over FR's role in murder of Nick Berg by Islamofascist Terrorist b*st*rds

email from salon.com reporter | 5-12-04 | dfu

[doug from upland]

(Note to Admin Moderator: if trolls join this thread to disrupt it or cause problems for FR, please immediately remove stupid, foolish, numbskull, airheaded, threatening, nonsensical comments.)

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Apparently, I am in the middle of a controversy regarding the brutal murder of Nick Berg by the Islamofascist terrorist b*st*rds.

I received the following FReepmail today from a salon.com reporter and spoke to him off the record. I will either call him back on the record or he can use my comments here on the record.

Salon.com inquiry, your post on the "enemies list"
From (redacted) | 05/12/2004 11:45:13 AM PDT read

Doug,

Hello. My name is (redacted), and I'm a reporter at Salon.com. On March 7, you posted a list of signatories to an ANSWER protest; that list, which is now being discussed by a few left-leaning bloggers, includes the name of "Michael S. Berg," who is the father of Nick Berg, the man beheaded in Iraq.

It seems as if you just posted a copy of the list from the ANSWER site, but the trouble is, your list appears much longer than the one on their page. Michael Berg's name -- and many others -- is not on their page.

So I wonder if you can tell me where you got your list -- have you any idea why yours is longer than the one they have?

I also wonder what you think about the fact that you named these people enemies; do you really think they're enemies? Some people on left-leaning blogs are floating the theory that Nick Berg was detained or singled out by U.S. authorities in Iraq because of the list you posted. I wonder what you think of that idea?

I'm not trying to attack you; I'm a reporter trying to get to the bottom of this story, and it'd be great to get your input. Can you e-mail or call, or let me know where to reach you? Thanks so much.

--(redacted)
Reporter, Salon.com (phone number redacted)

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NOTE: my first suggestion was to tell the report to ask ANSWER why many of the names have been removed from that original post.

Here is my post from a few months ago -- HERE IS THE ENEMY -- they have posted their names

Here is the link for the following excerpt on an FR thread -- Beheaded Man's Firm Was On Right-Wing 'Enemies' List

Original source -- original article by Fintan Dunne

Beheaded Man's Firm Was On Right-Wing 'Enemies' List
Breakfornews.com ^ | May 12, 2004 | Fintan Dunne
Posted on 05/12/2004 12:59:00 PM PDT by Tarantulas
Beheaded Man's Firm Was On Right-Wing 'Enemies' List

The family firm of beheaded American Nick Berg, was named by a conservative website in a list of 'enemies' of the Iraq occupation. That could explain his arrest by Iraqi police --a detention which fatally delayed his planned return from Iraq and may have led directly to his death.

Nick Berg, 26 disappeared into incommunicado detention after his arrest by Iraqi police in March, 2004. He vanished again after his release 13 days later. His body was found last Saturday in Baghdad, and a video of his beheading --supposedly by a radical Islamic group-- was posted on the Internet on Tuesday.

The official story of his gruesome murder has many dubious aspects, not least the real reason why Iraqi police detained the young man at a checkpoint. New research by BreakForNews has uncovered a plausible explanation.

The FreeRepublic.com web site and forum has a reputation for right-wing views, often fanatical Republican and relentless pro-war activism.

On 7th March, 2004, just three weeks before the first anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, an 'enemies' list of anti-war groups and individuals was posted on the Free Republic forum.

It began: "Here you are, FReepers. Here is the enemy."

The list had been copied from publicly available endorsements of a call to action for an imminent anniversary antiwar protest on 20th March, 2004. The protest was being organized under the banner of the A.N.S.W.E.R Coalition (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism).

Among those listed as having endorsed the call to action was this entry: "Michael S. Berg, Teacher, Prometheus Methods Tower Service, Inc."

That's Nick Berg's father, Michael who acts as business manager for his son in their family radio communications firm, Prometheus Methods Tower Service.

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Here is my immediate reaction --- what is the color of the sky in the fantasy world which Fintan Dunne calls home?

I can't wait for her next story. Let's set the scenario. Two guys are driving to the airport. Their upper radiator hose bursts, the car overheats, and they miss their flight. They get to the airport a few hours late and are able to catch the next plane. The plane crashes. Fintan Dunne headline: Pep Boys Implicated in Death of Innocent Travelers. If anyone could conceive such twisted logic, it would be Ms. Dunne. Without a defective radiator hose, they would have made it to the airport on time. Without a defective radiator hose they would not have been on the flight where the shoebomber detonated his loafers in the seat just behind the wing.

Do we have an official "enemies list"? If so, what do we do to them? Who is keeping track?

I will let you make some comments before I make additional on the record comments. Please don't be crazy. Think through your argument carefully. Some of this may appear on salon.com and we can perhaps help them get up to about 2 cents per share.

[alisasny]

Miz even more serious. .....what are our american reporters and democrat critters smokin"?

[tinamina]

Nobody looked for the name of Michael Berg on this list until AFTER the video of Nick Berg's death, and as I recall, it only came up because of speculation that he may have been involved in anti-war activity, which would have been ironic.
You published the list on FR so that people could see who were signatories to the ANSWER propaganda. Since ANSWER is an obvious communist organization, wouldn't communists naturally be qualified as enemies of America? Of course many of these people may just be "useful fools" and unaware that the organization is indeed communist.

[BradyLS]

I am at a loss to connect the dots they try to connect...If anything,their assertion should be it would have protected him, even though Nick was not a part of that list.

Great point! If the terrorists knew that Nick's dad is actively protesting AGAINST the war, it makes zero-sense to kill HIS kid. He's already carrying their water!

[BradyLS]

And they managed to FIND a SON of one of them in Iraq. And the MURDERED him there. Because his father was ...... against the war. Is that believable to anyone?NO!

[Vigilantcitizen]

I'm no lawyer, but claiming a post on FR.com contributed to Berg's death seems like slander and defamation of character to me.

[Zeppo]

It makes about as much sense as somebody noting that some of the pictures of the Iraqi prison "torture" were linked to in various posts on FR, and therefore FR is complicit in generating anger throughout the Arab world, and is therefore to blame for Berg's murder. Oh, wait, weren't some of the photos linked to from Salon.com? Then, isn't Salon.com responsible for Berg's murder?

It's actually much more plausible that, having seen the ANSWER list published on FR, an agent-provocateur from DU or Salon.com or similar arranged for Berg to be murdered so that he could then try to pin the blame on FR.

[Cultural Jihad]

Does the reporter from salon seriously think that Iraqi policemen are reading posts on FreeRepublic? Certainly there would be an infinitely greater chance of them reading amateur essays here on FR than the professional scribblings on salon.

[tpaine]

"I will let you make some comments before I make additional on the record comments."
-Doug-

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Seems like a fairly simple issue..

-- What possible motive could you have had for adding Bergs name etc, to the list you originally cut/pasted & posted at FR back in March?

[aculeus]

Doug, the only other "Fintan" I've heard of is an Irishman. He's another lefty who writes for the Irish Times.

I'm pinging my favorite colleen for her input.

Per Google:

Granta: Fintan O'Toole... Fintan O'Toole. Fintan O’Toole was born in Dublin in 1958. He has been a columnist and critic with the Irish Times since 1988 and ... www.granta.com/authors/107 - 12k - Cached - Similar pages

[alisasny]

The issue has nothing to do with FR or Salon but rather that Michael Berg signed an anti war list despite the fact that his own son disagreed with him.

THAT IS ALL AND IT and to make anything other is a shame.

[monkeywrench]

In light of the redacted list, it's all the more plausible. Sad that this father's activities seem to have effected his own son, instead of just other people's.

[mdittmar]

Ask this brainiac who does the terrorist bidding,conservatives or liberals?(i.e.)kennedys' recent Senate floor idiocy.

This guys reasoning is so assbackwards it's hard to make sense of it.

[NicknamedBob]

"We are actually sharing oxygen with them."

This is not a matter of my personal choice. On another matter, however, what exactly is "pro-war activism," relentless or otherwise?

Could this be what we call "supporting the troops?"

[doug from upland]

JimRob got some hatemail:

"The family firm of beheaded American Nick Berg, was named by a conservative website in a list of 'enemies' of the Iraq occupation. That could explain his arrest by Iraqi police --a detention which fatally delayed his planned return from Iraq and may have led directly to his death. Hi you filthy scum sucking fascist pig. I'm an attorney who will be offering my services pro-bono to help Berg's family drag your ass through every civil court we can find jurisdiction in. Maybe you had better find a way to hide your assets, Robinson including the cheesy little American flag made in Mexico which is probably tied around the your car antenna. That will be the first thing we'll take so we can give it a good scrubbing and laundering since you have have touched it."

yourworstenenemy@hotmail.com

[backhoe]

They're yanking your chain.

I think TheDon has it right... nonetheless, I'm going to crosslink it- you never know where stuff like this will lead:

-The Berg Beheading- some links--

[Ron in Acreage]

The pigs that killed Berg clearly stated they killed Berg because of the treatment of the prisoners. Not because of a DFU post on FR. Michael Berg freely chose to sign his name to the anti-war ANSWER ad for the whole world to see. Wasn't this ad in major newspapers like the NY Times etc.? The terrorists favorite newsrag. Also the US offered to give him safe passage out of Iraq and he refused.

[McGavin999]

Oh, let me see how this works. In a country with 25 million people, with a war going on, where we can't even locate and round up all the foreign terrorists, we manage to hunt down Nick, who was PRO WAR, and as a result he's jailed. Yeah, that sounds plausible....NOT.

There are some pretty sick minds out there, but this one tops the cake.

Nick was killed because he was a lone American, traveling without security in a war zone.

[alisasny]

i am proud nick berg had his will and disagreed with his fathers politics...I am in a similar home as many of us at FR are.

The fact his father signed a list of hundreds had nothing to do with the sons death. Its quite simple.

[TruBluKentuckian]

I think the insinuation is much more sinister here...

I think what they are trying to say is that the list was posted here, read by "someone" in the government, then Nick Berg was detained in Iraq and it was discovered his father had signed the list. At that point I think they are claiming/going to claim that the U.S. (whatever agency you want to blame) had Nick Berg killed and staged it as a terrorist act, all because his father was named as an "enemy" here.

That's probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever typed.

[onyx]

Oh my.
The big bad laywer remains anonymous with a hot-mail addy!

LOL!