Posted on 05/13/2004 12:15:02 AM PDT by RonDog
Edited on 05/26/2004 5:21:47 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
May 13, 2004 -- The FBI warned the young American beheaded by terrorists to leave Iraq because new violence was sweeping the country, U.S. officials revealed yesterday.
But Nick Berg, 26, turned down a State Department offer to fly him home, the officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
U.S. Officials Failed to Protect Slain Civilian (Nick Berg), Family Says
New York Times ^ | May 13, 04 | James Risen
Posted on 05/12/2004 9:56:32 PM PDT by churchillbuff
The family of Nicholas E. Berg challenged American military officials on Wednesday, insisting that the man beheaded by Islamic terrorists in Iraq had earlier been in the custody of federal officials who should have done more to protect him.
Mr. Berg's brother, David, emerged from the family's split-level house in this Philadelphia suburb with a four-page e-mail message that he said his younger brother, Nicholas, had sent hours after being freed on April 6 from a jail in Mosul, Iraq.
The Iraqi police took Nicholas Berg, 26, into custody on March 24 and held him in a jail that he described in the message as managed by Iraqis with oversight from United States Military Police forces. He wrote that federal agents had questioned his reasons for being in Iraq, whether he had ever built a pipe bomb or had been in Iran.
"They can detain him and deny him his basic civil rights of a lawyer, a phone call or even a charge for 13 days, but they can't get him" on a plane, David Berg said.
Apparently in a response to the accusations that the actions of the military in Iraq exposed their son to worsening danger, the F.B.I. released a statement saying that Nicholas Berg had not heeded warnings and that he had declined assistance in leaving Iraq.
The conflicting accounts continued to swirl around Mr. Berg's detention and release. In Baghdad, a senior adviser for the Coalition Provisional Authority, Dan Senor, repeated that Mr. Berg had never been in military custody.
"My understanding," Mr. Senor said of the Iraqi police, "is that they suspected that he was involved/engaged in suspicious activities. U.S. authorities were notified. The F.B.I. visited with Mr. Berg on three occasions when he was in Iraqi police detention and determined that he was not involved with any criminal or terrorist activities. Mr. Berg was released on April 6, and it is my understanding he was advised to leave the country."
That position prompted the family's decision to read Mr. Berg's e-mail message to The New York Times. In it, he described the presence of American military police officers, as well as the federal agents' visits, to the Mosul jail.
"The Iraqi police is mentioned frequently, which is, of course, absurd, because there is no Iraqi government right now," David Berg said. "And if you think about it, to be detained by the Iraqi police without the U.S. government's knowing would be tantamount to kidnapping."
Officials did acknowledge the presence of the military police at the jail but said their sole function was to "monitor his treatment."
To the family, the oversight question is paramount because they say not only that his detention was unlawful, but also that it further threatened his safety. The Bergs have said the detention prevented him from leaving Iraq before the violence grew in Baghdad and Falluja.
The F.B.I. statement, though, said that coalition authorities had offered "to facilitate his safe passage out of Iraq," but that Mr. Berg refused their help.
Recalling his brother's independent personality, David Berg said such a refusal would not surprise his family, although he said he had no way of knowing whether Nicholas Berg had declined help. He had traveled to Iraq, in part, to generate business for his fledgling telecommunications company, which specializes in servicing radio towers. After an earlier visit, Mr. Berg returned to Iraq on March 14.
In the message dated April 6, addressed to his parents, brother and sister, Mr. Berg described the 13 days that he spent in the Shirdta Iraqiyah station near Mosul, an Iraqi detention center where, he said, the United States Military Police supervised and trained the Iraqi officers.
"The M.P.'s were a little surprised to see an American in civilian clothing, and I think out of formality and boredom they decided to do a background check, which involved C.I.D.," he wrote, referring to the Army Criminal Investigation Division.
The next morning, Mr. Berg described F.B.I. agents' questioning as amicable, but pointed. Among the questions asked, he wrote, were: "Why was I in Iraq? Did I ever make a pipe bomb? Why was I in Iran?"
He conjectured that their questions arose from some Farsi literature and a book about Iran that he had. Mr. Berg wrote that after four days he was transferred to a cellblock that included prisoners charged with petty offenses and suspected "war criminals."
"Word had spread due to the presence of certain items amongst my stuff that I was Israeli," Mr. Berg wrote. "So I felt a bit like Arlo Guthrie walking into a jail full of mother rapers and father stabbers as an accused litterbug..."
CLICK HERE for the rest of that thread
Our military fly in and out of there all the time. Yes, nobody sleeps during departures or arrivals, but they get in and out. So did President Bush, Condi and Rummy, right? Berg, perhaps, did not have the best instincts for survival.
Sure it wasn't a good idea for him to be going around a dangerous country by himself, but there is a difference where blame fully lies. I don't think the story should be implying blame on him.
Imagine this headline: Central Park Jogger had been advised not to go jogging by herself at night.
I agree. I'm really sorry that this kid lost his life, and especially the way that it was ended, but he made some bad choices and it ended up costing him his life. The odds of his getting out safely were probably better flying out via military junket than going on his own on the ground. It was common knowledge that every civilian in Iraq was "fair game" to the terrorists. So many had already been kidnapped and some murdered. After those four U.S. civilians were burned, dragged through the streets, and hung up like a piece of beef, you can bet your sweet ass I'd take my chance taking a flight out...and I hate to fly. If I had my choice of dying in a plane/helicopter or dying at the hands of a terrorist, I'll take death by RPG. At least death in an RPG attack would more than likely be instantaneous, and I wouldn't have to go through days or weeks of hell and become a pawn in the hands of the American news media.
Berg's parents are wrong to blame the President and the military. Their son was offered a ride and he turned it down. The murderers are to blame for their son's death, and they need to accept the fact that their son's bad decision helped put himself into the hands of those that would do him harm.
Berg did some really good things in his life, and I have to give him credit for going where most Americans wouldn't go, but sometimes, in dangerous situations, we tend to let our guard down. All it takes is that one time to become a victim.
I see a guy who ignored all alerts and advice anyone gave him. Dad is against Bush so Nick sets up electronics for the RNC in 2000. Dad is against war so sonny boy decides to go on an adventure into a war zone. Before he left, the State Dept. or some official told him it was dangerous and not to go but he takes off anyway and to prove to everyone he goes ALONE. He takes a Jewish "fringed religious cloth" with him to a country that hates Jews and Dad wonders that he may or may not have been wearing it out in public. He doesn't abide with the safe zone areas but hangs out at night with the locals which concerned his friends back at the hotel in Baghdad. His emails show he had a grand time jaunting out to the Syrian border and taking in the sights around a country in turmoil. The Iraqi police requests he go home and tells friends what a lark his detainment was. The FBI requests he go home. The US military requests he go home and offers to buy him a plane ticket. He refuses all. Either this whole incident is a sham or Nick had a serious problem with authority and was sorely lacking in basic common sense.
And you'd be there within the first 10 posts stating how stupid she was and that everyone knows not to go jogging in CP at night much less by herself. Nick was playing a dangerous game and he lost. Anyone who laughs off 13 days in an Iraqi jail sends up red flags. No, he didn't deserve to die, but he really had no business over there.
At the time that I wrote that, I was referring specifically to the route of departure he chose, not the other risks he took. Of course, if I'd known then what I know now about just how many risks he took, I would never have focused on his route of departure. I've learned enough since then to see that he was one heck of a risk taker.
bovine excrement
What are you talking about? Have you even read the thread? Did you notice when the comment was posted, and what has been posted since then?
I think it is just that it is suspicious as to why he wouldn't leave...esp. with the US government asking/telling him to. It just doesn't make sense. If he wanted just to work in Iraq, why didn't he apply for a job with one of the companies already over there and look for other work in his spare time. To just wake up one day and decide to fly over to Iraq is odd, don't you agree?
Yeah, hitchhiking alone to Kuwait sounds like a wiser choice.
Gimme a break.
Interesting that you mention that.
Imagine yourself waking up one day and deciding you wanted to go to Iraq. Who do you call? Your travel agent? Are there regular tourist or commercial flights to friggin' IRAQ? And finally, if you managed to line up a flight from Philly International to Baghdad, how much would the airfare be? I'm betting they don't have red-eyes.
http://www.cpa-iraq.org
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