After his initial trip to Iraq, Nick Berg was back in Pennsylvania, left again for Iraq on March 14 believing he had some work lined up, and had promised to be back in Pennsylvania by March 30 for a friend's wedding! No body pops back and forth between Iraq and the U.S., balancing odd jobs there and social engagements here. I can't imagine the two weeks' work would even cover the airfare, never mind compensate for the actual work, lousy living conditions, and huge risk to life and limb.
None of this makes one iota of sense. Add in the ANSWER-member Dad, and the fact that U.S. authorities in Iraq were obviously perplexed by Nick and his activities, and the presumably Jewish aunt married to a presumably Muslim Iraqi living in Iraq, and the whole thing just doesn't hold together. He was definitely up to something more than kicking around Iraq looking for free-lance work.
It certainly looks like he was some kind of go between.
I can see someone just going someplace for the adventure of it ---- but with the new information about the college friend using his password and the father's remarks lately it is starting to look like something else --- plus we were getting that the victim was just there to work -- make money, and then on the other hand that he was "helping" Iraq --- an idealist.
I'm surprised his family didn't claim he had to look for work in Iraq because he was suffering in America under Bush's "jobless recovery." I guess Berg just couldn't believe we really had the best economic numbers in 20 years and had to go to Iraq for a job...beats a backpacking trip through Europe I guess. Oh, I forgot, he was there to visit an uncle-in-law. Whatever.