Berg beheading: No way, say medical experts

Asia Times ^ | May 22, 2004 | Ritt Goldstein

[Dr. Marten]

Berg beheading: No way, say medical experts
By Ritt Goldstein

American businessman Nicholas Berg's body was found on May 8 near a Baghdad overpass; a video of his supposed decapitation death by knife appeared on an alleged al-Qaeda-linked website (www.al-ansar.biz) on May 11. But according to what both a leading surgical authority and a noted forensic death expert separately told Asia Times Online, the video depicting the decapitation appears to have been staged.

"I certainly would need to be convinced it [the decapitation video] was authentic," Dr John Simpson, executive director for surgical affairs at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, said from New Zealand. Echoing Dr Simpson's criticism, when this journalist asked forensic death expert Jon Nordby, PhD and fellow of the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators, whether he believed the Berg decapitation video had been "staged", Nordby replied: "Yes, I think that's the best explanation of it."

Questions of when the video's footage was taken, and the time elapsed between the shooting of the video's segments, were raised by both experts, reflecting a portion of the broader and ongoing video controversy. Nordby, speaking to Asia Times Online from Washington state, noted: "We don't know how much time wasn't filmed," adding that "there's no way of knowing whether ... footage is contemporaneous with the footage that follows".

While the circumstances surrounding both the video and Nick Berg's last days have been the source of substantive speculation, both Simpson and Nordby perceived it as highly probable that Berg had died some time prior to his decapitation. A factor in this was an apparent lack of the "massive" arterial bleeding such an act initiates.

"I would have thought that all the people in the vicinity would have been covered in blood, in a matter of seconds ... if it was genuine," said Simpson. Notably, the act's perpetrators appeared far from so. And separately Nordby observed: "I think that by the time they're ... on his head, he's already dead."

Providing another basis for their findings, in the course of such an assault, an individual's autonomic nervous system would react, typically doing so strongly, with the body shaking and jerking accordingly. And while Nordby noted that "they rotated and moved the head", shifting vertebrae that should have initiated such actions, Simpson said he "certainly didn't perceive any movements at all" in response to such efforts.

During the period when Berg's captors filmed the decapitation sequence, circumstances indicate that he had already been dead "a quite uncertain length of time, but more than ... however long the beheading took", Simpson stated. Both Simpson and Nordby also noted the difficulty in providing analysis based on the video, the inherent limitations presented by this. But both also felt that Berg had seemed drugged.

A particularly significant point in the video sequence occurred as Berg's captors attacked him, bringing the supposedly fatal knife to bear. "The way that they pulled him over, they could have used a dummy at that point," reflected Simpson regarding what the video portrayed. Separately, Nordby said Berg does not "appear to register any sort of surprise or any change in his facial expression when he's grabbed and twisted over, and they start to bring this weapon into use".

Subsequently, Nordby said it was likely that the filming sequence was manipulated at the point immediately preceding this, allowing Berg's corpse to be used for the decapitation sequence. Nordby also emphasized that the video "raises more questions than it answers", with the most fundamental questions of "who are you, and how did you die", being impossible to answer from it. But broad speculation exists regarding a number of factors surrounding both Berg's death and the video, and its timing in regard to revelations of US prison atrocities.

In a May 13 article, the Arabic newsgroup Aljazeera reported that a Dubai-based Reuters journalist first broke the story, "but while Fox News, CNN and the BBC" were able to secure the video from the "Arabic-only website" that hosted it, Aljazeera was unable to locate it. And also on May 13, the Associated Press (AP) reported that the US Central Intelligence Agency had determined that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was the individual who beheaded Berg.

Since Secretary of State Colin Powell's United Nations presentation of February 5, 2003, al-Zarqawi has been portrayed as the single most dangerous element facing the Bush administration's "war on terror". Powell's UN presentation has since been widely accepted as empty; nevertheless, al-Zarqawi appears to have surpassed even Osama bin Laden as the administration's No 1 terror target. And on May 15, Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt, the Coalition Provisional Authority's chief Iraq military spokesman, declared that al-Zarqawi will be eventually caught, though that may prove particularly difficult.

On March 4, Brigadier-General David Rodriguez of the Joint Chiefs of staff revealed that the Pentagon didn't have "direct evidence of whether he's [al-Zarqawi] alive or dead", providing commentary on the nature of prior "evidence" linking al-Zarqawi to attacks and bombings. But that same day, AP reported that an Iraqi resistance group claimed al-Zarqawi had been killed the April prior in the US bombing of northern Iraq.

Speaking off the record, intelligence community sources have previously said they believe it "very likely" that al-Zarqawi is indeed long dead. Such a fact makes al-Zarqawi's alleged killing of Berg difficult to reconcile, and there has been broad speculation that blaming al-Zarqawi is an administration ploy. Further anomalies surrounding Berg's death have fueled added speculation.

According to e-mails sent from a US consular officer in Baghdad, Beth Payne, to the Berg family, Nick Berg was being held in Iraq "by the US military in Mosul". A May 13 AP report notes that a US State Department spokesperson subsequently said this was untrue, an error, and that Berg was being held by Iraqi authorities. But another May 13 AP report quoted "police chief Major-General Mohammed Khair al-Barhawi" as claiming that reports of Iraqi police having held Berg were "baseless".

And Berg is seen on the beheading videotape in what appears to be US military prison-issue clothing, sitting in what appears to be a US military-type white chair, virtually identical to those photographed as used at Abu Ghraib prison. However, the taking of hostages has occurred in the region, and beheadings are not unheard of.

According to a February 2003 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), on September 23, 2001, radical Islamists captured a group of 25 Kurdish fighters in the Iraqi village of Kheli Hama. "Some prisoners' throats had been slit, while others had been beheaded," HRW reported, noting that the television station KurdSat had broadcast pictures of the dead that September 26. The report also noted that a videotape "apparently filmed" by those committing the atrocities had been found.

The strict Islamist community in Iraq denied that the acts were committed by their people, stating that the incident was fabricated.

Additional reports of beheadings also exist, with the victims usually noted as killed with a bullet before the beheading occurs. But HRW's report also raised an issue that the Berg video's makers, and Berg's father, both raised: prisoner exchange.

HRW noted that Iraq's radical Islamists did pursue exchanges of captives, and the Berg video specifically noted that his captors claimed they were killing him as their attempts to exchange Berg had been rebuffed by US authorities. Berg's father, Michael, has pressed the administration of US President George W Bush as regards what the facts of this allegation are, with the administration denying any knowledge that such a trade was offered. And added questions still exist.

Because Iraq's radical Islamists speak in a particular manner, and live by a closely proscribed code, apparent contradictions between these ways and the way Berg's captors appeared has generated speculation. Some observers have speculated on the possibility that the individuals weren't native Arabic speakers. Conversely, it is reported that in Saudi Arabia, where Sharia law allows for beheadings in cases of severe crimes, the condemned is heavily drugged with tranquilizers prior to the execution, reportedly leaving them in a state similar to that which Berg appeared in during parts of the video.

Again, Nordby emphasized that the video "raises more questions than it answers".

Ritt Goldstein is an American investigative political journalist based in Stockholm. His work has appeared in broadsheets such as Australia's Sydney Morning Herald, Spain's El Mundo and Denmark's Politiken, as well as with the Inter Press Service (IPS), a global news agency.

[cvq3842]

Grisly, but the conclusions the article reaches sure sound plausible to me.

[Bahbah]

I thought you might like to see this.

[petercooper]

Staged or not, these animals cut his head off.

[mdmathis6]

Whether or not there was a staging of the video...Berg is dead and he was found decapitated...so what is the point of all the speculation...the tape might habeen dressed up for political purposes...but Berg is still dead and still decapitated. Nobody is saying they found drugs or bullets in his system when his body was presumably exhumed are they?

[2banana]

So it is all OK? - They killed him before they cut off his head?

[sticker]

Not bad till the last few lines, then there should have been a "camel humper apologist" warning. The only code those creatures live by is death to anyone that doesn't surrender to islam

[Mister Baredog]

U.S.oldiers found his decapitated body before the video showed up. His father stated that they knew Nick had been decapitated before the video showed up. The rest is just blather, unless someone thinks he's still alive.

Is this another Bush Lie?????????Give me a break!!!!!!

[Bahbah]

"I think that by the time they're ... on his head, he's already dead."

Oh, well, that's ok then, no biggie. BTW, is the missing word "sawing?"

[Baynative]

Well now. I guess he's not as dead as before and the murder will no longer be considered a violent slaughter. It certainly doesn't measure up to something like, say -Prisoner Abuse.

Now, in the spirit of investigative journalism we can dwell on time lapse photograpy, editing and what is, IS. But certainly we must put the killing of an innocent civilian behind us.

[Iron Matron]

" . . .Speaking off the record . . ."

Of course any legitimate opinion is off the record - how conveinant for aploogists and terrorists supporters.

Dr. Simpson, director of surgical affairs huh? I guess he knows a lot about film making as well? Good at special effects?

This story IS NOT plausable. Not even a little.

[chasman89031]

This article fails to mention the expert's further observations that the Holocast never occurred and the moon landing was faked.

[LiteKeeper]

Bottom Line: Nick is headless...and this is THE atrocity the world should be focusing on, not Abu Gharib!

[travelnurse]

Those that saw the video will testify that there was plenty of blood gushing out so this discredits the doctor's theory.

[kjam22]

I wonder if the origianl tapes before editing have shots of the bad guys without their hoods? If someone were in posession of the original tape, it might be possible to accruately identify the bad guys. Maybe that's how they have deicded that the 4 they have detained were involved in this?

I agree..... either way they killed him and cut off his head.

[TomGuy]

This article is rationalizing minutia.

Berg was alive at the start of the tape. He was dead and beheaded by the end of the tape.

They murdered him.

[Sacajaweau]

They say: "A picture is worth a thousand words".

But we deal with "International" standards and things have changed: A picture of an "unknown" male with panties on his head is worth a million words.

A picture of hundreds of Kurds, men, women and children, lying motionless from "gassing" is worth a hundred words.

What's wrong with these pictures!!

[StopThePress]

The only thing missing from this article is Free Republic's involvement with the CIA, the "enemy list" and how the VRWC was able to transmit decoder instructions sending Mr. Berg to Iraq in the first place.

What gives?

[OXENinFLA]

Soooooooooooo The FACT that Nick's decapatated body was found means NOTHING to them, OK I got it now.

[PISANO]

This article is Babs Shiite [BS]!!

[OXENinFLA]

decapatated = decapitated

[Nonstatist]

Grisly, but the conclusions the article reaches sure sound plausible to me.

Which conclusions are those? That the US or its allies had him beheaded? Give me a break.

[MarkL]

Gee... I guess that his decapitated body was faked too.

Those islamists! What jokers!

Mark

[oolatec]

We should forgive these bastards... they were nice and killed him before they sawed his head off. /sarcasm

[plain talk]

Another point to analyze is the audio. Are the audio screams likely to be of Berg's beheading? Is there evidence the audio was spiced on (another inconsistency since the screams start before the beheading)? This is worst part of the experience of watching the Berg video anyway.

[Dr. Marten]

Actually, I watched the video with my roommate who happens to be a mortician and he was the first one to point out the lack of gushing blood.

While it does not change the fact that they murdered him, I do believe it is highly possible that he was in fact dead BEFORE they sawed his head off.

[Dog Anchor]

So it is all OK? - They killed him before they cut off his head...................

They didn't kill him before they killed him.

[Barney Gumble]

The conclusions are ambigious at best. The result is that he was killed.

[TigersEye]

I (unfortunately) watched two videos of Mooslems beheading hapless victims last year. (Both were Russian soldiers I believe.) There wasn't much blood splatter or flow in those either.

[Kozak]

I feel SOOOO much better now. They only mutilated him AFTER they murdered him. I take back all the nasty things I've said about those Islomanazi pigs. After all it's not like they did something unforgivable like putting panties on his head, or forced him touch his winkie around an infidel female. /sarcasm

We are clinically insane. We as a society seem incapable of dealing with the reality of who and what we are at war with.

[MarMema]

And there is no doubt that those were real. I am thinking they need to see more videos before they are experts. I personally think the Berg beheading was a real one on video and whatever else might be added in is possible - he was drugged or there was a stop and start in the middle ( perhaps he convinced them to talk about something before they continued?).

[normy]

THAT is what this article is about. Berg wearing U.S. prison garb, hooded men not native Arabic speakers, white chair, white room. Conclusion he is making is either the U.S had a hand in the beheading or they found his body dead, cleaned it up and chopped off his head to stir up American emotion and draw away from the prison abuse.

These liberals are sick puppies.

[Joe Driscoll]

Jon Nordby, PhD and fellow of the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators

Not according to their web site
Jon Nordby

Although he does write books Here

[TheCrusader]

Apparently, finding his headless body isn't conclusive evidence that Nick Berg was beheaded.

[Trampled by Lambs]

I've been suprised that so far, we haven't heard someone claim that the beheading was staged by the US to counter balance the Iraqi prisoner abuse nonsense..

At least, I haven't heard that one yet....

[Protagoras]

Those that saw the video will testify that there was plenty of blood gushing out so this discredits the doctor's theory.

I saw it and as soon as I saw it I came to the same conclusion as the doctor. None of it matters however, he got his head cut off, that much is sure.

[1Old Pro]

They slit his throat and then his head was cut off.

[TigersEye]

And there is no doubt that those were real.

No doubt at all. I don't want to watch the Berg video because those two are still difficult to think about. It's not a Hollywood production. The real thing doesn't look like what you might expect.

[andy58-in-nh]

We are clinically insane. We as a society seem incapable of dealing with the reality of who and what we are at war with.

That is the most cogent summary of our society's collective mental state that I have read in a long, long time. Of course, there is no "collective" consciousness, only the sum of many thought processes. Unfortunately (for all of us), many American people seem to have voluntarily suspended their reasoning abilities when it comes to the War on Terror. Denial, whether born of fear or anger or stupidity, is a psychological process that renders a person helpless to deal with reality. In order to face what is certainly coming - and yes, it is coming - we will need as many people as possible not behving like the proverbial Ostrich.

[steplock]

who actually really cares that it took them an hour to MURDER and CHOP HIS HEAD OFF or it took them 2 minutes to MURDER and CHOP HIS HEAD OFF?

He is still MURDERED - and still has his HEAD CHOPPED OFF!

This microscopic picking apart a video is simply an attempt to change the act from COLD-BLOODED MURDER to only a scene from a movie!

.... and the 'conservatives' here have been thoroughly indoctrinated by hollywood and are all "movie critics"...

[nmh]

Hardly "staged". A mna bound had no chance. Those screams were REAL and LIVE. His body shook as they were sawing away. What a bunch of idiots not to recognize the OBVIOUS.

[BSunday]

The picture with him kneeling with the terrorists standing behind him looks so fake. Look at his neck.

[null and void]

They didn't kill him before they killed him.

They actually voted to kill him before they voted not to.

(or something like that)...

[PigRigger]

"While it does not change the fact that they murdered him, I do believe it is highly possible that he was in fact dead BEFORE they sawed his head off."

Or possibly drugged to a point of near death. I believe it was reported that Daniel Pearl was offered sedatives before he had his head removed. He supposedly refused them.

However, whether he was dead or not changes nothing - he was murdered.

[Blzbba]

"Those that saw the video will testify that there was plenty of blood gushing out so this discredits the doctor's theory."


Actually, I saw the video and there is no blood at all when they hold up his supposedly-freshly-beheaded head. Not even a drop. No comments or other opinions by me, as the guy was still murdered..but medically, the doc may have a point.

I think they killed him (bullet to the head?) and beheaded him long after he died, which would explain the lack of blood.

[arkady_renko]

DR Simpson is a breast surgeon who is also employed by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons as Executive Director for Surgical Affairs (NZ). He is also contracted to the Medical Council of New Zealand as Professional Standards Co-ordinator.

A_R

[MineralMan]

If this is true, I'll be very glad. If Berg was dead when he was beheaded, he did not have to endure the horrible process.

That's not to say that the beheading was not the act of hugely evil people. It's just that his death may well have been less horrible for him.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Those that saw the video will testify that there was plenty of blood gushing out so this discredits the doctor's theory.

Saw it and the pool of blood appear and grow on the floor.
But more people will read this one article in the local paper than will ever see the video world-wide. So for most people it will not be discredited.

[mdmathis6]

I went and saw the grainy video again...you can see a pool of blood to the right of the victim as they were cutting. The terrorists were wearing dark clothing would show blood very well!

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Sounds like these dudes have been to lots of beheadings ;-)