How the FReepers helped kill Nick Berg, according to his father.

[mistertrickster]

Went to hear Michael Berg last Friday when he was speaking at a local college.

Posted a brief account of this and was encourged to start a thread, so here it is:

Michael spoke eloquantly for about 90 minutes totally unscripted. A couple of points that stuck in my mind were that to some degree, the uber-conservative website, "The FreeRepublic" was indirectly responsible for Nick Berg's death.

It turns out that Michael Berg was asked by his son to be a manager for his company before he left for Iraq. The elder Berg attended an anti-war rally in Wash and signed up for e-mails from the organizers in which he listed his occupation as "Manager, Prometheus Communications Systems." The FReeps got ahold of this list and published the names and information on the internet under the title "Enemies of the Republic."

When Nick Berg was arrested on NO charges in Iraq and held for over two weeks by FBI and US military authorities, one of the reasons that they detained him was that he was affiliated with Prometheus Communications Systems, the same company that somehow was tied to anti-war activities in the US, thanks to the FReepers.

By the time that Nick Berg was finally released, the Abu Ghraib torture scandal had surfaced and the situation in Iraq had deteriorated to the point that any American became a target of Iraqi vengance. These same FReeps now often shadow Mr. Berg's public appearances with posters of his decapitated son under insulting and meanspirited headlines.

Despite what happened and still happens, Mr. Berg is adament that forgiveness is the only response. If he chooses revenge, he believes, then the revenge will never end. Revenge is why his son was killed in the first place.

The second thing that Mr. Berg's talk reinforced for me (although this wasn't one of Berg's points) was that the architects of this war are not really interested in Iraqi independence. "When the Iraqi army is ready to step up, the American army will stand down," intones Dubya, another of a long series of lies in the progress of this war.

Michael Berg observed that Nicholas was detained mainly because he was not part of the Bush power structure. He was an independent American working on behalf of the Iraqis for THEIR benefit. Had he been a Blackwater Group mercenary whose job it was to kill Iraqis, he would have been given carte blanche like the rest of them.

But no, he was an independent, idealistic kid. Anything or anyone not under BushTeam control, control for the purposes of exploitation, is deemed a potential threat. And so, harmless do-gooder Nick Berg had inadvertantly made himself "dangerous" to the Bush cabal controlling Iraq.

It's another piece of evidence in my mind that BushCo. never intended to establish democracy in Iraq and don't intend to now. As former Security Advisor Sandy Berger said about the Iraq situation, "you can have control or you can have democracy, but you can't have both."

I think it's pretty clear which option the president values more.

[Kenroy]

1. How much of a sick fuck do you have to be

to hold up a poster of a man's beheaded son, just because you disagree with his politics?

[Historic NY]

9. FR bunch of pond scum........n/t

[Supersedeas]

22. You are being generous to those Freepers & unfair to pond scum

[EFerrari]

2. I see a pattern here. n/t

[nookiemonster]

6. Can't have these "little people" disturbing the "business".

n/t

[benburch]

14. Well, two isn't a pattern...

but it *is* a trend!

Treasonous assholes they are.

[BattyDem]

3. Nick Berg, Andy Stephenson ...

how many more? :cry:

[sakabatou]

4. Until they all die, it may not stop

Those fucking murderers.

[EFerrari]

7. NONE. They get no more.

They have been outed.

And, their whole program is crumbling.

Yes, Andy dear, there is a Santa Claus. It's called real grassroots, not the fakery of AA or FR. And we intend to do you proud.

:kick:

[madeline_con]

5. It's good he can forgive....

If it were my son, Rimjob would be shut down...

[Why Syzygy]

8. Enemies of the Republic

Do they have a mirror?

[AntiFascist]

10. I would go further and say that....

the administration works in league with what they are calling the Islamofascists because war is necessary to maintain control of the oil fields. Death and more death is necessary to the cabal in order to maintain a dynamic of religious warfare... the more the Islamic fundies, Christian fundies and Israelies can get stirred up the better, because it is really the uber-wealthy and those who support them who are fighting to maintain control of they have got. Idealists simply get in the way. Our primary ideal should now be justice, and it will not die!

[Gman]

11. Freepers can talk all they want about "hate" here at DU but

nothing here ever even comes within millions of light years close to what the psychos at FR will stoop to do.

[IndianaGreen]

12. FR disclosed that Nick Berg was Jewish

which is an automated death sentence for any Jew caught in a country in that region other than Israel.

[applegrove]

13. How sad. Bush turned Americans in to brownshirts attacking people

who demonstrate against the war - which is the right to free speech. That is very sad.

[tsuki]

24. No he didn't. He gave the KKK the okay to come "out of the closet."

Scratch a conservative, and you will find a KKK'er. That is what they are, not brownshirts.

They are the old KKK without the bedsheets. And the Free Republic is one of their main organizations. Hate, 24/7. And they don't realize that is it not the brown, black, yellow, red, or purple people eater that is putting them down. It's their heroes like McCarthy and Schmidt.

[applegrove]

25. Sorry but when the "deputize" people to act in "policing ways" and

"turn in" people who demonstrate that they don't "think the think" then you are a brownshirt.

[tsuki]

30. That is the old KKK. I remember them, and my father taught me

what to look out for. Conservatives are KKK. If they can't go after you like they did Andy, they will string you up on an oak. We don't have to go to Nazi Germany to find comparables. We have them right here. Home Grown.

[applegrove]

32. That's true. But the KKK wore sheets. They knew they were doing something

wrong. The brownshirts were totally not aware that "being deputized by people who want you to police your neighbours - is bad". Brownshirts thought they were doing the "right" thing. Because they were completely delusional patsies.

[drdtroit]

33. They don't need to wear sheets because this administration is

all about feeling good about your prejudices and biases.
The concept of shame has no meaning to these cretins.

[applegrove]

34. I'm with you there. You would not believe the "baser instincts" that come

out of people when "the nefarious sociopaths who are their leaders and sources of reality" give them permission.

[drdtroit]

36. It's the same as a drunken crowd mentality.

BTW I do believe it and I have witnessed it first hand!

[applegrove]

37. no - policed brownshirts are something to behold. People told that if

they do the wrong thing and attack or monitor someone they do not know - that they are good - and the person is bad. Poor man - the father. Poor man.

Too smart to not get the horrible truth down to the last detail about the loss of his son & the timing.

[tsuki]

38. No, the KKK thought that they were doing God's bidding. Still

think so. Most do not remember that the KKK was a Kristian organization. They were (are) God's soldiers. They are following His laws, His will.

[Cooley Hurd]

15. Aziz al-Taee and his connections to Berg, INC and the Russian mob...

http://www.brushtail.com.au/nick_berg_missing.html

<snip>
Then there was his Iraqi business partner, Aziz al-Taee. Mr al-Taee is a real piece of work: a prominent Iraqi expatriate and a spokesman for the Iraqi American Council who not only had an impressive criminal record in the US (selling counterfeit CDs and 100 million vials used for crack cocaine), but also organised pro-war demonstrations in the US in the weeks before the invasion of Iraq. It seems Nick came into contact with al-Taee at a conference on business opportunities in Iraq held in Virginia in December 2003.

It is entirely likely that Nick Berg’s associates were closely linked to the neo-con cabal that invented the WMD story and steered George Bush into the war: Vice President Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Ahmed Chalabi. The Washington elite are looking for scapegoats now, the cabal as been on the outer since February, and US forces have raided Chalabi’s office and accused him of passing secrets to Iran.
</snip>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://maryscott-oconnor.dailykos.com/story/2004/5/17/71525/2615

BERG MET WITH SHADY IRAQI

By WILLIAM BUNCH
phillynews.com

There's another strange new twist to the saga of Nick Berg and his final days of Iraq before his savage videotaped beheading.
Berg teamed up in Baghdad with an ex-Philadelphia man who led a controversial group of Iraqi expatriates encouraged by the U.S. government - even as he faced deportation for his role in Russian-emigre crime ring selling millions of vials used for crack.

Aziz Kadoory Aziz, also known as Aziz al-Taee, hooked up earlier this year with the 26-year-old West Chester man to start a small company called Shirikat Abraj Babil, or Babylon Towers Co., that would install, inspect and repair telecommunications and utility towers.

In interviews with several news organizations in Baghdad, Aziz claimed he may have been the last friend to speak with Berg before his kidnapping and beheading by terrorists possibly linked to the al Qaeda network. The radio-tower contractor had come back to Baghdad after a 13-day detainment in Mosul, only to disappear again on April 10.
</snip>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I recall that, when the beheading video came out, that the translator on CNN said that it sounded like the guy reading the death sentence spoke Farsi with a Russian accent.:tinfoilhat:

[Disturbed]

16. I still suspect that Nick Berg was assasinated by

a RW group and beheaded after he was dead. This act occured to offset the Abu Grahib revelations and the Neo Fascist Bush Junta used it to offset the torture that was going on in their ME Gulags and farmed out locations. I suspect torture is still going on, just better hidden now.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

21. Who's in the video then?

[Peace Patriot]

17. Don't know if you'll catch up with this, mistertrickster (I just caught up

with your post), but did Michael Berg say anything about Nick's email address and password being in Zacharias Moussoui's computer (the one FBI agent Rowley was trying to get into before 9/11)? The story originated with Michael, I believe, saying that the FBI had questioned Nick about it (after 9/11, and the computer had been opened), and had been satisfied with his answer that he just happened to meet Moussoui on a bus, going to a college class; M. asked to use his computer and he let him.

The story came up in the context of the second questioning of Nick--the two weeks in US custody in Iraq, prior to his death--and Michael and his wife's efforts to get Nick released.

I've also wondered about whether there was an autopsy and verification of the identity of Nick's body. I seem to recall there was none, and I wonder why. If it had been my son, I would have demanded it--especially considering the extraordinary circumstances of his death, and what all we now know about neocon dirty-tricks-style treason, nefarious black ops, dealings with forgers and Iranian arms dealers, putting the lives of CIA agents in danger, gunslinging private contractors in Iraq, rumors of death squads, and all sorts of double-agent doings, including the AIPAC/Franklin case (US officials passing secret US info to Israel). I think I would be very suspicious that, a) my son might have been involved in dangerous activities that I didn't know about, and b) that his death was not as described by authorities, or it wasn't even him.

The computer story certainly would have rung my alarm bells.

And, on the other ends of things, if I were an honest US military or intelligence official, genuinely interested in security, and someone whose name had turned up in Moussoui's computer had applied for permission to go to Iraq on private business, I would have said no; or, at the very least, put him under surveillance the whole time. In fact, I can't imagine Nick getting into Iraq without surveillance, unless he was on a covert mission himself.

As for the Freepers, their utterly bizarre and ghoulish behavior is disgusting. Weren't they using Nick as a victim/hero in their war against the Abu Ghraib photos? I seem to recall they used it to say how despicable and unforgiveable and inhuman the "terrorists" were, since it occurred just after the A/G photos got released. In fact, there have even been theories that Nick was killed BECAUSE of the Abu Ghraib photos, by our side, to get attention off our torture policy. (It was also, I think, mentioned on the video, by the purported Arabs, as a reason for the beheading.)

To persecute Nick's father in this way seems all of a piece with the types of horror the Bush cabal has unleashed in the world, supported by these brownshirt ghouls. Whether it's our horror, or the "terrorists'" horror. They seem to WANT the world to be an evil place, tormented by torture, violence and death. Why else would these Freepers do such a thing? It is beyond comprehension.

And I think Nick's father's response to it is the best response possible. These people are mentally sick. And no good can come of an angry or violent response. They feed on anger and violence. They are much like the hate-filled southern white bigots in the 1960s, who would line the streets shouting vile epithets at black citizens who were peacefully marching for voting rights or desegregation. The faces of ghouls, with various psychotic expressions on their faces. No self-awareness. No shame. No understanding. No generosity.

And those who marched had the perfect response: calm determination, and even love for the bigots, whose ugliness was so naked.

[mistertrickster]

23. Yup, Michael Berg said his son had contact with the Arab on the bus

because he had been in Africa twice and was friendly to int'l students, also thinking about going to the Mideast sometime in the future.

It was a wacky coincidence but Michael Berg didn't think it was anything more than that.

[xchrom]

18. freerepublic = nazi much?

one thing freepers aren't -- patriotic.

[Stockholm]

19. Self deleted

Too much cursing.

FR views enable terrorism and endanger America.

[MadHound]

20. All I can say is that Michael Berg is a better person than I

If I were in his shoes and I saw the fuckwad Freepers doing that shit, well dead wouldn't be good enough for them, though they would be wishing desperately for it. When it comes to family I can become very vengeful.

[mistertrickster]

28. Yup, me too. I was raised on too many Clint Eastwood movies. nt

[WildEyedLiberal]

26. New meme: FREEPERS ENABLE TERRORISM

How many REAL living Americans have DIED because of liberals, anti-war protestors, or DU?


*crickets*


How many Americans died because of Clinton's lie about Lewinsky?


*crickets*


How many Americans have died because of Bush's lies?


2,001. Not to mention countless Iraqis and Afghans innocent of any connections to terrorism.


How many Americans have died because of Free Republic and their treasonous tactics?



Arguably, at least one.





FREEPERS ARE TRAITORS. NEOCONS ARE TRAITORS.

Traitors to the American Republic.


Hang 'em high, the lot of them. Treason is punishable by death.

[Joanne98]

27. They follow him with posters of his headless son?

If Berg speaks in my area, I'll go just to KICK ASS!

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[thoughtanarchist]

31. Are you for real?

We're spreading liberty in Iraq so says *, so now that we've slathered liberty across the scorched earth of Iraq, you say it's still filled with Islamists representing an "ultra-pro-religious-fascist agenda"?

Why would we go through the trouble of glopping mounds of freedom and liberty upon "the sadistic murderers who relish their role as enforcers of their ultra-pro-religious-fascist agenda"?

From your description, it sounds like they deserved the "rape rooms and torture chambers" of the brutal dictator it was apparently so neccessary to overthrow?

:freak:

[drdtroit]

35. "When the light goes on, do you see what's in the room?"

Yes, I see a criminal cabal that has pervaded the highest levels of business and government. In addition I see no small supply of disingenuous apologists and shills who will go to any end to lie, cheat, slander and steal for said cabal.
And I have to ask myself, "why do they hate America?"
Can you answer that question?
Are these the same sadistic murderers you speak about?