Draft - (see links to readings at end)

I wanted to offer some social theory and historical reflections to frame the Berg post. But, the article was too long already. So here is a comment post with a few thoughts and some links for reading about these things:

The most utterly intense social forces -- a global complex of conflict, profit seeking and cultural contradictions -- inform the context of the Berg beheading. This context is the invasion of Iraq and the larger war against terrorism (seemingly derailed by the invasion) and still more generally the history of U.S. imperialism and neoliberal (lassez faire) economic globalization over the course of the 20th Century and on.

Relevant to the recent Abu Ghraib prison disaster, the first article below goes into some of the connections between the prison-industrial complex and the forces of neoliberal economic globalization. The second article below by Hersh shows that U.S. super-covert black ops "no rules" agents had influence in Abu Ghraib, through an overextension of Rumsfeld's effort to circumvent normal cumbersome institutionalized military channels, checks and balances.

A few more links below list instances of U.S. imperialism: on the 100 or so U.S. imperial adventures in the last 100 years. And those links have yet more links.

So. Our social worlds move through the interaction of many layers of institutional, informal and individual social actions -- some routine and some not. Many government actions are routine: balancing budgets, generating reports, delivering the mail. Some government actions are creative or transgressive: initiating cutting edge, even moral problematic scientific research or fighting a war of invasion. Some government interactions are an intense struggle for power: these interactions regularly unfold through networks and small groups -- often out of the public eye. Such private struggles when they unfold over time against opponents are sometimes called "conspiracies."

Conspiracies -- both elite planning and covert on the ground struggles -- can be thought of as one part of the way that power elites get things done. Conspiracy means: networking, action, agency of elites and their agents -- power and action. Thinking about this is not silly. But, we don't want to ignore how social structures and larger social forces shape the context of social action. That conspiracies and covert action exist doesn't mean that elites don't also make use of investing in the stock market and conventional warfare or owning news media and dictating how those are used. It just means that as needed, and regularly, some elites engage in, well, their own versions really nasty culture jamming and in fucking up people's shit who are in their way, in a few words: black ops, psy-ops, conintelpro, and assassinations.

Remember Iran-Contra in Nicaragua. Remember the coup against Allende in Argentina. Remember the hostage crisis in Iran that lost the election for Carter. Some sections of the most powerful in the U.S. was behind all those. There are dozens and dozens more examples (many not as severe). Now, U.S. covert forces are trying to overthrow Chavez in Venezuela. The formerly named School of the Americas in the U.S. state of Georgia trains operatives from Latin America in all sorts of covert war skills. The Berg video is mild compared to what the U.S. regularly sponsors and teaches.

Why protest this? We must. Stakes are too high now. Earth hangs in the balance. If the Bush cartel, hard-edged neocon imperialists and oil business elites, keep control of the U.S. government, the condition of what democracy and freedoms we have in the U.S. and in the world may degrade terribly. The environment will suffer, perhaps too many insults to recover, perhaps severe disasters. The consequences of not pointing out all this horrible shit and not working to undo it are dire. So, really please think: before you dismiss this short political ramble -- please consider reading the links below about what happens when the powerful push their envelopes.

The Bush cartel has broken many international treaties. The Bush cartel has disregarded international relations. The U.S. government, as the world's dominant and very active imperial military power, has committed many war crimes and wants to stay out of International Criminal Court. We actually need to mend all these treaties and join the ICC.

Abu Ghraib is only one reason for the U.S. to join the ICC. In the ICC, we would be less likely to allow another Abu Ghraib to happen. Abu Ghraib is only an aspect of a larger trend and history. In the process of prosecuting the war on Terror, the U.S. has been reversing human rights at home and lowering the bar on human rights abuses and military crimes abroad. Do we want to really continue in that direction? Do we want to not question the abuse of power? Some elites in the U.S. government have a very very strong economic and political interest in winning the military and public relations war in Iraq. And, they may cross many moral lines to do so. We need to question this? The issue of the systematic abuse of prisoners in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the killing of many civilians is much more important on a utilitarian scale than the Berg killing. But, the Berg beheading was a media event that was aimed at manipulating global public opinion. If by terrorists, horrible. If it was manufactured by U.S. or Mossad black op agents, if we can find that out: We must try. We are only a week into this as a public issue. But, perhaps the hard evidence is not available. If so, then on to other issues and battles.

It would take a fair amount of research and writing work to connect the history psy-ops and covert media work into the situation in Iraq to larger social forces and then to point out how the Berg killing might possibly connect with black ops in Iraq, even around Abu Ghraib. There is also the Daniel Pearl beheading in Pakistan to consider. And there are the murders of 100s and 100s of Taliban prisoners and torture of Al Qaeda prisoners etc. and black ops in Afghanistan and the role of the CIA in the early formation of Al Qaeda and of the U.S. in the early support of Saddam Hussein. This all just gets mind boggling. The world is a very complex place. But there are lots of minds watching these issues these days -- as the stakes are high -- our survival. And we have the internet now. More research is needed on all this. No doubt someone will do that eventually. Not me anytime soon. Busy.

Suggested Readings.

Must see:
The Prison Industrial Complex and the Global Economy
by Eve Goldberg and Linda Evans (around 1998)
http://www.prisonactivist.org/crisis/evans-goldberg.html

Especially must see: The Gray Zone: How a secret Pentagon program came to Abu Ghraib
by Seymour M. Hersh
http://newyorker.com/fact/content/?040524fa_fact

The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret operation, which had been focused on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq. Rumsfeld's decision embittered the American intelligence community, damaged the effectiveness of élite combat units, and hurt America's prospects in the war on terror.

These articles outline the larger historical context of U.S. military abuses. Must see:

Let the Bloody Truth Be Told: A Chronology of U.S. Imperialism
http://www.neravt.com/left/invade.htm

Chronology of American State Terrorism
http://free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/ChronologyofTerror.html

Through his association with Aziz and visiting Abu Ghraib, Berg is directly connected to networks of political intrigue and violence:

The following points in quotes are from this article:
Berg Met With Shady Iraqi
By WILLIAM BUNCH, May 17, 2005

1. Berg climbs electric towers at Abu Ghraib prison
"Aziz said that Berg left his equipment with him during a short trip back to the U.S. When he came back, the two spent an hour climbing tall buildings at Abu Ghraib, site of the infamous prison. Aziz said they re-recorded measurements that were in his stolen notebook."

2. Berg forms business partnership with Aziz, an Iraqi nationalist and criminal, a convicted drug dealer
"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." ... "In 1993, about a decade after fleeing Saddam's Iraq for America, Aziz was in the electronics business when he was one of 25 people charged with distributing some 100 million crack vials on the East Coat. Prosecutors said that Aziz, who lived in Northeast Philadelphia, was tied to a network run by a Soviet immigrant named Valery Sigal. Most in the ring were immigrants from Russia or the former Eastern Bloc. Aziz claimed he didn't know the vials were going to drug dealers. but he pled guilty. He was sentenced to three years of probation, fined $3,000, and forced to forfeit $17,673 in profits."
Berg's family is from Philadelphia.

3. Berg initiated the business partnership Azia
"Aziz told the Associated Press that Berg had contacted him by e-mail sometime after attending a two-day conference in Virginia on business opportunities in Iraq last December. Aziz agreed to give him some space in an office he had in Baghdad to form a partnership seeking communications work."

4. Berg's uncle's brother lives in Iraq
"Aziz said, Berg called to say that he was going to the northern city of Mosul, where the brother of Berg's uncle lives. "He invited me to go with him, but I declined because it was dangerous," said Aziz."
It is not necessarily suspicious that Berg had family connections in Iraq. This is more a counter point. It would point to some of his curiosity to travel about the country. Though, who are his uncle's brother's connections is something to research.

5. Berg carried Koran and "anti-Semetic" literature.
"Officials have told the Daily News that Berg also aroused suspicion because he was an unescorted American carrying a copy of the Koran and what they called "anti-Semitic" literature. Berg, who is Jewish, also told friends that his passport contained an Israel visitor's stamp."
At the same time, Berg was practicing Judaism. So, he was curious: but why "anti-Sem3tic" literature?

Berg beheading: No way, say medical experts
By Ritt Goldstein, Asia Times Online, May 22, 2004
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE22Ak03.html

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.

From:
Iraq: Nick Berg Mystery deepens: New Updates (05/17)
http://inn.globalfreepress.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=218

Berg: Top 50 Oddities and Irregularities (latest Update 05/17)

Note: This is a compilation from various sources, including our own research.
Not every conclusion is compatible with our own conclusions.

1)
Inconsistencies in the Timeline Edit

WM-----|-----Video Clock-----|-----Screen Shot
0:00 ---|--- nothing ---|-------Arabic letters
0:05 ---|--- 13:26:24 ---|--- Nick Berg speaking
0:09 ---|---- 2:18:33 ---|--- Nick Berg sitting
0:20 ---|---- 2:40:33 ---|--- Speach in Arabic
4:36 ---|---- 2:44:56 ---|--- Speaker pushes Berg over
4:38 ---|--- 13:45:48 ---|--- Decapitation begins
4:43 ---|--- 13:45:52 ---|--- Picture lost
4:44 ---|--- 13:45:59 ---|--- Picture returns, decapitation continues

2)
2:42:11- Notice that #3 keeps moving his head from the pages to the camera very frequently and there is more page flipping where the voice does not take a pause.

13:46:19- #3 is finishing off the head while #2 is holding Nick's arm.It seems as if any motion of Nick's body are due to #'s 2&3 pulling on his body, not any resistance, which has been mercifully absent since this last filming segment started.

13:46:31- Head is being severely tilted back as what looks like the last cut in being made

13:47:48- ANOTHER TAPE GAP: This segment begins with #2 lifting up the head. How did it get transfered to him?

More:

-By the time any cutting started on the neck, the body was lifeless.
-Nick was not killed directly after being pushed over; that was some 11 hours earlier
-The severed head did not look tormented.
-Between 13:26:24 (when Nick is last seen sitting in the chair in the very first clip) and 13:45:49 or so (when the cutting started in earnest, the body has become lifeless. How is unclear.
-Citing an 11-hour gap in the sequence is probably nonsense.
The video is shot with 2 video cameras with their internal timestamps set differently.

2)
One of the men has a large silver watch with a large bulbous crystal on his left hand.
If you find that watch in any of the Abu Ghraib abuse pictures, you'll know who one of the murderers are.

3)
The guy in the white hood is not the same as in the last frame:
He goes from holding Berg's body (at the back) to suddenly being the guy making the final cuts and holding up his head.

4)
Extremely convenient "wag the dog" timing at the height of furor regarding U.S. torture of Iraqis

5)
Berg's last known whereabouts was in U.S. custody

6)
Berg shown in video wearing orange jumpsuit known to be of U.S. issue

7)
Berg mysteriously captured by Al-Quaeda (still wearing jumpsuit). Either he escaped from U.S. captors or U.S. let him out -- with orange suit and all -- to be immediately apprehended by Al-Quaeda (before he had a chance to change)

8)
Tape obviously spliced together and heavily edited. Goes from a) Berg sitting in chair talking about family, to b) Berg sitting on floor with hooded "militants" behind, to c) blurry camera movement, to d) almost motionless Berg on floor as head cut off.

9)
Audio clearly dubbed in, but probably also CODEC problem

10)
"Arab" reader flips through pages of "statement" and keeps ending up on the same page. Perhaps doesn't even known enough Arabic to recognize what page he's on?

11)
Arabs" have lily-white hands and (other exposed) skin

12)
"Arabs" have Western-style body posture and mannerisms

13)
When Berg decapitated, there was almost no blood. If Berg were still alive at this point, with the cut starting at front of throat, blood would have been spraying everywhere. Berg's severed head, the floor, Berg's clothes, and even the hand of the "Arab" who decapitated Berg had no visible blood on it.

14)
Berg's body didn't move while on the ground. Although held down, Berg would have tried to instinctively wiggle and writhe away from captor's grip.

15)
Camera angle made it impossible to see if Berg's eyes were even open

16)
Alleged "scream" from Berg sounded to be that of a woman and was clearly dubbed in

17)
Berg goes to great trouble to identify himself, providing information about his family. Why? To elicit greater sympathy? Or to provide a positive ID. FBI visited Berg family in an attempt to "verify his identity". Guy in video looks very little like Berg photos provided by family

18)
Nick Berg's Connection with the "20th hijacker" of 9/11, Zacarias Moussaoui, is yet not really explained

19)
Fat, white fidgety terra'ists wearing tennis shoes, the leader of which:

a) is wearing the sort of large gold ring that is expressly forbidden in fundy Islamic communities, and

b) starts cutting the head, but is replaced (as the camera time signatures change) by someone wearing a white head covering when it's time to show off the head.

20)
Video is out of synch soundtrack and jumping time signatures on the video production.

21)
For the first time in recorded history, Arab terra'ists post a video of an atrocious murder on a website -- right in the middle of Bush Admin's most damaging national scandal -- a scandal driven completely by its own disgusting pictoral and video imagery.

22)
Berg had been held in US custody (or in the Abu Ghraib prison?) for two weeks without charge or access to phones or legal help just days before he was last heard from. And the US now denies this, despite the family's insistence and overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

23)
Berg was an American Jew traveling alone in Iraq without a job. He reported that he was taking lots of picture around the suburb of Abu Ghraib. He also reportedly worked "on the tower" in Aby Ghraib

24)
Ugly yellow paint, orange jumpsuits, and the white plastic "Walmart chair" -- appear in both the Berg video and the Abu Ghraib prison videos

25)
Zaqawi rises from the dead, has a letter fall into coalition hands that just happens to confirm everything BushCo is dreaming about the Iraqi situation, grows another leg, loses his Jordanian accent, puts on a forbidden gold ring, reads from a long speech that he's written in a mysterious mobius fashion across both sides of a single sheet of paper, decides to give up his hobby as a poison expert to get down and dirty with a dull knife, and carefully hides his face while screaming, "Yoo hoo - Zaqawi here!"

CIA claims it has examined the video and concluded that the hooded
figure is Zaqrawi, a high level al-Qaeda operative. However, anyone who has
seen the video will attest to the fact that there is no way to identify
anyone from it, including the victim. Second, according to an US military
report in April -03, Zaqrawi was killed in the bombing of Falluja. CIA does
not elaborate whether Zaqrawi has magically sprung back to life or whether
the April report was wrong.

The US media claimed that Zaqrawi lost a leg in 2001. Now, it says
that he did not lose his leg after all. This flip flop seems too
coincidental as the purported figure in the video doesn-t appear
handicapped. The US does not elaborate on which intelligence is wrong.

Even Colin Powell claimed that Zarqawi was fitted with a prosthetic leg in a Baghdad hospital

26)
JackBlood.com has Traced the Address Of 'Islamic Website' that Posted the Berg Decapitation video To London, England, NOT Iraq

27)
The Chilean freelance journalist Hugo Infante ...stays at the $30-a-night Al Fanar Hotel, where Berg was staying, and regularly chatted and shared drinks with him.
According to an own INN Research, there is also someone named Hugo Infante (Bogota, Columbia), but he works at the World Bank and sent some disturbing messages in 2002: "We do not have LEADERSHIP, and the concept of globally
world is the now, but our leadership is weak because we
NOW need Globally Leadership."

28)
Berg's company Prometheus Towers has no records with the Pennsylvania Department of State

29)
When told of the video by an Associated Press reporter, Berg's father, Michael, and his two siblings hugged and cried. They knew he had been decapitated, but didn't know the details of the killing

30)
Nicholas Berg's father was listed in a freeper- "hate list"
On March 7, 2004, an 'enemies' list of anti-war groups and individuals was posted on the Free Republic

31)
Berg's body arrived Wednesday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. His parents had requested permission to be at the base when the coffin arrived, but that request was denied

32)
The voice on the tape could not be verified as that of al-Zarqawi. CNN staff members familiar with al-Zarqawi's voice said the voice on the tape did not sound like him

33)
The man on the far left in the video is standing at "Parade Rest"
This seems further evidence the raises suspicions that these men were NOT Arab faction Terrorists! Parade Rest is also - and would be a REFLEX action - that is TRAINED into Military personnel and becomes a HABIT

34)
We see the wedding ring on the left hand, the sinister hand, the hand that Islam reserves for toilet functions

35)
We notice the voices in the background not sounding like Arabs, some dialects also linked to russian language, instead of Jordanian

36)
Why is Zarquawi not showing his face, given the fact, that his face is worldwide known anyway?

37)
Firearms experts have stated the AK-47 carried by one man was a "Gilal." This actually is an Israeli-made weapon that improves on the famous AK- 47. Feyadeen and other insurgents almost universally use AK-47s

38)
The US military has stated that Berg was never in US custody and that he had been in custody of the Iraqi police. The Iraqi police adamantly deny he was ever in their custody. On April 1, an e-mail from Beth A. Payne, the U.S. consular officer in Iraq, was sent to the family of Nick Berg. It stated that Ms. Payne had located Nick

39)
The Berg's filed a lawsuit in federal court in Philadelphia on April 5. A day later, Nick Berg was released. He contacted his parents and told them that he was coming home. The following day he checked out of his hotel in Baghdad, and disappeared

40)
Notice on one frame that Berg's head has been cut off at 13:47:49 (1:47) ­ yetat 2:44 ­ nearly "an hour later" ­ he is sitting with his head intact

41)
An NBC reporter stated: "...the CIA did it to take the heat off the Pentagon"--, but his remark wasn't picked up again (at Tom Brokaw, May 12th)

42)
One article of BillingsGazette claims, when his body was found, it only mentions "signs of trauma" , instead of "headless". The article claims, the body was found Saturday
In another report, it says, "a body found on Monday by US military patrol along a roadside over the weekend was identified as Berg's"

43)
More odd, if the body was found on Monday (May 10th), or previously "over the weekend" (prior), how could the execution and video be taped on May 11th, as is reported?
"The statement in the video was signed off with Zarqawi's name and dated 11 May" (Drudge and Aljazeerah).

44)
Why did the story of Berg change about his OK-contact with Moussaoui?
First it was 2001, then already 1999?

45)
Michael Berg, told the AP that Michael's sister, now dead, married an Iraqi man named Mudafer, who became close to Nicholas. In one of the e-mails, Nicholas Berg described going to the northern city of Mosul, where he introduced himself to Mudafer's brother, identified as Moffak Mustaffa. Who is Mustaffa?

46)
Berg has sensitive electronic equipment on his person that he has no paperwork for

47)
Berg's hotel was full of peace protestors and next to CIA's "HQ", Baghdad Hotel.
Was there not enough police surveillance, after he arrived?

48)
Again, If Berg was in Iraqi custody, why did the FBI visit him three times, and in what ways did the U.S. authorities have operational control over his custody? Why do the Iraqi police, working with the U.S. government, insist they never held him?

49)
Berg met with shady Iraqi Aziz Kadoory Aziz, also known as Aziz al-Taee

Here is a method on how to begin to analyze the data of a substanive new news article on Berg (url below) and new articles and information in general.  

Below that some thoughts about the new article.  

Below that are some thoughts about interpretation.  

Method to organize new data (from multiple articles and sources now):

1. splice out the points
2. sort them by new and old
3. group versions of same data points
4.a. note if point is evaluated as valid and not valid/debunked.
4.b. synthesize versions of same points, taking best accounts
5. note as matter of fact (verified or not) or evaluation (strong or not or unknown source) or circumstance
6. separate out the disproved fact claims and weak evaluations.

Then interpreation/analysis of points needs to go on from here.  (see below on more)

Here is the new article:

Berg beheading: No way, say medical experts
By Ritt Goldstein, Asia Times Online, May 22, 2004
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE22Ak03.html

Quick Evaluation of article.
I found the article very interesting for these reasons:

- it is the first article in the mainstream press presenting an extensive number of points about the Berg video

- the article presents a number of the points from blogs, but sanitizes them and refers to the points as being generally discussed.  So, there is a rhetorical framing going on here that makes the data seem -- more like data.  

- the rhetoric of the article interweaves the circumstantial points, expert points, points of fact and background cultural points with a seeming objectivity. But it is basically a subset of the data I gathered in the above article with a 5 or 10 more points (need to count them up).

Each of these points -- first public notice, data sanitization, rhetorical framing -- I think makes the article worth reading and taking apart. In time, I might do this.  No time now. Someone else, feel free.

Analysis steps.
Eventually, once the above is done on these and more new points, then perhaps one can start looking more closely at the patterns in the data -- and evaluating those a bit.  

Then one can see how the patterns fit together (western actors or not?, U.S. gov denials and contradictions, Berg's activities, etc.) but...  

There have been more and more hypotheses popping up so listing all of those potential patterns is a needed step, as was done in one comment string here (rated near top of comments).

I excerpted the new points and some of the old points which included attribution of source.

This article reportedly has been widely read on the net. And it has been expanded here:
WHO KILLED NICK BERG?    
by Collective Bellaciao, Wednesday 2nd June 2004 :
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=1192

Quotes from original article:
Who killed Nick Berg?
by Richard Neville, The Sydney Morning Herald, May 29, 2004
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/28/1085641717320.html

New points:

"After his release, Berg travelled to Baghdad and the $30-a-night Al-Fanar Hotel. A fellow hotel guest told Newsday that Berg recounted how Iraqi police had quickly handed him to US authorities in Mosul and that he had been held the entire time in a jail where his guards were US soldiers."

"The first few seconds of the video shows Berg sitting on a white plastic chair in an orange jumpsuit. He speaks directly to the camera in a relaxed way: "My name is Nick Berg ... I have a brother and sister, David and Sara. I live in Philadelphia. His white chair is identical to those in the photographs of the Abu Ghraib prison tortures, but such chairs are probably common in Iraq. It is highly likely that this segment is edited from the interrogation of Berg during his 13 days of custody."
This claim seems overstated:  Is this conclusion based only on Berg being relaxed on tape and wearing an orange jumpsuit?

On the tape:
"· An aside in Russian had been translated as "do it quickly".
"· The men's scarves are worn and tied by people who "haven't a clue", says conspiracy theorist Hector Carreon, like actors in Hollywood movies."

"· There is even a voice at the end that seems to ask in English, "How will it be done?" [http://www.aztlan.net/nick_berg_how_done.htm] "

"But there is still the problem of Berg's slight body movements while sitting on the floor, before the beheading. According to a blogger (internet diarist), Nick Possum, "this footage was subsequently modified frame by frame to make Berg's body move very occasionally". Apparently, this can be achieved with "commonly available software". [http://www.brushtail.com.au/nick_berg_hypothesis.html]"

Old points with sources noted:

"Berg was in Baghdad to win contracts for his family firm, Prometheus Methods Tower Service, a provider of communications facilities. He often "worked at night on a tower in the neighbourhood of Abu Ghraib", according to The New York Times."

"The official reasons for Berg's arrest were "lack of documentation" and "suspicious activities". He carried sensitive electronic equipment for which he lacked documents. In custody, he was visited three times by the FBI. Such interviews are bound to have been recorded but no transcripts have been produced."
The electronic equipment is new. Can transcripts be obtained.

"A US military report last month has claimed al-Zarqawi was killed in the bombing of Falluja."

"Also, the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has said that al-Zarqawi was fitted with a prosthetic leg in a Baghdad hospital, yet the tape shows no evidence of a limp."

not mentioned yet as felt not significant"· One character wears wears bulky white tennis shoes."

Bloodstain Analysis from Nick Berg Beheading Video - Forensic Irregularities Cast Doubt on Events
Excerpted from issue 9 of the HQ INTEL-ALERT:
http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/bloodstainanalysis.asp

Introduction: My reaction to the horrific nature of the now infamous Nick Berg video overshadowed any consideration of performing any type of forensic bloodstain pattern analysis of the decapitation of this victim. Frankly, it appeared to be a rather open and shut case - a cold-blooded murder, an al Qaeda made-to-order "snuff film" where the victim was a 26 year-old American contractor working in Iraq. He was reportedly killed on Saturday, 8 May 2004 in a particularly gruesome manner - his throat was cut and he was decapitated. His body was reportedly found near a highway overpass in Baghdad, where his head was fully separated from his body. As the week progressed, analysts at the Northeast Intelligence Network found the absolutely revolting video posted on an al Qaeda linked website. The video was downloaded on 11 May 2004 for analysis.

As Laura Mansfield began her analysis of the footage, specifically the audio statement being read by the primary assailant identified as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, I began to hear rumblings about oddities surrounding the footage. One of several "oddities" involved the blood evidence shown on the video. As I am certified in Bloodstain Pattern Analysis by the Laboratory of Forensic Science (Corning, New York, 10 May 2002) and a member of the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts-IABPA, I decided to take a closer look at the video. The following is my report that details my analysis of the bloodstain patterns only. It is important to note that this analysis is only a detailed summary of a more lengthy analysis; for the sake of brevity, some of the written commentary regarding each frame has been omitted.

Forensic Analysis of "Berg Decapitation Video"

Date: 13 May 2004

Overview: This investigator was furnished with two versions of an Internet video playable in a .wmv format which was downloaded from the al Ansar jihad website by Northeast Intelligence Network Analyst Laura Mansfield on 11 May 2003. The video was 5 minutes 37 seconds in length and was approximately 5.3 megabytes in size. Using an industry accepted method of capturing this video to a computer hard-drive, this investigator captured the entire file that would enable frame-by-frame analysis.

This investigator isolated the decapitation scene from the time initial physical contact was made by the individual holding the knife (but not close to the victim) through the final frame of the video. In total, approximately 460 individual frames were viewed, although only 330 frames were analyzed due their relevance to this analysis.

The victim depicted in this video appears to be a Caucasian male in his mid to late 20's, medium build, with dark hair and an untrimmed beard. No distinguishing or identifying marks on the victim were noted. He is shown in this video wearing an orange jumpsuit or similar style garment and was seated on the floor, legs out in front of him slightly bent at the knees and his hands were positioned or tied behind his back. His legs appeared to be bound at the ankles by rope or similar material.

Frame-by-frame analysis began at the following image.

Summary of Frame-by-frame Analysis

There is a time stamp noted in the bottom right corner of the video. The first frame displays the time in a military format beginning at 13:26:25 (1:26 PM). At that time, the victim was seated in a white or light colored chair as he was videotaped by an unknown individual. There is an apparent edit point or video stoppage where the time switches to 14:18:XX, at which time the victim continues to be seated in the same chair as previously described. The video then exhibits a stoppage or edit point, next showing the victim seated on the floor in front of a group of six masked and hooded individuals. Almost immediately upon this scene change, the time display in the lower right corner of the frame was switched from military to "regular" format (i.e. from 14:18:XX to 2:18:XX). Following this serried of frames, there appears to be another stoppage or edit point where the victim is still seated on the floor in front of the line of individuals, however the time displays 2:40:13 in regular format. The male in the center, standing directly behind the victim, is observed reading from sheets of standard size white paper.

The next remarkable event takes place at 2:43:XX, when (what appears to be) the first significant movement of the victim, where he appears to raise his shoulders and slightly adjusts his position. Noted in the next series of frames is the change of time from "regular format to military format, occurring at 14:44:14. Following this, the primary assailant, standing in the center background, removes a knife appearing to have an eight to ten inch blade from under his garments from his chest area with his right hand and swiftly places his left hand on top of the victims head, grabbing his hair. The victim was pushed onto his left side by the primary assailant and assisted by the unidentified individual wearing a white hood/mask combination (this male was originally standing on the right side of the primary assailant).

As the time displays 13:45:47 in the lower right corner, the victim is pushed onto his left side where his legs are bent at the knees and raised toward his chest and his arms still tied behind his back. At this point, the video becomes out of focus and essentially useless for the purposes of analysis from approximately 90 frames. As the video comes back into focus, the primary assailant is viewed using the knife to cut the throat of the victim, beginning at the area near his left carotid artery. Almost immediately, blood is seen "pouring" onto the floor (target surface) from the wound caused by the incision.

The primary assailant is shown using the knife in a slicing fashion, cutting the front of the victims neck (throat) first, followed by a combination of circular and sawing motions with the knife around the victims neck while still holding the victim by the hair.

Notably, there appears to be an edit point or video stoppage where the video displays 13:46:XX. At this point, it is evident that the primary assailant is no longer holding the knife. The individual wearing the white hood and previously standing on the right side of the primary assailant is now using the knife in a saw-like manner, holding the knife in (his) right hand while holding the victims hair with (his) left hand. At 13:47:xx, the individual wearing the white hood ultimately detaches the victim head from his body and holds the head outward in (his) left hand, still holding the knife in (his) right. Following this series of frames, the video appears to "jump frames" (possibly due to uploading the video to a computer) and displays the time as 13:48:43, at which time the victim's head is shown completely detached and the primary object in the footage. Interestingly, the time display on the video changes to 2:46:20 (regular time format) and then switches back to 13:48:45 (military format) while the victim's head is shown detached from his body in a similar series of frames.

Remarks:

This investigator notes the potential significance of the changes of the time formats, a feature usually performed from the "menu" function of most video cameras. As the camera and media type on which the video was recorded is not known, no further assessment relative to the format change can be made.
Most interesting in addition to the time-format change is the change of the time itself. Without going into frame-by-frame detail, it is interesting to note that the actual act of decapitation as displayed in this video appeared to have been recorded when the time displayed was between 13:45:XX and 13:47:XX. This is significant as the victim appeared in the video, seated on the floor in front of the assailants, at 2:40:13, or nearly one hour after the decapitation (based on the time display ONLY). This investigator has no method of determining if the time displays are accurate and has no background in video analysis.
The video is poor in terms of quality, yet still appears to be useful for the purpose of bloodstain pattern analysis.
Due to the known anomalies associated with converting the footage to computer compatible formats, the audio portion of the video was not taken into consideration.
Bloodstain Pattern Analysis

Based on this investigator's review of the video with specific focus on the series of frames that depict the actual act of cutting the victim and the consequential decapitation, there appear to be significant inconsistencies with the cutting and decapitation of the victim. Most significant is the lack of arterial spurting (or gushing), which normally occurs when the artery of a live human victim is breached or cut. This investigator has reviewed numerous crime scenes where an artery of a living person was breached, many by a sharp instrument. In every case, arterial spurting exhibited common characteristics and can best be described as follows:

"Unlike impact spatters and cast-offs, bloodstains resulting from damaged arteries are not dependent upon the criminal acts which precede them.

Those stains which are classed as arterial damage patterns, spurts and gushes, occur as a release of blood under pressure after the fact rather than from a direct assault... Once opened, arteries may continue spurting as long as the heart continues to pump and blood is available in the vessel. This means that arterial spurt patterns may be recorded on bystanders responding to the victim after an assailant is gone."

"It must be noted that arterial damage can project blood great distances."

Taking into account the definitions and characteristics of arterial rain, arterial fountain, arterial breach, arterial spurting and arterial gushing, and the obvious breaching or cutting of both carotid arteries of the victim while he was purportedly alive, one would expect to observe significantly more force behind the emission of blood from the victim's wounds to his throat. Even as the victim was lying in a horizontal position to the ultimate target surface (the floor), there was little, if any, evidence of arterial spurting or gushing. A cut or breached artery has the ability to project a substantial amount of blood a significant distance away from the victim. In many cases, the distance can be five feet or more. Another characteristic of arterial spurting is the familiar "W" pattern made by the blood under pressure. A typical depiction of arterial spurting is shown in the image below:

Although this pattern was made from blood spurting from a victim's artery onto a wall, the characteristics would normally be the same regardless of the target surface, only dependent upon the position of the victim. In the video reviewed by this investigator, the victim was nearly horizontal with the floor, although the upper portion of his body, especially his head and neck, were hyper-extended backward by the initial assailant. Based on the accepted forensics of bloodstain pattern analysis, this hyper-extension, combined with the cutting of both carotid arteries, should have produced a much more defined pattern than observed on this video. Although the video clearly illustrated evidence of significant pooling of blood directly below the victim's neck, it appeared to lack the force commonly associated with arterial spurting, gushing, or raining.

CONCLUSION: Based on the investigative analysis conducted, it is the professional assessment of this investigator that the blood pattern shown in the video is NOT consistent with the cutting or breaching of the carotid artery or arteries of a person where the victim's blood pressure would be considered to be within the normal range. Based on this observation alone, this investigator questions the authenticity of the video as it was been presented for bloodstain pattern analysis.

Arterial Spurting / Arterial Gushing: Characteristic bloodstain pattern on a target surface resulting from blood exiting under pressure from a breached artery. (these pattern are characterized by their size and shape).

Sources:

Bloodstain Patterns-Revised Edition MacDonell, Herbert Leon Laboratory of Forensic Science © 1997
Blood Dynamics A.Y. Wonder Academic Press Copyright © 2001
Crime Scene Handbook Lee, Henry Academic Press Copyright © 1998
Analyst's Remarks: The above analysis does not lessen or otherwise mitigate the events surrounding the murder of Nick Berg. It raises a number of questions, however, especially when combined with other reported anomalies associated with this matter.

The article notes the tape was made December 4 in Virginia at an Iraqi business conference.

Moore footage includes Berg
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040531-123212-9520r.htm

"PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- In an unused interview shot for Michael Moore's latest film, the American who was beheaded in Iraq said he was concerned about security there as he prepared to seek work as an independent businessman, his family said Saturday.