Pardon me for bringing up the 150th thread on Nick Berg, but...

He has been buried, and so many questions remain.

Here are some that I have:

He was found on the same day he was killed, so we are told. Yet there has also been speculation that he was killed days earlier.

1) If he was found headless, how was his body identified? Was his head recovered with his body?

2) I have seen in blogs that some people have seen a photo of his body lying on the overpass where it was recovered. Has anyone on DU seen this photo? It might be key to determining when he was killed.

3) Conflicting reports: Was he found hanging from the overpass or lying on the overpass?

4) Was an autopsy performed in Iraq by the US? Why did his family not have an autopsy performed by an independent expert? Or did they?

Sorry to bring this up again, but these are questions with which I want to start. More will follow. I am surprised that reportage on his death has faded from the media. I was certain they would continue to ask follow-up questions and clarify and provide the info above that I am asking about. Thanks to anyone who responds.

The media staged it and it sucked. So why should they continue to report it ?

. . . regarding the headless body found on the overpass — I read somewhere that the body was wearing civilian clothing and not the orange jumpsuit. I would really like to claify this point. What self respecting terrorist killer is going to change Nick Berg's clothes after killing him and before abandoning the body on a freeway? What point would that serve?

TYY

I don't know why this kind of info has not been released.

. . . somewhere in the frenzy of commentary on the internet in the days following the video being released. It has been bothering me ever since I read it. Stickdog has posted, in answer to my query, confirmation that it was the orange jumpsuit. Unless I see or hear something to refute his post, I'll consider my question answered.

TYY :hi:

http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9579881%255E661,00.html

Mr Conroy said Baghdad security circles knew of the beheading of US civilian Nick Berg days before it was posted on an extremist website.

"There was the decapitated expatriate on the bridge," Mr Conroy said.

"He was dressed in orange overalls which are worn by prisoners and this may suggest it was done in retaliation for the prison abuse."

this may suggest it was done in retaliation for the prison abuse

I am glad to have some 'rationale' for this anyhow.

nt

nekkid could be confused with many things.

Orange jumpsuits are symbollic of only one.

There's a far more compelling alternate explanation, AFAIAC.

Mr. Conroy says people in security circles knew about the headless body and the orange jumpsuit, but unless he was a witness, he's only repeating what others have said, and they could have gotten their information from . . . . places like DU.

Confirmation denied.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43785-2004May20.html

Picture of a prisoner in an orange suit at Abu Ghraib—different from both Berg and Gitmo clothing, though. Comparing the Abu Ghraib suit with the Gitmo suit--the former is longsleeved and appears to have an open front. The Gitmo suit is shortsleeved, v-necked and is a much more reddish orange.

The color of the Abu Ghraib suit is more like Berg's, but the top of the latter has a notch-neck and shorter, wider sleeves.

Comparing the Abu Ghraib suit with the Gitmo suit would suggest that there is no US armed forces-wide standard for these suits.

:shrug:

Something is very odd about the Berg story.

sorry :D

A death as important as this is usually verified first by m.d.s, then confirmed by others within the military who are in a capacity to do so. There's a team in place which examines all bodies of interest and confirms or denies identities. They don't make such proclamations public, at all, ever so far as I know except when they're denying things, but they're a social lot and inclined to talkativeness. I think it's difficult to do such things without mentioning it.

A big part of the rough-up in Afghanistan had to do with re-piecing bodies together. We met them mostly remotely, with high explosives that shuffle the mortal coil in very random ways, so it was a bit like putting Humpty together again. That's about everything I know, and I'll likely go to jail if I say I know it for sure.

I wasn't there, and I can't say I know for sure. But why the hell would people lie about that sort of crazy shit to a dupe like me?

if you look to the left on the floor you will see an orange jumpsuit laying on the floor. Now I caught that pretty quick. Very odd.

rather fits with the description of the treatment of many prisoners there (making them strip naked and remain that way).

I've never heard that. Do you have a link?

google +nick +berg +same +day +found

Here's just one link of many, an AP report dated today:

http://www.oudaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/05/19/40aaa5f0b3110

I let this thread get away from me, didn't check back, sorry. Thanks again.

Wasn't there some confusion about when the body was found (over the weekend versus on Monday). Today in the fly-by report of the arrest of his killers, they said his body was found 10 days ago. That would have been a Saturday.

I am really curious if they found the head. The original report of the discovery of his body (someone posted it in another thread), that was written prior to the tape being released, said there were signs of trauma. I find that an odd way to describe the decapitated body.

Another thing that keeps nagging me is the quotes saying he felt that accepting the offer for a flight home was too dangerous. Whereas hitching a ride with new found friends is safe? Or even being there at any point was safe? That is unless we are interpreting that wrong. So imagine with it for a minute:

Let's say for instance, Mr Berg has stumbled into something others wish he would not have stumbled into. Word gets out. Word gets out further and they declare his father & son(by virtue of the company name) an enemy (I'm not sure when that was posted. However, I did read something where the freep list was longer than the ANSWER list and someone had inquired how the additional names had come about...never did see a follow up). Keeping in mind he was already trying to leave (but he was detained). You'd think he'd be anxious to accept the offer, but no. Perhaps, Mr Berg doesn't want to be in small plane, as we so often joke among ourselves.

We know his parents were trying to find him during his detention. We know they filed a complaint to have him released. Furthermore, we know he did contact them afterward (or we think we know these things). What isn't mentioned was what were they doing from the time he was released until his body was discovered. Were they back in contact with the consulate? Where the petitioning the government? Were they just laying back thinking he'd surface?

Have they recovered any of his personal belongings? equipment?

Why did Powell feel compelled to scold other nations for not condemning the tape, when they had.

But most of all, why has it became so silent so fast??

The usefullnes for war propaganda has been passed for the Right Wing. Now the speculation is coming to some above ground Media and the Right Wing sure doesn't want to have that as a talkin point.

It was a low-res clip that didn't show Berg talking. It just showed a motionless person sitting in a chair, then someone kicked over the chair and someone else cut off the head. The whole time, there was no evident reaction from the person in the chair.

He wasn't sitting in a chair that was kicked over. He was sitting on the floor while the statement was being read and then pushed over. Is there more than one video of this??

If so, why and which one would be the "real" one?

...if he was drugged. He seemed strangely still while sitting on the floor when that guy was reading. He seemed to stare straight ahead and hardly move. Maybe he was just utterly terrified but when you mentioned an autopsy it reminded me that I was thinking the same thing just yesterday and wondering if there had been any sort of toxicology test done.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Berg_conspiracy_theories#Suspicious_aspects_of_the_decapitation_video

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Berg

and this...

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/5/15/22827/0477

His family were not permitted to view the body after it was returned to the United States.???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Berg_conspiracy_theories#Suspicious_aspects_of_the_decapitation_video

onto Dover AFB to meet the body when it was deplaned.