I am shocked and horrified by the decapitation of Nicholas Berg in Iraq, but not for the chest-puffing reasons the folks at Fox News are. U.S. military proxies held Berg without charges for an extended period of time and there are too many questions about when he was released and who he might have been released to. I’m not one for conspiracy theories but there are real questions as to how Berg ended up in front of those anonymous, hooded butchers. Whatever the answers, the U.S. military is involved in his detention, as is the FBI (who made him miss a plane that was supposed to take him out of Iraq last month), as is the U.S. government back home who didn’t cooperate with his family to get him out of there.
My major piece on this is over on the main Nonviolence.org site: “US military proxies held Berg before decaptiation; who were his executioners?”:http://www.nonviolence.org/articles/000340.php
I’m sure to get even more hate mail than usual for this but I’ll also be watching the mainstream media coverage. I only know of many of these details because Berg was local and Channel 10 News gave background to Berg’s detention. Here’s my prediction from past experience: this story will be too hot for the mainstream media to question for a few days and then it will only be to report that there are some nutcases asking questions. Only after a few days of this kind of second-hand question will the national media drop the fascade and start asking the questions themselves. It should be a fun week ahead.
After reading about Nicholas Berg, I had some simalar questions. Wouldn’t you think that Our government is controlling a bit of the media there? This tragic event would certainly take focus off of some other recent tragic events and of course would really stir up some emotions. I certainly hope that ‘our’ country had nothing do with this, or 9/11 for that matter…What ever happens though, we can not succumb to the fear and hatered that is being attempted to be installed into each one of us. They WILL NOT succeed! Resist by loving and remaining compassionate.
The media questioning might be starting… A researcher for NPR just called.
Been reading a bit about conspiracy theories arising out the video. Although horrifying, the clock on the tape is interesting:
Apparently there were two cameras with almost an 11 hour difference on the time stamp.
Here’s the sequence from one camera from what I can make out:
Begin: 2:18:43
2:40:32 – 39
2:40:16
2:40:11 – 19
2:40:25 – 26
2:40:21 – 59
2:41:36
2:41:31 – 39
2:41:16
2:41:10 – 59
2:42:35
2:42:31 – 39
2:42:10 – 59
2:43:30 – 39
2:43:10 – 59
2:44:30 – 39
End: 2:44:16
The other camera from what I can tell initially ends at 13:26:27, picks up again at 13:45:47 – 53
13:45:59
13 – 46:00 – 33 (the camera time jumps weirdly at 13:46)
End 13:47:46 – 52
Also, is it possible to have video that blurry nowadays? Lastly, if you can stomach it, keep a close eye on the victim’s face as he gets pushed down. It seems to change from heavy to thin, and it looks like he loses the beard. Maybe I’m nuts but that’s a lot of editing.
Also check out: http://www.aztlan.net/fake_video.htm
Tragically, sadly, Nicholas Berg has reaped what George Bush has sown.
Thank God for the nutcases. I would like to give a donation to keep this and your nonviolence.org going. Ranter injects vitality to my dulled consciousness. It is easy to tune out and disbelieve everything in the established media, for the sake of saving your own soul from spinning and being spun, however you actually take the time to sift through that junk and try to find the underlying lies and raise questions. Thank God for the nut cakes out there.