[theknife]

without diminishing the atrocious nature of his death, there are various odd reports that have surfaced about his life....showing up in various war zones in the Middle East and Africa, discrepancies in his background, questionable sources of his personal finances, and, not the least of all, exactly what he was doing on Baghdad.

First, what has been given as Berg's college background and how he came to run a one-man communications firm seems a little strange if not outright preposterous. It was reported that Nick Berg attended four different colleges: the last was the University of Oklahoma where it is claimed he learned to install radio towers. But Berg never received a college diploma. Reality check: it is virtually impossible to obtain such technical work as installing radio towers without a Professional Engineering license, let alone not having a college degree! Some later media reports have downgraded Berg's occupation to either an installer or repairer of communication towers. Big difference!

The first reports of his life story said that Berg supported President Bush in the War on Terror and helped install communications equipment at the 2000 Republican convention in Philadelphia. The statement that Nicholas Berg is a Republican came from his father Michael Berg who just so happens to be a member of the off-the-charts anti-war group International ANSWER or ''Act Now, Stop the War, and End Racism.'' While children occasionally do not share the politics of their parents (I didn't), you have to wonder if telling the media that his kid was a Republican was something of a ruse to direct attention from Michael Berg's (and his son's?) true politics. During a Thursday radio interview, Michael Berg proclaimed that ''They (Al-Qaeda) killed their best friend.'' Huh?

Media reports have identified Michael Berg's company as Prometheus Methods Tower Service, Inc. Perhaps it is a mere coincidence that there is another company involved in the radio business with a similar name: the Prometheus Radio Project. The company's website describes its mission as ''a media activist group ….. connected to all struggles for more democratic communications'' and it provides links to such groups as the National Lawyers Guild Committee on Democratic Communications and Americans for Radio Diversity. Neither the names of Nicholas Berg or his company are mentioned on the website and neither is International ANSWER, although the politics seem similar. Hmm!

Then there are the two 2004 trips to Iraq. While most contractors travel directly to Baghdad, Nicholas Berg instead landed in Jordan and found his way by land into Iraq. If indeed Berg was a one-man contractor installing radio towers, it would seem difficult to get any work in Iraq without (a) initially consummating commitments while still in the United States and (b) having a link to a larger construction company such as Bechtel or (dirty word alert) Halliburton! As yet no radio towers have been identified that Nicholas Berg may have built or repaired while in Iraq on either trip.

We know that Nick Berg was bouncing around Iraq until he was detained either by Iraqi police or the U.S. Military in Mosul on March 24. I'll give his dad the benefit of the doubt here: Nicholas was definitely as being detained under Coalition auspices for any of the following suspicions:

a) He was loaded with electronics equipment, supposedly for his work on radio communications towers. Possessing sophisticated electronic gear in a war zone without producing any paperwork to prove that he is building or repairing radio towers probably set off alarm bells.

b) It was likely that Berg was on an FBI ''watch'' list. FBI agents interviewed Berg a few years ago when they were investigating the September 11 terrorist attacks because, apparently unbeknownst to him, Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker, had used his e-mail account when both were in Oklahoma. On Thursday, Fox News reported that the FBI dismissed the link between Berg and Moussaoui as ''coincidental'' and Attorney General John Ashcroft on Friday held a news conference to reiterate that Berg was not willfully involved with Moussaoui or any of his Muslim playmates who apparently were learning to fly planes into buildings while in Oklahoma in the same time period that Berg was there.

c) Speaking on condition of anonymity in one media report, a U.S. official said Iraqi authorities detained Berg ''for his own protection'' because his behavior in Mosul seemed unusual for a Westerner. Plus Berg who was Jewish, and had in his possession texts that were considered ''anti-Semitic'' in tone. One of his friends has been quoted as saying that the Iraqi Police thought Berg was an Israeli spy. To add insult to injury, Berg was also carrying some literature written in Farsi including a book about Iran, perhaps even the Koran.

d) On April 10, after he was released, Berg visited an Iraqi man who was once married to his aunt and helped him create an e-mail account. Question: did his former uncle have political ties that caused any suspicions for the Coalition?

e) Because he belongs to a farlLeft peace group and possibly was known to authorities, Nicholas Berg's father likely raised a red flag and was a possible reason that the FBI visited the family in suburban Philadelphia at least three times during the 13 days that Berg was detained.

On April 5, Michael Berg filed a lawsuit alleging that his son was being held illegally in Iraq. Either Iraqi Police or Coalition authorities released Nicholas Berg the following day. From both his e-mails and interviews with friends, we know that Berg was moving around Iraq through April 10. It is unclear what happened next. On Wednesday, State Department spokeswoman Kelly Shannon claimed that the U.S. consular extended an offer to assist Berg to depart Iraq by plane to Jordan. But according to his dad, Berg refused, believing that flying out of Baghdad airport was too dangerous and instead he wanted to try driving to Kuwait. In another published report, a friend said Berg wanted to leave by riding through Jordan. Driving in Jordan or to Kuwait when offered a plane ticket home makes no sense: since the fall of Saddam, Baghdad Airport--heavily guarded by coalition forces--is probably as safe as any place in Iraq.

Between April 10 and May 8, when his decapitated body was found in Baghdad, Nicholas Berg's whereabouts are unknown. In the speech seen on the grizzly video just before he was decapitated, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi indicated that he could have traded Berg for hostages being held by the coalition. If true, and believing a terrorist is always a stretch, one question arises among many: why was there no announcement through Al Jazeera or other friendly Arab media, similar to other hostages, that Berg was being held?

http://www.chronwatch.com/content/co...y.asp?aid=7391

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/me.../14/iraq.berg/

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald...8662395.htm?1c