Al-Qaeda Claims To Behead American — On Video
CAIRO, Egypt – A video posted Tuesday on an Islamic militant Web site showed the beheading of an American civilian in Iraq, and said the execution was carried out by an al-Qaida affiliated group to avenge the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers.
The video showed five men wearing headscarves and black ski masks, standing over a bound man in an orange jumpsuit — similar to a prisoner’s uniform — who identified himself as Nick Berg, a U.S. contractor whose body was found on a highway overpass in Baghdad on Saturday.
“My name is Nick Berg, my father’s name is Michael, my mother’s name is Susan,” the man said on the video. “I have a brother and sister, David and Sarah. I live in … Philadelphia.”
After reading a statement, the men were seen pulling the man to his side and putting a large knife to his neck. A scream sounded as the men cut his head off, shouting “Allahu Akbar!” — “God is great.” They then held the head out before the camera.
Berg was a small-business owner from the Philadelphia suburbs, his family said Tuesday.
Berg’s family said they knew their son had been decapitated, but didn’t know the details of the killing. When told of the video by an Associated Press reporter, Berg’s father, Michael, and his two siblings hugged and cried.
Note that there is no confirmation yet if the victim on the tape really was Berg — though his parents confirm that he had been killed by beheading before the tape surfaced.
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Comments
Sandy Smith
May 11, 2004
2:55 pm
Stuff like that makes me want to capture the nearest imam spouting “kill the infidel” and televise much the same treatment.
Unfortunately, we’ve sort of been doing that at Abu Ghraib and it didn’t make the world any safer.
So I eventually recover my senses and just realize that it’s sad and there’s nothing good coming of it.
Heidi
May 11, 2004
3:46 pm
I think this is the first thing I’ve read about the war that just jolted me to tears. I know there’s a lot of needless blood being shed….but for some reason…this one hits home. Well, it hits me in the heart just as much as all the other ones should have, I guess :'(
Beckie
May 12, 2004
12:55 am
I’m not trying to defend the abuse pics out recently, but if you look at them closely it almost looks as if the prisoners are cooperating?They are clean, and do not look frightened. The soldiers appear too playful to be seriously abusing the prisoners. Also, the guns are clean and look like they have never seen battle, and there are some other clues that make me think this. Regardless, the pics are humiliating and the soldiers should be punished to the fullest extent. Regarding the recent murder of Nick Berg…it just absolutely disgusts me. These Iraqis have no regard for human life(DUH!), not even their own people? I guess we just need to reevaluate the type of soldiers we put in these prisons and make sure things are the way they’re supposed to be, However that is? Everything is just so bad, I don’t really even know what I think. I do know that we are barely earning any respect from the Iraqis, and now…we probably never will. I thought we were helping free their country? Now I’m not so sure.We have a disturbing way of showing it.
Brandon
May 12, 2004
6:00 am
The whole thing with the pictures is far different from the way people are preceiving it. In order to look at them the way they should be looked at, you need to listen to the sides of both parties. As for right now, the news media is completely democratic (which is strange seeing that it is primarily made up of republicans, but the news is reported democratically) and no one is listening to th republican aspect of this. I do not and will never associate myself with any party, but i have to side with the republicans here. The turks stopped an 80,000 (?) person terrorist act involving the hijacking of tanker trucks by Al Queda members. In order to get information for this, they humiliated the Iraqi soldiers and saved 80,000(?) lives. Now, we are dealing with a religion (because whether you want to believe it or not, this is a religious war) that is based around death. It is a good thing to die for your god, so the basic torture of threatening death does not work here. They wont give us any information if we use traditional methods of torture to these POW’s. The methods the soldiers used were against the law and considered war crimes, so basically what happened is this religion found a loophole in the system. We have ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to get information from any POW’snow because we are sitting here APPOLOGIZING for trying to save our people. We weren’t doing anything terribly wrong! this is honestly absurd. Does anyone understand that these prisoners are murderers of american soldiers. They took the lives of our people and if we let them not talk their friends and family will take more of our lives? Does anyone see that NONE OF THE DETAINEES were innocent people taken off the street? They all had attempted to kill Americans, killed americans, or have the ability to kill americans. Does anyone look past the media and say “wait a minute, they are threatening to kill of our whole nation and if they Bush administration sits back and appologizes, then they will defeat us because we cant get information from them.”
And the the tape. Honestly, the big news networks can go to hell for BELIEVING and REPORTING as if it were true that they were only beheading Nick Berg because the treatment of their people in that prison…THAT IS A LIE! They did it to the Jewish reporter before any of these pictures or reports of ill treatment came out. IT WAS THE SAME EXACT VIDEO with a different person. WHERE is the mention of that video in this news media??? you dont see it…why? because we are siding with the enemy. We are over there trying to fight a war and our own administration (the people who began the war, the democrats who want to gain power so they can pull our troops out with the drop of a hat and then cut funding to the military in order to drop taxes) is siding with the people that we are fighting against. If these soldiers are kicked out of the military and punished for this, you can kiss your country goodbye. If you see them get punished and then Kerry takes office, you wont even have time to pucker up and kiss this country goodbye. he will pull the army right out of there and then cut the funding and they will just nuke the hell out of us until there is nothing left. Doesnt anyone see the situation we are in here? It’s time to strengthen up and go in there with guns blazing and just get rid of the enemy. What are we appologizing for?
david kelly
May 12, 2004
7:44 am
Good God! The prisoners appear clean and to enjoy being humiliated? This is a ‘religious war’? Guys, at the heart of all this is a regard for basic human rights. How can anyone defend a breach of human rights which is so blatant. If the shoe was on the Iraqui as opposed to the American foot would we ever hear the end of the bleating by Rumsfeld and Bush and the rest of your government? Please, realise that there is a wider world, one which recognises that to stand in judgement you must have a clean sheet. The war is about territory, oil, strategy. It’s not a war. It was an invasion with no answer. If it was about Democracy, why are the Iraqi’s not back in control of their own country? Why have basics such as power, water and so forth not been put back in place after the bombing?
Time to see Bush and his government for the war mongers they are. Who is the terrorist?
Kris
May 12, 2004
8:26 am
Wake up and smell the shit! The longer we wait, the more difficult it will be to solve this problem that is like a cancer to this world. Okay, now a lot of people will say: Racist! I say: Open your eyes! Those people aren’t afraid to die for their religion, or for their ‘so called’ holy war against the Western world. They are brought up with the belief that we are evil and a threat! They are brainwashed (and being brainwashed by themselves) and it is only getting worse. For many people, this war is not even real, because they see it on television and is far, far away from them, thus no problem… But many of our troops have died, and risking their lives every day there! Many of our civilians have died on 09/11! and so on… It will keep getting worse, does no one realise this! I know there is no easy solution for this. But i just had to say this… “An insane man in an even more insane world”
lauri
May 12, 2004
8:57 am
I would have to say that I agree with Brandon and Kris – what if these troops getting killed and beheaded were YOUR brother or sister. And what if one of the thousands of people that were killed on 9/11 were YOUR family or friends ????? How would you feel then ? I will tell you how you would feel and it is not like the post from David Kelly. Think about it !!!!
Elena
May 12, 2004
9:11 am
Does anyone realize that Nick Berg was not a soldier, but a businessman in Iraq there to make money???? He had no business being in a war zone. This certainly does not excuse or condone murder (which is what this was) but people, get a little perspective.
As far as 9-11 goes, what does Iraq have to do with it??? I don’t remember any Iraqis on the plane. Saudis seemed to be the hijackers/murderers.
Bottom line, we’re there for the oil. We have no business trying to convert a culture thousands of years in existence. Businessmen (and wommen) have no business there. Let the Iraqis rebuld their country. They are educated and smart. We don’t need civilians there.
Dru
May 12, 2004
9:18 am
I think that indeed, the acts that occurred at the Abu Ghraib prision was deplorable, inhumane, insensitive, and just plain out wrong. But these men and women were not violently slaughtered. Their deaths were not broadcast to a world all too eager to see violence and hate being strewn across the lines of communication.
Granted, the pictures have been shown by the media, which demonizes the American forces for such acts, but that same media thought of the families and censored the faces and genetailia to not allow any further humiliation to the prisioners and their families.
Nick Berg was forced to read that he had a family, forced to name those people loved, and then slain brutally while the killer called his god “Great.”
I certainly hope Allah feels the blood on his hands. And I certainly hope that he weeps for his misbegotten children, the ones who both swear by the Cor’an and at the same time break it’s words of peace.
It’s sad to say, but this truly is a Holy War. All wars need their Martyrs. I’m just saddened that we’re feeding our soldiers and business-people left and right to a culture that would very much so like to make martyrs out of them.
Oh, and by the way, I’m not Islamic. I am Roman-Catholic. I haven’t been a practicing RC in a long time. But things like this makes me start to fear for my soul, and at the same time, know that I’m least going to have a longer wait to get into Hell, because some people are much further ahead of me in line.
Jason Lefkowitz
May 12, 2004
9:49 am
Brandon wrote,
“Does anyone see that NONE OF THE DETAINEES were innocent people taken off the street? They all had attempted to kill Americans, killed [A]mericans, or have the ability to kill [A]mericans.”
In his report (Section 2, paragraph 24), General Taguba writes,
“The screening, processing, and release of detainees who should not be in custody takes too long and contributes to the overcrowding and unrest in the detention facilities… According to [Brigadier General] Karpinski, this category of detainee makes up more than 60% of the total detainee population, and is the fastest growing category.”
So 60%+ of the detainees at Abu Ghraib were, in fact, not people who had “killed Americans” or “attempted to kill Americans”, but people who had been mistakenly detained.
The system to get such people out of the prison was just incredibly inefficient, so they were stuck there for a long time, crowding up the facility — and being exposed to the abuses of the MPs and intelligence staff.
The Taguba Report is full of interesting little facts like that. If you think that the conduct at Abu Ghraib is justified because Arabs are Out To Get Us, I suggest giving it a read:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4894001/
Lewis Jones
May 12, 2004
10:50 am
It seems as though Republicans and their like are just as fanatical about there beliefs and ideology, look at Vietnam look at the Cold War. America should keep it’s nose out of other countries business, Pre-emptive for gods sake… Who walks down the street beating up anyone who they think is out to get them, this kind of justice is bound to provoke this kind of response. Me, I’d call it Karma when you exploit others to futher your own selfish goals it’s bound to come back to you. All we hear about is the thousands of American civilians who were killed, what about the millions of Vietnamese civilians the hundreds of thousands of Iraqie civilians, talk about a double standard. There loss is acceptable as our goal is pure and true, who is the fanatic again? Violence only breeds more violence. Open your eyes America and consider other points of view, I thought that was what democracy was all about, this blinkered nature will be the death of all of us.
lex
May 12, 2004
11:10 am
Can anyone send me the link of the actual video?
ryan
May 12, 2004
11:19 am
has anyone seen the actual video all the way thru?
Claudio
May 12, 2004
11:35 am
Bush is harvesting just what he sown. If he wanted to go there, this deaths are just his responsability. If USA is still convinced that they represent the whole world, if they think they are necessary in Iraq to reach the peace, if they think they are the good guys and iraquis the bad ones, they sre wrong. USA is becoming alone, so they HAVE to leave Iraq, otherwise the Army is going to return inside death bags.
Jason
May 12, 2004
11:50 am
If you would like to see the video, you can see it at this site:
http://www.alittlemoretotheright.com/
I think it is important to see it as an American.. to understand what we are dealing with and to understand Evil.
L. Jones
May 12, 2004
12:01 pm
How can you view the world in such black and white terms, there is no such thing as good and Evil, human action comes with reasoning and purpose not just to be “Evil”
Cause and effect, everything happens for a reason.
David
May 12, 2004
12:58 pm
Bush thought he had it all worked out. He could slipstream off the sentiment generated by 9/11, attack Iraq and the whole world would jump on board because everyone hated Saddam. And he could distract us from the fact he had only one unoriginal idea, a tax cut, on how to turn around the economy. And all at once he could avenge Cheney’s failings as Secretary of Defense and his Daddy’s attempted assassination by Saddam, hand big business millions in Iraq-related contracts, and set himself and Cheney up to accept millions as “consultants” to Halliburton after their terms ended. Our president is a simple-minded, condescending, spoiled Momma’s boy who’s been playing with Daddy’s money his entire life and has never had to answer to anyone but his parents. We’re all tired of the lies and patronization. Hundreds of Americans, both civilian and military, are dead, thousands are permanently injured, hundreds of thousands more live in Iraq in fear every day and have been away from their families for too long, and not one of us is “safer”. We should strap Bush to a “nuc-u-lar” weapon and launch it towards Osama’s cave, then move on with the business of recovering from the travesty he has created.
john
May 12, 2004
2:26 pm
can anyone send me the actual link to the nick berg video
JW
May 12, 2004
3:13 pm
http://www.ogrish.com for the video
Hasieb
May 12, 2004
4:30 pm
People people, lets expand our horizon, okay on sept 7, ahmad shaw masood was killed, he was an afghan hero who tried to warn America about terrorism, and made many attempts to get America to help by boosting the Taliban and Al quieda out of Afghanistan, Ahmad shaw masood tries and pleas and warns America of terrorist attacks, on sept 7, 2 al queda member pose as a news crew plant a bomb in a video camera and assasinate Ahmad Shaw masood, 4 days before sept 11, so America goes to afghanistan and help get the taliban out, who are moastly pakistani, arabian and cechnian, not afghans, though there are some, but only because they either join them or are killed by them. Now, afghanistan is left incomplete, and they move to iraq, that is just sloppy work, afghanistan isnt done, and they already jumped into iraq, i mean iraq was not even as bad as afghanistan, at least iraq has a political structure, no weapons or anything, but yet, they still attacked iraq, the problem with America is that they didnt organize this war enough, i mean these prisoner pictures are not helping america, its juss giving the iraqis more hype on attackin Us soliders, America just entered a war that was unnessary, also the iraqi people are not custom with beurocracy, because they dont like going through people, they have never had that kind of system so chances are there not gonna get that worked out, but thats juss my input
Kristina
May 12, 2004
6:08 pm
I just watched the video. I watched it because, like most people, I need to see things to fully comprehend them. Well, it is horrible. You see things on the internet much like this, and yeah, its disturbing but this video made me sick. I’m still shakey and dizzy and queasy from it. I used to be a frequent visitor to web sites such as ogrish.com(which has the video) and rotten.com, not because im demented, just because well, it almost intriuges me. but watching it happen to someone literally from the next city from me and well it just made me sick. and sad. it would be horrible to find out someone close to me was frikkin beheaded, then to find out theres a video of it? i dont care why they did it, whether it was revenge or anti-semitism, it was awful, but we’ve made the world a terrible place, all of us, american, iraqi, all of us did it, and now we have to live in it. PS: DON’T VOTE FOR BUSH!!!!!
Rob
May 12, 2004
8:42 pm
Congress is worried about naked dogs with panties on their heads when a US citizen is videotaped being beheaded for the world to see???
Trying to win the hearts and minds of people who have neither is absurd!!
Our government is so top heavy with supervisors and managers and assistants to the assistants, maybe as top heavy as the company you work for?
YOU ARE ONLY DOING YOUR JOB????!!! YOU’RE FIRED!!
REAL AMERICANS DO EVERYTHING IT TAKES. WE HELP EACH OTHER, WE GET INVOLVED..
QUIT BEING COMPLACENT…An armed man is a citizen, an unarmed man is a subject…..
Robert
May 12, 2004
9:07 pm
A simple assaination of Saddam would have
been enough,,but no,,we can’t break the “rules
of warfare”…….if there ever was an oxy-moron
that one takes the cake.
Its unrealistic to think we could ever change
the face of Iraq by invading it.
Instead,we lose and take many lives,and for what?
I’ve seen the images of “so called” torture by
allied and american troops.
And those responsible should be horsewhipped!
The Iraqies didn’t kill Berg,,the media did.
Think about it,and tell me I’m wrong?
And how many times are we influanced by what we
see,,all our lives,and everyday of it.
Believe half of what you see,and none of what
you hear.
If those images of what we did to the iraqies
never were taken,do you think Berg would have
been murdered for all to see?
Life is a very big puzzle,don’t be fooled by
just one piece of it.
Peter
May 13, 2004
12:37 am
Reading some of these comments I find it amazing how successful this administration has been at blending 9/11 and Iraq in people’s minds. There has been no evidence of any operational link between Al Qaeda and Saddam, in fact Saddam in all his horror felt as threatened by radical Islam as other regimes in the region and long before we did in the West. Yet it all gets mixed up now and presented as part of the war on terrorism or even “holy war” (in Iraq Islamic militancy is the consequence, and not the cause of the US occupation). If we don’t want to get sucked further into this stew (Iran or Syria next?) we need to get our objectives straight. Apart from the deliberately vague references to an Al Qaeda connection the ostensible justification for the Iraq invasion was WMD. When it became apparent that there weren’t any around, the new songbook was that we were doing a humanitarian job by liberating these people from tyrrany (by the way, if that were the objective, we could do a lot better by invading Sudan in order to prevent the genocide there right before our eyes — I haven’t seen any such humanitarian impulse from the Bush administration so far). Now commentators such as “Rob” (further up) conclude that these people — and he seems to refer collectively to the Arab world including Iraq — have no such thing as hearts and minds that could be won. So shall we just nuke them? If so, why are we there in the first place?
Tom
May 13, 2004
6:07 pm
“he will pull the army right out of there and then cut the funding and they will just nuke the hell out of us until there is nothing left.”
Uhhh, yea… about that, we have WAY more fucking nukes, that won’t be a problem, we could nuke the entire country, America is too big for them to do that to us, they’d be dead before they launched their last missile, and i’m siding with Kerry on this one, and those prisoners aren’t being treated any worse than American prisoners (in American prisons, not over seas)
Tom
May 13, 2004
6:11 pm
“Many of our civilians have died on 09/11!”
Dumbass. You’ve been brainwashed by media. 9/11 wasn’t Iraq, it was Bin Laden an the Taliban.
Tom
May 13, 2004
6:14 pm
Peter, your my hero, i’m glad some Americans aren’t complete dumbasses, if only our president wasn’t…
jamal
May 16, 2004
2:15 am
what comes around goes around
james pearson
June 20, 2004
1:16 pm
im 13 an i come from wales and i know George Bush should make the soldiers leave Iraq otherwise mor people will get beheaded this is sick and so i George Bush
dalroba
July 17, 2008
12:56 am
I see that there are some of you with a brain. Bush is an ass with a goal in mind for Afganistan poppies and Iranian oil – many innocent people have been killed because of this – not sure who drives bush but many lives lost on account of this.