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Pa. family angry with American government over son's brutal death


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Pa. family angry with American government over son's brutal death

By JASON STRAZIUSO

The Associated Press

5/11/2004, 5:01 p.m. ET

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — The family of an American civilian shown beheaded on an Islamic militant Web site huddled in in tears Tuesday after learning of the existence of the graphic videotape.

The video showed Nick Berg, 26, in a staged execution carried out by an al-Qaida affiliated group. The video said the killing was to avenge the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers.

"My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my mother's name is Suzanne," the man said on the video before being killed. "I have a brother and sister, David and Sara. I live in ... Philadelphia."

Berg's family said U.S. State Department officials on Monday had told them Berg was decapitated. The family, though, had wanted that information to remain private.

When told about the Web site, Berg's father, brother and sister, grasped one another in a standing hug and slowly dropped to the ground, where they quietly shed a few tears while holding on to each other.

"I knew he was decapitated before," said the father, Michael Berg. "That manner is preferable to a long and torturous death. But I didn't want it to become public."

Michael Berg lashed out at the U.S. military and Bush administration, saying his son might still be alive had he not been detained by U.S. officials in Iraq without being charged and without access to a lawyer.

Nick Berg, a small telecommunications business owner, spoke to his parents on March 24 and told them he would return home on March 30. But Berg was detained by Iraqi police at a checkpoint in Mosul on March 24. He was turned over to U.S. officials and detained for 13 days.

His father, Michael, said his son wasn't allowed to make phone calls or contact a lawyer.

FBI agents visited Berg's parents in West Chester on March 31 and told the family they were trying to confirm their son's identity. On April 5, the Bergs filed suit in federal court in Philadelphia, contending that their son was being held illegally by the U.S. military. The next day Berg was released. He told his parents he hadn't been mistreated.

Michael Berg said he blamed the U.S. government for creating circumstances that led to his son's death. He said if his son hadn't been detained for so long, he might have been able to leave the country before the violence worsened.

Full Article

http://pennlive.com/newsflash/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-16/108430077760820.xml

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I guess they expected the US gov't to bend over backwards to get him out of there when they found out he wasn't al qaeda but they didn't. They did after all have him locked up for 2 weeks. The poor bastard wasn't a criminal. I don't know.. Sad either way. :(

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The gov't is playing word games now. They're saying they never had him in custody, even though the FBI visited him while he was there 3 times and the family filed a formal complaint with the Pennsylvania federal court. What a bunch of shit.

i heard that the Iraqi authorities had him...b/c of "suspicious behavior"....let me post the link from the Miami Forum, where we were talking about this...

http://63.250.36.153/showthread.php?p=2188759#post2188759

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i heard that the Iraqi authorities had him...b/c of "suspicious behavior"....let me post the link from the Miami Forum, where we were talking about this...

http://63.250.36.153/showthread.php?p=2188759#post2188759

Now the Iraqis are claiming never to even have him in custody. A lot of this story doesn't add up.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aG5McH7CsAvM&refer=us

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as everyone does i feel very bad for this guy. The question i keep asking myself is what was he doing there?

He was not military, or an independent contractor? I understand he was looking for work, but that place is a war zone, with people who hate us

I hate to say it but you go into that type of situation something bad is going to happen

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as everyone does i feel very bad for this guy. The question i keep asking myself is what was he doing there?

He was not military, or an independent contractor? I understand he was looking for work, but that place is a war zone, with people who hate us

I hate to say it but you go into that type of situation something bad is going to happen

he was a contractor. i dont know if he was by himself or with a company. i beleive he was assigned to help build a cable network.

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