Nick Berg

[Christy]

Okay, yes, it's horrifying that he was beheaded, but his parent's are really starting to p!ss me off.

1. Nick Berg goes off to Iraq on his own, under no orders (hence protection) from the US government.

2. Iraqi police arrest him because they wonder what the heck he is doing over there.

3. Dad files a lawsuit because they are violating his "Civil Rights". (get a clue dad, Iraq is a war zone, not the suburbs of PA)

4. FBI visits family to figure out why the heck he's over there. Iraqi police release him and send him on his way.

5. US says, "hey, you really should get out of here, how about we help you get home". Mr. Berg says thanks but no thanks.

6. Al Quaida gets him and you know the rest of the story.

Now dad (who's always been opposed to the US "invasion" of Iraq) is p!ssed off at who you ask? Al Quaida? Why no, he's ticked off at the US gov't, because his pretzel logic has deduced that it was the US gov't's responsibility to protect him. UFB.

 

[crabcake]

Originally posted by Christy
Now dad (who's always been opposed to the US "invasion" of Iraq) is p!ssed off at who you ask? Al Quaida? Why no, he's ticked off at the US gov't, because his pretzel logic has deduced that it was the US gov't's responsibility to protect him. UFB.

I have to agree ... It was his choice to be there ... He had to know the risks ... he wasn't on orders from the military ... state department has had travel advisories out for that region forever ... :shrug:

Dad is just looking for an outlet for his pain, I think. If I knew that 200 million folks could download a video of my kid being beheaded by a foriegn government's poor excuse for a military, I'd probably be pretty too and trying to find anyone to hold accountable. Once I got my head screwed on straight though (pardon the pun), I think I'd be able to accept the fact it wasn't the gov'ts fault ... it's all part of that "make choices; accept the consequences" deal. just like that treehugger who got bulldozed when she wouldn't step aside ...

 

[Nickel]

I agree, I think it's unfortunate that this is getting so much press. And conversely, the government keeps reiterating that they told him to leave and he refused. Somehow it's all overshadowing the fact that someone was executed. If it hadn't been him, it would've been someone else, so who cares why he was there? He's an adult, he made his own decisions, his parents should get over that and start grieving him properly...in private.

 

[mainman]

Has it been established WTF he was doing there?

 

[sleuth]

Originally posted by Christy
Okay, yes, it's horrifying that he was beheaded, but his parent's are really starting to p!ss me off.

1. Nick Berg goes off to Iraq on his own, under no orders (hence protection) from the US government.

2. Iraqi police arrest him because they wonder what the heck he is doing over there.

3. Dad files a lawsuit because they are violating his "Civil Rights". (get a clue dad, Iraq is a war zone, not the suburbs of PA)

4. FBI visits family to figure out why the heck he's over there. Iraqi police release him and send him on his way.

5. US says, "hey, you really should get out of here, how about we help you get home". Mr. Berg says thanks but no thanks.

6. Al Quaida gets him and you know the rest of the story.

Now dad (who's always been opposed to the US "invasion" of Iraq) is p!ssed off at who you ask? Al Quaida? Why no, he's ticked off at the US gov't, because his pretzel logic has deduced that it was the US gov't's responsibility to protect him. UFB.

I was thinking the same thing listening to his family on the news last night. Blame the killers, dad. Not the guys who offered him a free ride home.

 

[Pete]

Originally posted by Christy
Okay, yes, it's horrifying that he was beheaded, but his parent's are really starting to p!ss me off.

1. Nick Berg goes off to Iraq on his own, under no orders (hence protection) from the US government.

2. Iraqi police arrest him because they wonder what the heck he is doing over there.

3. Dad files a lawsuit because they are violating his "Civil Rights". (get a clue dad, Iraq is a war zone, not the suburbs of PA)

4. FBI visits family to figure out why the heck he's over there. Iraqi police release him and send him on his way.

5. US says, "hey, you really should get out of here, how about we help you get home". Mr. Berg says thanks but no thanks.

6. Al Quaida gets him and you know the rest of the story.

Now dad (who's always been opposed to the US "invasion" of Iraq) is p!ssed off at who you ask? Al Quaida? Why no, he's ticked off at the US gov't, because his pretzel logic has deduced that it was the US gov't's responsibility to protect him. UFB.

Although his death was horrible I wondered WTF he was doing there. I figure he saw a chance to rake in some big bucks and went solo, without benefit of protection hoping to hit the mother load. His death was barbaric and horrible but he is just as dead as if he had been shot. Risk takers like this get very little pity from me. I think it is terrible and barbaric that he died but hey he should have known.

 

[Toxick]

Originally posted by mainman
Has it been established WTF he was doing there?

Trying to land contracting deals.

The guy was a self-employed contractor who works on radio towers and the like. He's actually worked on WHFS and WPGC towers in this area.

He went over there to see if he could help work on the radio towers and such.

I gotta say, it takes a man-sized pair of cojones to try and do the entrepreneur thing in a war zone where he doesn't speak the language.

 

[mainman]

Originally posted by Toxick
I gotta say, it takes a man-sized pair of cojones to try and do the entrepreneur thing in a war zone where he doesn't speak the language.

So honestly it is safe to say, that he is dead as a result of his own greed and stupidity...:shrug:

 

[Sharon]

Originally posted by mainman
Has it been established WTF he was doing there?

Berg was in Iraq as a freelance contractor working to repair communications antennae. Berg owned a communications equipment company, Prometheus Methods Tower Service Inc.

 

[sleuth]

Originally posted by mainman
So honestly it is safe to say, that he is dead as a result of his own greed and stupidity...:shrug:

I don't know if you can say that. I haven't heard yet whether he was doing it for the noble reasons of wanting to help out his fellow man by providing skills they may not have, or if he was doing it to drum up business.

 

[Christy]

Originally posted by sleuth14
I don't know if you can say that. I haven't heard yet whether he was doing it for the noble reasons of wanting to help out his fellow man by providing skills they may not have, or if he was doing it to drum up business.

He was out for a quick buck.

 

[sleuth]

Originally posted by cariblue
Oh please. There are companies all over the world bidding on contracts to rebuild (and get rich) Iraq. There are procudures for this.

I'm just sayin'. :shrug: It hasn't been said yet what his true motivation for being there was.

Was he there to make a quick buck? A good chance yeah.
Was he there to help out his fellow man? I dunno, definitely a possibility.
Was he there because he thought he could make a quick buck while helping out his fellow man? Well, we might be real close right there.

 

[Toxick]

Does it really matter why he was there, or whether his motiviation was good-will toward man or a paycheck?


If he was the greediest SOB on the Eastern Seaboard, and he was in Iraq to see if he could pick up on some of those hottie Haliburton technicians, get a gay marriage license, so that they could set up a love nest outside of Baghdad and raise a nice family of gay camels, does it matter?


It wasn't the brightest thing for him to go over there. It definitely wasn't the brightest thing for him to refuse a free ticket home.





As far as I'm concerned, the only blame for this butchery points at al-Qaeda. Not Lynndie England, not Bush or Rumsfeld, not even Nick Berg, himself.

 

[sleuth]

Originally posted by Toxick
As far as I'm concerned, the only blame for this butchery points at al-Qaeda. Not Lynndie England, not Bush or Rumsfeld, not even Nick Berg, himself.

Here Here!

 

[crabcake]

I wonder ...

Is it possible (of course it is ) that there is more to the Berg killing than we know?

For instance, take the guy's haircut and facial hair style in the pics and video. Awfully "islamic" looking, don't ya think? Do our civilians routinely go over there and adopt their head and facial hair practices for themselves?

Kinda make me wonder if they didn't just kill the kid b/c they were trying to be Big Dogs and "show the U.S." ... maybe the kid was trying pretend to fit in with them, make nice, I dunno ... I know those folks don't discriminate between military and civilian people when choosing victims ... just seems strange to me that the kid had such a middle eastern appearance.

 

[FromTexas]

Re: I wonder ...

Originally posted by tatercake
Is it possible (of course it is ) that there is more to the Berg killing than we know?

For instance, take the guy's haircut and facial hair style in the pics and video. Awfully "islamic" looking, don't ya think? Do our civilians routinely go over there and adopt their head and facial hair practices for themselves?

Kinda make me wonder if they didn't just kill the kid b/c they were trying to be Big Dogs and "show the U.S." ... maybe the kid was trying pretend to fit in with them, make nice, I dunno ... I know those folks don't discriminate between military and civilian people when choosing victims ... just seems strange to me that the kid had such a middle eastern appearance.

He had been in an Iraqi police detention shortly before for a couple weeks. He was kidnapped rigth after. He may not have had access to a haircut and shave in all those weeks.

 

[crabcake]

Re: Re: I wonder ...

Originally posted by FromTexas
He had been in an Iraqi police detention shortly before for a couple weeks. He was kidnapped rigth after. He may not have had access to a haircut and shave in all those weeks.

I'm sure he didn't ... but for an American's head and facial hair to grow out a bit, and "ironically" grow into the exact same style/shape as that of those islamic extremist/terrorist/cleric dudes is a little hard to believe too.

 

[sleuth]

Re: Re: Re: I wonder ...

Originally posted by tatercake
I'm sure he didn't ... but for an American's head and facial hair to grow out a bit, and "ironically" grow into the exact same style/shape as that of those islamic extremist/terrorist/cleric dudes is a little hard to believe too.

You trying to say he's the Iraq version of Johnny Walker Lindh or whatever the American Taliban's name was?

I dunno.. if I was walking around Iraq without the protection of the US military, I'd probably grow my facial hair out too.

Would draw less attention to yourself... especially from a distance...

 

[crabcake]

Re: Re: Re: Re: I wonder ...

Originally posted by sleuth14
You trying to say he's the Iraq version of Johnny Walker Lindh or whatever the American Taliban's name was?

I dunno.. if I was walking around Iraq without the protection of the US military, I'd probably grow my facial hair out too.

Would draw less attention to yourself... especially from a distance...

perhaps I dunno ... just don't see too many civilian contractors doing that, and they're getting mauled just as much as Berg did.

 

[FromTexas]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: I wonder ...

Originally posted by tatercake
perhaps I dunno ... just don't see too many civilian contractors doing that, and they're getting mauled just as much as Berg did.

Well, they put him into an orange jumpsuit like the detainees in Guantanamo. Maybe they shaved and cut his hair the way they wanted, too. :shrug: