virus: Nick Berg email I got
« on: 2004-05-14 21:57:58 »
This came from an anonymous source. Not saying I believe all of this, but... have any of you ever seen “The Life of David Gale?”. Maybe there's a parallel here?
Anyway:
------snip------
Many many things have come out of the Nick Berg situation. Ive learned that 1) The killer was wearing a gold ring...Muslim men cannot wear gold rings,in fact cannot touch gold at all. (2) His parents and friend seem to think that Nick was held my Us forces.Even Emails proving it are ignored by major media. (3) The posture of 'killers',mannerisms,bulletproof vests on them,suggest a 'thug' atmosphere,not Middle Eastern terrorists,and the ORANGE PRISONER suitwhich seems like the same ones issued at Abu Gharab...all fishy facts.Also colors of walls the same exact color of walls in Abu Gharab...Oh also the killers were White and Fat and recited from the piece of paper they were holding ina dialect that many in the Arab world say was poorly imitated.Oh also the chair Nick was sitting in was the SAME chair in a picture of Abu Gharab.See SAME CHAIR web site....http://marc.perkel.com/archives/000233.html
Oh,sorry,also the killers have WHITE SHOES on.just a little fishy (4) Nick seemed dead already,there was no movement from him at any time during the 'cutting'. (5) And also not much blood considering the amount that would come out from a beheading. (6) Nicks dad,Michael was put on a hate-list (much like the stupid calls you used to get).His dad was an advocate of the anti-war group,and was threatened weeks before this had happened. (7) The location of where Nick Berg was being 'detained' and what he was being detained for is still an unknown. ( His father,Michael, has been recently quoted in saying that 'I blame President Bush and Rumsfeld for my sons killing'
This is a story that wont go away i think.These parents wont forget how the army didnt answer questions and theyre son couldnt talk to a lawyer,then ends up in 'al-quaCIAda's' hands and gets shipped home in a box.
RE: virus: Nick Berg email I got
« Reply #1 on: 2004-05-15 00:06:26 »
....not to jump to conclusions but: two things i took note of when i saw the full video....
1. how absolutely, incredibly still he was whilst sitting in front of his killers.
2. no blood really seen. when his head was held up in front of the camera, for a few seconds, there was only one 'glop' of blood/tissue to fall from his severed neck, and absolutely none spewing from the actual moments of decapitation.
3. the video quality was incredibly poor.
4. he didnt seem to make any attempts to scream or open his mouth even when being forced down on his side or during the cutting.
....maybe this is just another 'we didnt land on the moon' theory, but i wouldnt throw it out the door just yet.
DrSebby. "Courage...and shuffle the cards".
----Original Message Follows---- From: "Erik Aronesty" <erik@zoneedit.com> Reply-To: virus@lucifer.com To: "Church of Virus" <virus@lucifer.com> Subject: virus: Nick Berg email I got Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 21:57:58 -0400
This came from an anonymous source. Not saying I believe all of this, but... have any of you ever seen “The Life of David Gale?”. Maybe there's a parallel here?
Anyway:
------snip------
Many many things have come out of the Nick Berg situation. Ive learned that 1) The killer was wearing a gold ring...Muslim men cannot wear gold rings,in fact cannot touch gold at all. (2) His parents and friend seem to think that Nick was held my Us forces.Even Emails proving it are ignored by major media. (3) The posture of 'killers',mannerisms,bulletproof vests on them,suggest a 'thug' atmosphere,not Middle Eastern terrorists,and the ORANGE PRISONER suitwhich seems like the same ones issued at Abu Gharab...all fishy facts.Also colors of walls the same exact color of walls in Abu Gharab...Oh also the killers were White and Fat and recited from the piece of paper they were holding ina dialect that many in the Arab world say was poorly imitated.Oh also the chair Nick was sitting in was the SAME chair in a picture of Abu Gharab.See SAME CHAIR web site....http://marc.perkel.com/archives/000233.html
Oh,sorry,also the killers have WHITE SHOES on.just a little fishy (4) Nick seemed dead already,there was no movement from him at any time during the 'cutting'. (5) And also not much blood considering the amount that would come out from a beheading. (6) Nicks dad,Michael was put on a hate-list (much like the stupid calls you used to get).His dad was an advocate of the anti-war group,and was threatened weeks before this had happened. (7) The location of where Nick Berg was being 'detained' and what he was being detained for is still an unknown. ( His father,Michael, has been recently quoted in saying that 'I blame President Bush and Rumsfeld for my sons killing'
This is a story that wont go away i think.These parents wont forget how the army didnt answer questions and theyre son couldnt talk to a lawyer,then ends up in 'al-quaCIAda's' hands and gets shipped home in a box.
"We think in generalities, we live in details"
RE: virus: Nick Berg email I got
« Reply #2 on: 2004-05-15 03:07:36 »
Erik Aronesty Sent: 15 May 2004 03:58 AM
This came from an anonymous source. Not saying I believe all of this, but... have any of you ever seen "The Life of David Gale?". Maybe there's a parallel here?
[Blunderov] You have done nothing to allay to dark suspicions that have been lurking in the back of my mind Erik. A black op? Naah can't be...
It struck me at the time I saw the video (not all of it - just the TX version) that Nick Berg seemed curiously immobile. I thought 'At least they drugged him'.
And I still can't find a translation of the tape.
Very peculiar. An American Jew wanders around Iraq, unescorted, for three months.
<snip> CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin reports U.S. officials said the FBI questioned Berg in 2002 after a computer password he used in college turned up in the possession of Zacarias Moussaoui, the al Qaeda operative arrested shortly before Sept. 11 for his suspicious activity at a flight school in Minnesota.
Moussaoui is now in federal custody and awaiting trial on conspiracy charges stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks.
"The suggestion that Mr. Berg was in some way involved in terrorist activity, or may have been linked in some way to terrorist activity, is a suggestion that we do not have any ability to support and we do not believe is a valid one," Ashcroft said at a news conference.
The 2002 investigation determined that an e-mail address once used by Berg apparently was obtained by the Moussaoui acquaintances while Berg was briefly an engineering student at the University of Oklahoma in 1999.
Berg, a small businessman who went to Iraq seeking a role in reconstruction, was found dead May 8. On May 11, an Islamic Web site posted video in which masked militants beheaded him. The CIA has identified the speaker in the video - the man who murdered Berg - as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a terrorist suspected in numerous attacks in Iraq.
In the wake of Berg's gruesome murder, the past link to Moussaoui seems a stranger-than-fiction coincidence - an American who inadvertently gave away his computer password to one suspected al Qaeda operative is later murdered by another notorious al Qaeda operative, Zarqawi.
The slain man's father, Michael Berg, told reporters that his son met Moussaoui while riding the bus to classes, and had allowed the suspect to use his computer.
But the 2002 FBI interview could explain the bureau's interest in Berg while he was detained by authorities in Iraq shortly before the militants kidnapped and killed him.
Berg was picked up on March 24 and released on April 6. The details of that detention are the subject of a dispute between the Berg family and the U.S. government.
The family contends Berg was detained by the U.S. military, and even filed suit seeking his release on April 5. The U.S. military says Iraqi police detained him. Iraqi police deny that.
To back its claims that Berg was in U.S. custody, the family gave The Associated Press copies of e-mails from Beth A. Payne, the U.S. consular officer in Iraq.
"I have confirmed that your son, Nick, is being detained by the U.S. military in Mosul. He is safe. He was picked up approximately one week ago. We will try to obtain additional information regarding his detention and a contact person you can communicate with directly," Payne wrote to Berg's father on April 1.
Payne repeated that Berg was "being detained by the U.S. military" in an e-mail the same day to Berg's mother, Suzanne. The next day, Payne wrote that she was still trying to find a local contact for the family, but added that "given the security situation in Iraq it is not easy."
The government says the e-mail from Payne was false. State Department spokeswoman Kelly Shannon said Payne's information came from the Coalition Provisional Authority. The authority did not tell Payne until April 7 that Berg had been held by Iraqi police and not the U.S. military, she said.
"As Mr. Berg had been released, the consular officer did not convey this information to the family because he was released, thankfully," Shannon said. "And we thought he was on his way."
Coalition spokesman Dan Senor said Wednesday that Iraqi police arrested Berg in Mosul on March 24 because local authorities believed he may have been involved in "suspicious activities."
In Mosul, police chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Khair al-Barhawi insisted Thursday that his department had never arrested Berg and maintained he had no knowledge of the case.
During his detention, Berg was questioned by FBI agents three times.
Berg is believed to have been kidnapped days after Iraqi police or coalition forces released him. The family has blamed the government for keeping him in custody for too long while anti-American violence escalated in Iraq.
Shortly before Berg's disappearance, he was warned by the FBI that Iraq was too volatile a place for unprotected American civilians and that he could be harmed, a senior FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday.
Officials said the U.S. government warned Berg to leave Iraq, and offered him a flight out of the country, a month before his grisly death.
The Bergs said they want to know if the government had received an offer to trade Iraqi prisoners for Nicholas Berg. On the videotape of his death, Berg's killers made a reference to a trade offer, but U.S. officials have said they knew of no such offer.
Michael Berg said he wanted to hear President Bush address the issue.
"I would like to ask him if it is true that al Qaeda offered to trade my son's life for the life of another person," Michael Berg said. "And if that is true, well, I need that information. . and I think the people of the United States of America need to know what the fate of their sons and daughters might be in the hands of the Bush administration." </snip>
RE: virus: Nick Berg email I got
« Reply #4 on: 2004-05-15 03:54:30 »
...this probably means nothing, but it's interesting that the two different sites i saw the video on, i found it impossible to fast forward it, replay little bits of it, or save it to my computer. just play it through from the beginning.
...the vid quality is soooo poor it's bizarre. one movement , a sort of shoulder shrugging is done about 3 times, but is oddly 'jerk-like'. there appears to be very very little blinking going on, but its so fuzzy that it could easily have been edited in.
....still skeptical, but interested in hearing more theories.
This came from an anonymous source. Not saying I believe all of this, but... have any of you ever seen "The Life of David Gale?". Maybe there's a parallel here?
[Blunderov] You have done nothing to allay to dark suspicions that have been lurking in the back of my mind Erik. A black op? Naah can't be...
It struck me at the time I saw the video (not all of it - just the TX version) that Nick Berg seemed curiously immobile. I thought 'At least they drugged him'.
And I still can't find a translation of the tape.
Very peculiar. An American Jew wanders around Iraq, unescorted, for three months.
"We think in generalities, we live in details"
RE: virus: Nick Berg email I got
« Reply #5 on: 2004-05-15 04:34:45 »
Dr Sebby Sent: 15 May 2004 09:55 AM To: virus@lucifer.com Subject: RE: virus: Nick Berg email I got
...this probably means nothing, but it's interesting that the two different sites i saw the video on, i found it impossible to fast forward it, replay little bits of it, or save it to my computer. just play it through from the
beginning.
...the vid quality is soooo poor it's bizarre. one movement , a sort of shoulder shrugging is done about 3 times, but is oddly 'jerk-like'. there appears to be very very little blinking going on, but its so fuzzy that it could easily have been edited in.
....still skeptical, but interested in hearing more theories.
[Blunderov] Yes. It was the lack of blinking that made me think drugs. And when the executioner pulled him over on to his left side by his hair, Berg looked as immobile as a dummy. He did not seem startled at the sudden assault; his head and eyes remained fixed on the camera.
Possibly he was paralysed with terror. But the eyes didn't move...
RE: virus: Nick Berg email I got
« Reply #6 on: 2004-05-15 06:59:29 »
....I also noticed (before considering that he had been in a v.sunny climate for a while) how pasty he looked. the best term i can come up with is "waxy".
....regardless if this is bullshit, it is also interesting to note that not one american news service has mentioned the possibility of it being fake.
....isn't it out of the ordinary for such an action to be denied by the local thugs? apparently they claim that the guy who supposedly wielded the knife was killed in march!? after the recent FCC strongarming by the bush cabinet, i really dont see our news as a credible source of much anymore.
....did you know that condaleeza rice has an oil tanker named after her? funny that that hasnt been mentioned in the 'news'. it would make a great 'human interest' story=)
Dr Sebby Sent: 15 May 2004 09:55 AM To: virus@lucifer.com Subject: RE: virus: Nick Berg email I got
...this probably means nothing, but it's interesting that the two different sites i saw the video on, i found it impossible to fast forward it, replay little bits of it, or save it to my computer. just play it through from the
beginning.
...the vid quality is soooo poor it's bizarre. one movement , a sort of shoulder shrugging is done about 3 times, but is oddly 'jerk-like'. there appears to be very very little blinking going on, but its so fuzzy that it could easily have been edited in.
....still skeptical, but interested in hearing more theories.
[Blunderov] Yes. It was the lack of blinking that made me think drugs. And when the executioner pulled him over on to his left side by his hair, Berg looked as immobile as a dummy. He did not seem startled at the sudden assault; his head and eyes remained fixed on the camera.
Possibly he was paralysed with terror. But the eyes didn't move...
My theory is that Berg was already dead when his head was severed. I think that he was abducted and killed by rebels/al-Qaeda, but that then slaughter element was just for effect.
....I also noticed (before considering that he had been in a v.sunny climate
for a while) how pasty he looked. the best term i can come up with is "waxy".
....regardless if this is bullshit, it is also interesting to note that not one american news service has mentioned the possibility of it being fake.
....isn't it out of the ordinary for such an action to be denied by the local thugs? apparently they claim that the guy who supposedly wielded the knife was killed in march!? after the recent FCC strongarming by the bush cabinet, i really dont see our news as a credible source of much anymore.
....did you know that condaleeza rice has an oil tanker named after her? funny that that hasnt been mentioned in the 'news'. it would make a great 'human interest' story=)
Dr Sebby Sent: 15 May 2004 09:55 AM To: virus@lucifer.com Subject: RE: virus: Nick Berg email I got
...this probably means nothing, but it's interesting that the two different sites i saw the video on, i found it impossible to fast forward it, replay little bits of it, or save it to my computer. just play it through from the
beginning.
...the vid quality is soooo poor it's bizarre. one movement , a sort of shoulder shrugging is done about 3 times, but is oddly 'jerk-like'. there appears to be very very little blinking going on, but its so fuzzy that it could easily have been edited in.
....still skeptical, but interested in hearing more theories.
[Blunderov] Yes. It was the lack of blinking that made me think drugs. And when the executioner pulled him over on to his left side by his hair, Berg looked as immobile as a dummy. He did not seem startled at the sudden assault; his head and eyes remained fixed on the camera.
Possibly he was paralysed with terror. But the eyes didn't move...
"We think in generalities, we live in details"
RE: virus: Nick Berg email I got
« Reply #8 on: 2004-05-15 08:50:25 »
Dr Sebby Sent: 15 May 2004 12:59 PM
....I also noticed (before considering that he had been in a v.sunny climate
for a while) how pasty he looked. the best term i can come up with is "waxy".
....regardless if this is bullshit, it is also interesting to note that not one american news service has mentioned the possibility of it being fake.
....isn't it out of the ordinary for such an action to be denied by the local thugs? apparently they claim that the guy who supposedly wielded the knife was killed in march!? after the recent FCC strongarming by the bush cabinet, i really dont see our news as a credible source of much anymore.
....did you know that condaleeza rice has an oil tanker named after her? funny that that hasnt been mentioned in the 'news'. it would make a great 'human interest' story=)
[Blunderov] Take it from whence it comes, as the saying goes. But the more one sniffs the smellier it gets. To me the rigidity of the Berg in the video is not inconsistent with rigor mortis. Either that or he was stoned to the gills.
The point that follows about the boiler suits is not that convincing to me unless they are for some reason particularly hard to come by.
The suggestion in this article about the lack of blood (I haven't, luckily, seen that much of the video) if true, is highly significant.
The most telling point to me is the one about why Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would even want to cover his face. Even if he isn't already dead he would hardly be planning on being taken alive.
Hmm. Plainly there is a lot to know that we know we don't know. Maybe even some things that we don't know that we don't know?
<q> Bloggers doubt Berg execution video By Lawrence Smallman
Friday 14 May 2004, 0:08 Makka Time, 21:08 GMT
Was this really Nick Berg's last moment or was he killed earlier?
Revolting millions around the world, the video footage of an American citizen's execution has also raised numerous questions concerning its authenticity.
Even at first glance, internet bloggers were asking on Thursday why Nick Berg was wearing an orange jumpsuit - just like US prisoners wear.
Other net surfers point to the unlikely timing of the executioner's dubbed announcement that Berg was to die for "Iraqi prisoner abuse".
Berg was last seen alive on 10 April, when his father Michael Berg believes he was killed - two weeks before the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal broke in the world's media.
Some discussions focus on the timing of the video's release - guaranteed to divert attention from the outrage over US abuse of Iraqis.
Video oddities
There are plenty of questions raised concerning the video too. The body is completely motionless even as the knife is brought to bear - not so much as an instinctive wriggle.
More graphically, some claim that cutting the throat's artery would cause a significant amount of blood to gush out. But little emerges and when the head was raised - not a drop of blood is seen to fall.
"That's really what cost my son his life, the fact that the United States government saw fit to keep him in custody for 13 days without any of his due process(es) or civil rights" Michael Berg,victim's father
In a possible explanation, one discussion room member suggested that Berg was killed and then beheaded later.
However, the circumstances of the video release are also strange. A Reuters journalist in Dubai first named the Muntada al-Ansar al-Islami website as the source for the video - at www.al-ansar.biz.
Although the site has now been shut down, Aljazeera.net looked at the site within 90 minutes of the story breaking - and could find no such video footage.
But Fox News, CNN and the BBC were all able to download the footage from the Arabic-only website and report the story within the hour.
Days before death
Other questions presented by bloggers are Berg's peculiar circumstances in the weeks before his death. Why would a private Jewish American citizen choose to wander around Iraq by himself?
Additionally, some have pointed out that his last email on 6 April to his family stated he wished to return home as soon as possible - yet the FBI claims he refused an offer of help to get home.
Some claim the face in the video looks remarkably unlike Berg's
In the wider press, FBI involvement has also generated much discussion as to why Berg was really arrested and detained for two weeks in Mosul.
The unemployed visitor was suspicious enough for Iraqi police to arrest him - with FBI knowledge.
He had only just been released from prison where he had been held for 13 days by Iraqi police for reasons he said he did not know.
Family blames government
A US newspaper claims an official familiar with the case knew that FBI agents had interrogated Berg, but had left him for two weeks because he was in Iraqi - not American - custody.
But the official was unable to clarify the legal difference between the two, given the US occupation.
On 5 April, Berg's family filed a suit in federal court in Philadelphia - contending that their son was being held illegally by the US military in Iraq. The next day, he was released and left to get himself home.
The last time the family heard from him was on 9 April. His headless body was found near Mosul on 8 May.
"That's really what cost my son his life, the fact that the United States government saw fit to keep him in custody for 13 days without any of his due process or civil rights," Michael Berg said.
Final question
Some bloggers focused on the accent of the purported executioner. Many deny the accent is either Iraqi or Jordanian - while claims the voice is Egyptian or Iranian have been made.
The Jordanian accused of the beheading Berg is himself believed to have been killed in March, according to two Islamist groups.
An eight-page leaflet circulated this week in Falluja said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in the Sulaimaniya mountains of northern Iraq during a US bombing.
But even if it were the Jordanian, one discussion room member observes his face is so well-known that "why would he bother to cover it?" Aljazeera</q>
Re:virus: Nick Berg email I got
« Reply #9 on: 2004-05-15 10:21:53 »
[rhinoceros] I did some googling on A-Zarqawi when I noticed some weak points in the first CNN story about Nick Berg. The results I got were rather contradictory, so I left them for when they make more sense. Since it was brought up, I am dumping some links here in reverse chronological order:
<snip> Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in the Sulaimaniyah mountains of northern Iraq “during the American bombing there,” according to a statement circulated in Fallujah this week and signed by the “Leadership of the Allahu Akbar Mujahedeen.” <snip>
<snip> With Tuesday’s attacks, Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant with ties to al-Qaida, is now blamed for more than 700 terrorist killings in Iraq. But NBC News has learned that long before the war the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist operation and perhaps kill Zarqawi himself — but never pulled the trigger. <snip>
<snip> The Shi`a: [They are] the insurmountable obstacle, the lurking snake, the crafty and malicious scorpion, the spying enemy, and the penetrating venom. <snip>
[rhinoceros] In the last one, Al-Zarqwawi is purported to promote sectarian war among Muslims, the Sunites against the Shiites. No such thing happened nor was attempted. Either the document was a forgery or written by an agent provocateur or Al-Zarqawi is/was just plain irrelevant to Iraq.
Who Is Abu Zarqawi? What we know about the terrorist leader who murdered Nicholas Berg. by Robert S. Leiken & Steven Brooke
WHO KILLED NICHOLAS BERG? His grief-stricken family blames the U.S. government for the appalling videotaped beheading of their son in Iraq. A more fitting object of outrage is the executioner. For the terrorist who claims credit for the killing of the Jewish-American civilian is no walk-on, no lackey or even lieutenant of Osama bin Laden. Instead, he is an independent operator with a long history in global jihad--sometimes coordinated with al Qaeda, sometimes not--who may be challenging bin Laden for the leadership of global Sunni terrorism.
Abu Musab al Zarqawi is hot right now. He masterminded not only Berg's murder but also the Madrid carnage on March 11, the bombardment of Shia worshippers in Iraq the same month, and the April 24 suicide attack on the port of Basra. But he is far from a newcomer to slaughter. Well before 9/11, he had already concocted a plot to kill Israeli and American tourists in Jordan. His label is on terrorist groups and attacks on four continents.
Zarqawi was first thrust into the global media spotlight in February 2003, before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, when Secretary of State Colin Powell at the U.N. called him an "associate and collaborator" of bin Laden and part of a "sinister nexus between Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network." Zarqawi, however, is not Osama's man, and still less was he Saddam's.
Zarqawi was born Ahmed al-Khalayleh to a Palestinian-Jordanian family in 1966 and grew up in a shabby two-story dwelling in a dusty mining town 17 miles north of Amman. The town was called Zarqa--hence the nom de guerre. But while we know the details of bin Laden's privileged youth, we know next to nothing about Zarqawi's impoverished early years. His parents are dead, and few near relatives have been uncovered by the press. His passport picture is on a U.S. poster offering a $10 million reward for him, but his height and weight are listed as "unknown." Nor do we know what he studied in school; only that he dropped out of high school and locals say he was "pious." Until recently, the mystery man rarely claimed credit for his terrorist exploits. U.S. intelligence once thought he'd been injured in the American assault on Afghanistan and had taken refuge in northern Iraq, later traveling to Saddam's Baghdad to have his leg amputated; now they're not so sure.
We do know that like thousands of Muslim youths he rallied to the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan and gained renown as a fighter. Returning to Jordan after the Soviet withdrawal, he may have joined the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which merged with al Qaeda in 1998. While in Jordan he also associated with Hizb ut Tahrir, an angry, anti-Semitic conclave devoted to the restoration of Islamic rule. Released in 1997 after five years in a Jordanian prison for plotting to replace the monarchy with an Islamic state, Zarqawi fled to Europe. He returned to Afghanistan in 2000 and built his own network of training camps near Herat, seizing control of the clandestine routes between Iran and Afghanistan.
In his camps, Zarqawi dispensed his specialized knowledge of chemical weapons and poisons to loyal followers, who then dispersed to the Middle East and Europe. The week of April 19, Jordanian police broke up a Zarqawi-financed and orchestrated plot they estimate would have detonated 20 tons of chemicals and released a cloud of poisonous gas into central Amman. The blast could have killed some 80,000 civilians and destroyed the U.S. embassy and Jordanian intelligence headquarters. In a videotaped confession shown on Jordanian TV, the head of the cell admitted, "I took explosives courses, poisons high level, then I pledged allegiance to Abu Musab al Zarqawi, to obey him without any questioning."
ABU ZARQAWI knows no limits and many continents. Investigating the Hamburg cell after September 11, German authorities came across another terrorist group called al-Tawhid (unity), made up mainly of Palestinian militants trained in Zarqawi's Afghan camps. Tawhid operatives told investigators they got their start in Europe selling stolen and forged documents to militants traveling between the Middle East and Western Europe.
With the outbreak of war in Iraq, Tawhid converted its alien-smuggling and document-forgery ring into a two-way underground railroad between Western Europe and the Middle East. According to European press reports, networks in Spain, Italy, and Germany send recruits into Iraq via Syria. U.S. military officials in Iraq now blame the most heinous terrorist attacks on "the Zarqawi network." But Zarqawi's alien-smuggling system also dispatches Middle Eastern jihadis into Europe via Spain, Turkey, Italy, and Greece. In November 2003, Italian wiretaps recorded two Tawhid operatives speaking of "the jihad part" and its "battalion of 25-26 units" of suicide bombers.
If Zarqawi's underground railroad demonstrates the terrorist uses of illegal immigration, the investigation into the Madrid bombings reveals new connections to Zarqawi every week. Zarqawi's lieutenant, a 36-year-old Moroccan named Amer el Azizi, planned the Madrid terror and is the living link between al Qaeda, the Zarqawi network, and the Moroccan immigrant cell that set the Madrid bombs. Azizi also organized and presided over the 2001 meeting in Spain where Mohammed Atta and al Qaeda leaders put the finishing touches on the September 11 plan.
Azizi fled Spain in November 2001 as Spanish authorities dismantled the al Qaeda logistics cell. He jetted to Afghanistan via Iran, where Zarqawi's cross-border networks helped him elude the coalition. While falling in with Zarqawi, Azizi kept an eye on Spain and his Moroccan colleagues, who managed to set off bombs in Casablanca in May 2003. Shortly before the Madrid 3/11 train bombings, Azizi left Iran via Turkey and slipped into Spain to witness the carnage firsthand. He is still at large.
PROBABLY THE MURKIEST and most intriguing feature of this man of many mysteries is the question of Zarqawi's relations with Osama bin Laden. Though he met with bin Laden in Afghanistan several times, the Jordanian never joined al Qaeda. Militants have explained that Tawhid was "especially for Jordanians who did not want to join al Qaeda." A confessed Tawhid member even told his interrogators that Zarqawi was "against al Qaeda." Shortly after 9/11, a fleeing Ramzi bin al-Shibh, one of the main plotters of the attacks, appealed to Tawhid operatives for a forged visa. He could not come up with ready cash. Told that he did not belong to Tawhid, he was sent packing and eventually into the arms of the Americans.
Zarqawi and bin Laden also disagree over strategy. Zarqawi allegedly constructed his Tawhid network primarily to target Jews and Jordan. This choice reflected both Zarqawi's Palestinian heritage and his dissent from bin Laden's strategy of focusing on the "far enemy"--the United States. In an audiotape released after the recent foiled gas attack in Amman, an individual claiming to be Zarqawi argued that the Jordanian Intelligence Services building was indeed the target, although no chemical attack was planned. Rather, he stated menacingly, "God knows, if we did possess [a chemical bomb], we wouldn't hesitate one second to use it to hit Israeli cities such as Eilat and Tel Aviv."
The Tawhid cell uncovered in Hamburg after 9/11 scouted Jewish targets, including businesses and synagogues. Zarqawi's operatives have been implicated in an attack on a Mombassa hotel frequented by Israeli tourists and an attempt to shoot down an Israeli jetliner. He is also suspected to have played a role in the Casablanca bombings of a Jewish community center and a Spanish social club. In February 2002, a Jordanian court sentenced him in absentia to 15 years' hard labor for his involvement in a failed plot to kill American and Israeli tourists at the turn of the millennium, a scheme coordinated with Abu Zubaydah, a top lieutenant of bin Laden. And another Jordanian court sentenced him, again in absentia, to death for the assassination of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley. Zarqawi is also the prime suspect in the August 2003 truck bombing of the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad.
Zarqawi has been associated with other groups besides Tawhid. Most notorious is Ansar al Islam, a largely Kurdish organization operating out of Northern Iraq, which U.S. officials have linked to al Qaeda. Before the war, Ansar al Islam ran chemical warfare camps in northern Iraq. Last year British counterterrorist investigators traced poisonous ricin found in Manchester to those camps. Zarqawi has been linked with two less-known al Qaeda splinter groups, Beyyiat el-Imam, implicated in attacks in Israel as well as the November 2003 attack on a synagogue in Turkey, and Jund al-Shams, a Syrian-Jordanian group blamed by Jordanian authorities for the assassination of Foley. Zarqawi has also been linked to Chechen jihadis, and Indian intelligence says he belongs to Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), a Pakistani Sunni group responsible for slaying hundreds of Shias in South Asia.
The slaughter of Shias touches on another Zarqawi beef with bin Laden. While both men follow the strict code of Salafi Islam, which reckons Shias as apostates, bin Laden prides himself on being a unifying figure and has made tactical alliances with Shia groups, meeting several times with Shia militants. Zarqawi, by contrast, favors butchering Shias, calling them "the most evil of mankind . . . the lurking snake, the crafty and malicious scorpion, the spying enemy, and the penetrating venom." American military officials hold Zarqawi responsible not only for assassinating Shia religious leaders in Iraq, but also for the multiple truck bombings of a Shia religious festival this past March, which killed 143 worshippers.
But though bin Laden and Zarqawi differ on strategy, Zarqawi too cloaks his plans for mass murder in the language of the religious zealot. To Zarqawi, "religion is more precious than anything and has priority over lives, wealth, and children." He considers Iraq ideal for jihad especially because "it is a stone's throw from the lands of the two Holy Precincts [Saudi Arabia] and the al Aqsa [mosque, in Jerusalem]. We know from God's religion that the true, decisive battle between infidelity and Islam is in this land [Greater Syria and its surroundings]. . . ." On the tape of the beheading of Nick Berg, entitled "Sheikh Abu Musab Zarqawi executes an American with his own hands and promises Bush more," Zarqawi rages, "Where is the compassion, where is the anger for God's religion, and where is the protection for Muslims' pride in the crusaders' jails? . . . The pride of all Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and other jails is worth blood and souls."
The CIA has verified that Zarqawi himself spoke on the tape and personally beheaded Berg. Similarly, the videotaped beheading of Daniel Pearl of the Wall Street Journal in February 2002 was carried out directly by another jihadi leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The latter, like Zarqawi, never swore allegiance to bin Laden. In this bloodthirsty crowd, it appears that slitting the throat of an American Jew wins laurels.
IN JANUARY 2004, Iraqi Kurds captured a message from Zarqawi in Iraq to bin Laden. Zarqawi offered bin Laden a chance to expand al Qaeda's role in Iraq. Victory, Zarqawi instructed, meant fomenting sectarian war between Shiites and Sunnis. There are no indications that bin Laden responded, and there are now signs of cooperation between some Iraqi Shia and Sunni militants. Are bin Laden and Zarqawi running competing terrorist organizations in Iraq?
Zarqawi's letter is addressed to a colleague or even a potential competitor rather than to one he regards as his sheikh or emir. He offers darkly, "We do not see ourselves as fit to challenge you." Zarqawi gives bin Laden two choices: "If you agree with us . . . we will be your readied soldiers, working under your banner, complying with your orders, and indeed swearing fealty to you publicly and in the news media. . . . If things appear otherwise to you, we are brothers, and the disagreement will not spoil [our] friendship."
Zarqawi exemplifies Sunni terrorism after 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, what some call "al Qaeda 2.0." The Western counteroffensive decimated al Qaeda's leadership, stripped the organization of safe havens and training camps, and disrupted its command and control. Former al Qaeda subsidiaries became franchises, receiving inspiration from bin Laden's occasional messages but operating independently. Historically speaking, the dynamic of revolutionary movements favors the most radical faction--the Jacobins, not the Girondists, the Bolsheviks, not the Menshiviks. If this dynamic prevails in contemporary Sunni terrorism, Abu Musab al Zarqawi represents the future.
Robert S. Leiken, author of Bearers of Global Jihad? Immigration and National Security after 9/11, is the director of the Immigration and National Security Program at the Nixon Center. Steven Brooke is a program assistant at the Nixon Center.
Avoiding attacking suspected terrorist mastermind March 02, 2004
<snip> With Tuesday's attacks, Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant with ties to al-Qaida, is now blamed for more than 700 terrorist killings in Iraq. But NBC News has learned that long before the war the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist operation and perhaps kill Zarqawi himself - but never pulled the trigger. <snip>
[Blunderov] Fascinating post, which I haven't finished yet, but this quote from the above link puzzles me. <snip> Military officials insist their case for attacking Zarqawi's operation was airtight, but the administration feared destroying the terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam. </snip>
Apart from the huge irony of 'undercut its case for war against Saddam', this seems strange. Would the existence of this Ricin factory not have been unequivocal proof of the contention that Saddam had links to al Qaida? And a very worthy target not to mention photo opportunity to boot? Best Regards
> > <snip> > CBS News National Security Correspondent David > Martin reports U.S. officials > said the FBI questioned Berg in 2002 after a > computer password he used in > college turned up in the possession of Zacarias > Moussaoui, the al Qaeda > operative arrested shortly before Sept. 11 for his > suspicious activity at a > flight school in Minnesota. > > Moussaoui is now in federal custody and awaiting > trial on conspiracy charges > stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks. > > "The suggestion that Mr. Berg was in some way > involved in terrorist > activity, or may have been linked in some way to > terrorist activity, is a > suggestion that we do not have any ability to > support and we do not believe > is a valid one," Ashcroft said at a news conference. > > > The 2002 investigation determined that an e-mail > address once used by Berg > apparently was obtained by the Moussaoui > acquaintances while Berg was > briefly an engineering student at the University of > Oklahoma in 1999. > > Berg, a small businessman who went to Iraq seeking a > role in reconstruction, > was found dead May 8. On May 11, an Islamic Web site > posted video in which > masked militants beheaded him. The CIA has > identified the speaker in the > video - the man who murdered Berg - as Abu Musab > al-Zarqawi, a terrorist > suspected in numerous attacks in Iraq. > > In the wake of Berg's gruesome murder, the past link > to Moussaoui seems a > stranger-than-fiction coincidence - an American who > inadvertently gave away > his computer password to one suspected al Qaeda > operative is later murdered > by another notorious al Qaeda operative, Zarqawi. > > The slain man's father, Michael Berg, told reporters > that his son met > Moussaoui while riding the bus to classes, and had > allowed the suspect to > use his computer. > > But the 2002 FBI interview could explain the > bureau's interest in Berg while > he was detained by authorities in Iraq shortly > before the militants > kidnapped and killed him. > > Berg was picked up on March 24 and released on April > 6. The details of that > detention are the subject of a dispute between the > Berg family and the U.S. > government. > > The family contends Berg was detained by the U.S. > military, and even filed > suit seeking his release on April 5. The U.S. > military says Iraqi police > detained him. Iraqi police deny that. > > To back its claims that Berg was in U.S. custody, > the family gave The > Associated Press copies of e-mails from Beth A. > Payne, the U.S. consular > officer in Iraq. > > "I have confirmed that your son, Nick, is being > detained by the U.S. > military in Mosul. He is safe. He was picked up > approximately one week ago. > We will try to obtain additional information > regarding his detention and a > contact person you can communicate with directly," > Payne wrote to Berg's > father on April 1. > > Payne repeated that Berg was "being detained by the > U.S. military" in an > e-mail the same day to Berg's mother, Suzanne. The > next day, Payne wrote > that she was still trying to find a local contact > for the family, but added > that "given the security situation in Iraq it is not > easy." > > The government says the e-mail from Payne was false. > State Department > spokeswoman Kelly Shannon said Payne's information > came from the Coalition > Provisional Authority. The authority did not tell > Payne until April 7 that > Berg had been held by Iraqi police and not the U.S. > military, she said. > > "As Mr. Berg had been released, the consular officer > did not convey this > information to the family because he was released, > thankfully," Shannon > said. "And we thought he was on his way." > > Coalition spokesman Dan Senor said Wednesday that > Iraqi police arrested Berg > in Mosul on March 24 because local authorities > believed he may have been > involved in "suspicious activities." > > In Mosul, police chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Khair > al-Barhawi insisted Thursday > that his department had never arrested Berg and > maintained he had no > knowledge of the case. > > During his detention, Berg was questioned by FBI > agents three times. > > Berg is believed to have been kidnapped days after > Iraqi police or coalition > forces released him. The family has blamed the > government for keeping him in > custody for too long while anti-American violence > escalated in Iraq. > > Shortly before Berg's disappearance, he was warned > by the FBI that Iraq was > too volatile a place for unprotected American > civilians and that he could be > harmed, a senior FBI official, speaking on condition > of anonymity, said > Wednesday. > > Officials said the U.S. government warned Berg to > leave Iraq, and offered > him a flight out of the country, a month before his > grisly death. > > The Bergs said they want to know if the government > had received an offer to > trade Iraqi prisoners for Nicholas Berg. On the > videotape of his death, > Berg's killers made a reference to a trade offer, > but U.S. officials have > said they knew of no such offer. > > > Michael Berg said he wanted to hear President Bush > address the issue. > > "I would like to ask him if it is true that al Qaeda > offered to trade my > son's life for the life of another person," Michael > Berg said. "And if that > is true, well, I need that information. . and I > think the people of the > United States of America need to know what the fate > of their sons and > daughters might be in the hands of the Bush > administration." > </snip> > > > > --- > To unsubscribe from the Virus list go to <http://www.lucifer.com/cgi-bin/virus-l>
Re: virus: Nick Berg email I got
« Reply #14 on: 2004-05-15 14:25:31 »
A more fitting object of outrage is the executioner.
No true progress has ever been made through finding fault in others.
When things like this happen, we are all, and none of us, to blame. --- To unsubscribe from the Virus list go to <http://www.lucifer.com/cgi-bin/virus-l>