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Iraqi police deny holding Berg
However, police chief Major General Mohammed Khair al-Barhawi told reporters Thursday that his department had never arrested Berg.
"The Iraqi police never arrested the slain American," he said. "Take it from me... that such reports are baseless."
Mosul, Iraq - Iraqi police never detained an American whose decapitated body was found last week in Baghdad, the police chief said Thursday, despite US insistence that Nicholas Berg was held by local authorities here shortly before he disappeared last month.
Berg's family blames American authorities for detaining the 26-year-old telecommunications businessman until a flare-up of anti-American violence, which set the stage for his abduction and death.
The young man was beheaded on a video posted on Tuesday on an al-Qaeda-affiliated website. It bore the title Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shown slaughtering an American, referring to an associate of Osama bin Laden.
In Baghdad, a US spokesperson said Iraqi police arrested Berg in Mosul on March 24 because local authorities believed he may have been involved in "suspicious activities". He would not elaborate but insisted American authorities had not held Berg although the FBI visited him three times before he was released April 6.
Reports baseless
However, police chief Major General Mohammed Khair al-Barhawi told reporters Thursday that his department had never arrested Berg.
"The Iraqi police never arrested the slain American," he said. "Take it from me... that such reports are baseless."
Berg went to Baghdad after his release and disappeared on April 10. US officials offered him a flight to Jordan but he was afraid to travel to the airport because of ambushes along the highway.
Despite the police chief's statement, a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Berg was detained by Iraqi authorities "for his own protection" because his behaviour in Mosul seemed unusual for a westerner.
He had been seen travelling in taxis and moving about the dangerous city without any escort, the official said. He added that Berg, who was Jewish, had written materials which were "anti-Semitic" in tone, the official said without elaborating.
All that raised suspicions about what he was doing in Iraq.
news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1526435,00.html
Berg's family blames American authorities for detaining the 26-year-old telecommunications businessman until a flare-up of anti-American violence, which set the stage for his abduction and death.
The young man was beheaded on a video posted on Tuesday on an al-Qaeda-affiliated website. It bore the title Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shown slaughtering an American, referring to an associate of Osama bin Laden.
In Baghdad, a US spokesperson said Iraqi police arrested Berg in Mosul on March 24 because local authorities believed he may have been involved in "suspicious activities". He would not elaborate but insisted American authorities had not held Berg although the FBI visited him three times before he was released April 6.
Reports baseless
However, police chief Major General Mohammed Khair al-Barhawi told reporters Thursday that his department had never arrested Berg.
"The Iraqi police never arrested the slain American," he said. "Take it from me... that such reports are baseless."
Berg went to Baghdad after his release and disappeared on April 10. US officials offered him a flight to Jordan but he was afraid to travel to the airport because of ambushes along the highway.
Despite the police chief's statement, a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Berg was detained by Iraqi authorities "for his own protection" because his behaviour in Mosul seemed unusual for a westerner.
He had been seen travelling in taxis and moving about the dangerous city without any escort, the official said. He added that Berg, who was Jewish, had written materials which were "anti-Semitic" in tone, the official said without elaborating.
All that raised suspicions about what he was doing in Iraq.
news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1526435,00.html
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Think about it. There are an awful lot of strange facts about the Berg case that just don't add up. Like the detention of Berg, his subsequent disappearance, and now the denials he was ever detained. And like a person on the tape claiming to be Zarqawi, and yet he wears a scarf across his face to mask his identity. Why mask your identity if you've already professed it... unless the professed identity is just a ruse?
A few days ago, many Americans were beginning to search their consciences about what the US imperialist juggernaut is really doing in Iraq. Now public "debate" has shifted to talking about the "sort of enemy we face", about how these are all terrorists that were tortured, and about how torture can be used to "save lives" and so Americans need to stop fretting about human rights abuses -- even while Republicans, Democrats, and the corporate media run damage control and offer up a few Army grunts as sacrifiical lambs to contain the scandal.
Either the Berg killing was an extraordinarily lucky "happy accident" for the Democrat/Republican corporatist dictatorship, or it was explicitly planned and coordinated by the US government to shift the ground of debate and quell the chorus of opposition to the US' orchestrated state terror in Iraq.
Which do you believe?
A few days ago, many Americans were beginning to search their consciences about what the US imperialist juggernaut is really doing in Iraq. Now public "debate" has shifted to talking about the "sort of enemy we face", about how these are all terrorists that were tortured, and about how torture can be used to "save lives" and so Americans need to stop fretting about human rights abuses -- even while Republicans, Democrats, and the corporate media run damage control and offer up a few Army grunts as sacrifiical lambs to contain the scandal.
Either the Berg killing was an extraordinarily lucky "happy accident" for the Democrat/Republican corporatist dictatorship, or it was explicitly planned and coordinated by the US government to shift the ground of debate and quell the chorus of opposition to the US' orchestrated state terror in Iraq.
Which do you believe?
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