If You Want Nick Berg Conspiracy Theory....

Conspiracy Planet seems to be the place to go. For example, the following is posted there tonight, which makes a big leap from my questions earlier to deciding that Berg was executed by Americans:

It's the same chair. Look at this pic that was released today of the latest prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. Notice the white chair in the lower left corner. Now - look at the chair Nicholas Berg is sitting in!! It's the same fucking chair!!

I have some more pics but the walls are the same yellow color and the baseboard is the same color as Abu Ghraib prison. Then - as I've said before - what is Nicholas Berg doing in an orange prison jumpsuit? The orange jumpsuit is the same color as the ones used at the prison!!! Terrorists don't don't put the people they kidnap in orange prison jumpsuits!

Now - put that together with the fact that these "terrorists" are WHITE and FAT and they are wearing BULLET PROOF VESTS!! So who goes around wearing bullet proof vests all the time? People like CIA - Prison guards!

This is enough to scare the shit out of you but - Nicholas Berg was murdered by AMERICANS at Abu Ghraib prison.

New Yorker: The Poor Treatment of Prisoners Goes Right Back to Rumsfeld

That's what Seymour Hersh reports in an article posted today (for the print version of 5-24-04).

The Questions About Nick Berg's Death

I'd advise any interested to read the immediately previous post including the full article on al Jazeera because it raises some of the very points that concern so many of us, including:

* That curious orange jumpsuit, which would make sense if he was released from US custody (the US uses such jumpsuits standardly for prisoners of all types), but why was he wearing it upon his death a month later?
* The lack of blood in the tape discussed by those who have seen it (I have not); I exchanged Email with a former pathologist I know who agreed that the type of execution and decapitation cited on the tape should have produced both a wild spray and then a large blood loss
* The US once told us this "2nd lieutenant" of Osama's had died some months ago but, like Lazarus, is now purported to have risen from the dead
* Many argue that Zarqawe (so many spellings here, sorry), the al Qaeda associate mentioned above) speaks with a Jordanian accent while the purported executioner does not
* That this fellow has not been hooded in the past, so why now?
* That the official US translation insists al Qaeda is mentioned, while other translators insist it does not
* Why so many versions from the government (ours) about whether Berg was in their custody?

People deserve answers, especially considering the timing of the tape's release.

Al Jazeera on Blogs and Questions about Nick Berg's Death

From (English version) Al Jazeera:

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.

Ashcroft on Nick Berg

On the very day his family laid their son and brother to rest, AG John Ashcroft comes out with this:

Federal officials said Friday that they were satisfied that Nicholas Berg, the 26-year-old American decapitated in Iraq, had had no terrorist links even though his computer password had apparently been used by a terror suspect.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation first interviewed Mr. Berg in 2002 after his e-mail password appeared to have been used by that suspect, but the connection "was just a coincidence," a senior official of the bureau said.

Attorney General John Ashcroft echoed that assessment, rejecting any suggestion that Mr. Berg "was in some way involved in terrorist activity."

This case just stinks more and more all the time. If the CPA or CIA or someone held him for 3 weeks for no good reason, I can understand why Nick Berg would not have accepted their alleged offer of safe passage out. After all, Nick probably knew that under Bush and Ashcroft, people disappear in this odd web of secrecy.

This isn't conspiracy theory since there are many documented cases of people without proven links being "lost" in the system, only to be shuffled in and out of different holding places in different countries, including Syria, the country Bush likes to stick in the Axis of Evil category. He (Berg) certainly must have heard about the torture going on, certainly before we did here.

Should Ashcroft have cleared him? Hell, yes. But these folks chase so many normal people like Berg while they don't seem to be able to catch or keep those that really seem to want to do us harm.

A Wave Goodbye as He Goes?

Atrios points us to a piece by USA Today founder Al Neuharth today suggesting Mr. Bush should ride off into the sunset:

As a former combat infantryman in World War II, I've always believed we must fully support our troops. Reluctantly, I now believe the best way to support troops in Iraq is to bring them home, starting with the "hand-over" on June 30.
Only a carefully planned withdrawal can clean up the biggest military mess miscreated in the Oval Office and miscarried by the Pentagon in my 80-year lifetime. In Journalese, the traditional five Ws of Who, What, When, Where, Why:

Who? George W. Bush.

What? His cowboy culture. Ride fast and alone or with just a few buddies. Shoot first. Ask questions later.

When? After 9/11. Bush bravely took on a necessary fight against terrorists who attacked us. But then he diverted his attention to an unrelated and unnecessary "pre-emptive" war.

Where? Iraq. He led us astray by falsely claiming Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that threatened us. After the "Mission Accomplished" boast in May 2003, he put our troops in new jeopardy by taunting terrorists from other countries with his "Bring 'em on!" challenge last July 2. His anything-goes-against-the-bad-guys attitude and his total lack of postwar planning helped prompt the ongoing prison-abuse embarrassments and brutal retaliations.

Why? Because he believes he can be re-elected as a tough-talking, self-proclaimed "War President."

Maybe Bush should take a cue from a fellow Texan, former president Lyndon Baines Johnson, who also had some cowboy characteristics.

LBJ, after mismanaging the Vietnam War that so bitterly divided the nation and the world, decided he owed it to his political party and to his country not to run for re-election. So, he turned tail and rode off into the sunset of his Texas ranch.

More Fighting, More Dead

From CNN:

Three U.S. soldiers and four Iraqi civilians were killed in separate attacks by insurgents in the past 24 hours in Iraq, coalition and Iraqi police sources said today. Two other U.S. troops also died, but not in hostile incidents.

Not in hostile incidents?

Damaging Holy Shrines as the Way to Win Hearts and Minds

From AP:

NAJAF, Iraq - American tanks firing shells and heavy machine guns made their deepest incursion yet Friday into this stronghold of a radical cleric. Apparent gunfire slightly damaged one of Shia Islam's holiest shrines, prompting calls for revenge and even suicide attacks.

In response, cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militiamen attacked U.S.-led coalition headquarters in Nasiriyah, trapping international staff and some Italian journalists inside. Explosions and gunfire rocked Karbala, and al-Sadr's top aides threatened to unleash more attacks across the Shiite south and in Baghdad.

"We will fight and defend the holy shrines until our last breath," al-Sadr said in an interview broadcast late Friday by Al-Arabiya television, widely seen throughout the Middle East. "We are not controlling any holy shrine - we are defending these shrines."

Several large explosions and the roar of high-flying aircraft could be heard in Baghdad before dawn Saturday. The U.S. command issued no statement and the cause of the blasts was unknown.

Democrats for Life

Author and analyst Amy Sullivan is the guest blogger over at Kevin Drum's Political Animal blog at Washington Monthly, and her post, as Kevin cites, is apt to cause some controversy.

Specifically, she talks about the treatment of a couple who brought their two children to a Kerry rally along with signs saying, "Democrats for Life." Namely, that they were made to feel none too welcome.

Look, I feel bringing - or not bringing - a life into this world is a highly personal decision that in no way should be determined by a bunch of fat, fool white men who happily write dumbass laws (and probably are responsible for arranging a few abortions for their paramours in private - since "family values" means something different to these folks) that directly affect a woman's body and the entire rest of her life.

However, with that said, what is the problem with including people who are pro-Dem, pro-Kerry, but who feel differently? Let the GOP be the party of exclusion and hypocrisy.

Adults can disagree on particular issues while still maintaining the same overall goals. Really. It can be done. Without bloodshed, even.

Berg's Murder Sends People Seeking Information

From what I can see here and from what I hear from two friends who work for net analysis and search engine companies, people are logging on en masse to look for information about Nick Berg, the 26-yr-old civilian killed in Iraq supposedly by someone associated with al Qaeda (even though the tape says nothing about al Qaeda and there's some serious question whether this identified bin Laden associate is even really on the tape).

Good. People should be asking questions. LOTS of questions. Especially when the media is largely just spouting back whatever the administration tells them, even in the face of evidence that, despite the government's protests to the contrary, they were holding him in custody there until just before this rogue group took him a month before his death.

When I was studying journalism, I met this woman who apparently had some.. ahem.. novel experience. She told a group of us, "I've been a whore and I've been a journalist. Let me tell you, whoring is much easier and pays better."

Now if only someone wanted Mickey Kaus or Tim Russert for their bodies ...

Gee, What a Great Idea

We should send Osama one. Perhaps then Bush could find him "dead or alive".

Lynndie England

In a word, tough:

Army Pfc. Lynndie England — the young female soldier who can be seen smiling in some of the photos depicting the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners — is said to be "anxious and overwhelmed" by the attention she's received since the images surfaced.

One suspects the prisoners under her care were also anxious, overwhelmed and kinda depressed. The very pregnant Ms. England, seen cavorting with numeroussexual partners, usually naked, and often in front of the prisoners, in those abuse pictures, will no doubt prove to be an exceptional role model to her children. Perhaps Rush Limbaugh, content to call this matter "frat pranks", will marry her and give the child a father.

What a lovely pair they'll make.

Toss Out the Conviction, People

Also from ABC News/AP:

The Connecticut mother who was thrust into the national spotlight when she was convicted of creating an environment that contributed to her 12-year-old son's suicide received a suspended sentence today.

This was an atrocious case that never should have been brought, where a single mother was charged after her son hung himself in 2002. By the end of the case, prosecutors were down to persecuting the woman for keeping a dirty home. All they accomplished was to pile tragedy upon tragedy, while serving no one.

One would imagine that with all we hear about the criminal justice system being so woefully overtaxed, prosecutors might have had better applications for their time. Perhaps such as going after the governor of Connecticut - John Rowland, that great friend of the Bush family - for his egregious conduct. Ah, but we hear precious little of the impeachment proceedings underway for him, do we?

How Do You Spell Scum?

If you're in Portland, apparently you do it with a D and a J:

Two disc jockeys were fired after playing an audiotape of the beheading of American Nick Berg by Iraqi militants, and cracking jokes about the grisly death.
Listeners called the radio station to complain after hearing Berg's bloodcurdling screams in the broadcast of the tape, followed by the DJs laughing and playing musical accompaniments.

Meanwhile:

One of the DJs apologized on his Web site, posting a statement that read, "I have become so numb to the horrific things that happen in this world that I sometimes forget there are still people who feel. I in no way meant to be insensitive to anyone. My comments on this were inapropriate (sic)."

How do you spell... wait, I know how to spell bullshit already.

A President Only a Mother (His Mother) Could Love

From the Financial Times - of all places - via Charles Pierce on Altercation:

He is not up to the job. This is not a moral judgment, but a practical one. The world is too complex and dangerous for the pious simplicities and arrogant unilateralism of George W. Bush."

You Can Say That Again

From today's New York Times:

Six weeks of military and political reverses seem to have left the Bush administration doing little more in Iraq than grasping at ways to make it past November's presidential election without getting American troops caught in a civil war. The lowering of the administration's expectations might be therapeutic if it produced a realistic strategy for achieving a realistic set of goals. Unfortunately, there appears to be no such strategy, only odd lurches this way and that under the pressure of day-to-day events. That pattern heightens the danger of an eventual civil war or anarchy, the two main things that American forces are ostensibly remaining in Iraq to prevent.

At times, the only unifying theme for Washington's policies seems to be desperation. American field commanders have now signed over the city of Falluja to former officers of the same Baathist army they came to Iraq to fight a little more than a year ago. The original plan of having American marines storm Falluja to avenge the mob murders of four private contractors there was not a wise idea. Handing over the town to these politically ambitious soldiers looks even more shortsighted. Subcontracting security and territory out to rival Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish warlords can only increase the risks of an eventual civil war.

In the diplomatic arena, White House aides are now beseeching the same United Nations they once belittled to rescue the transition, hoping that its special emissary, Lakhdar Brahimi, can somehow produce a plan for an interim government after June 30 that will rescue the nation-building efforts American occupation authorities have badly botched. This could be a positive development. If President Bush is now prepared to yield real authority to the U.N. over transition arrangements, for example, it may create a sense of legitimacy that Washington itself is no longer in any position to bestow. But at this point it may be beyond the U.N.'s power to convince a skeptical world that Iraq will regain any meaningful sovereignty after June 30 if the real decisions on security and reconstruction are still made by Americans.

Members of the discredited, American-appointed Iraqi Governing Council are maneuvering to ensure a share of power for themselves after the council is dissolved next month. This is a terrible idea, linking the new interim government to the occupation regime and prejudicing future elections by giving council members an unfair inside track. Yet the administration seems to be wavering, reluctant to upset the transition timetable by antagonizing any of its few remaining Iraqi allies.

If any of the goals Americans wanted to achieve in Iraq can still be salvaged, it will take more than fumbling crisis management driven by the needs of the Bush re-election campaign. A clear and coherent new course needs to be set without further delay, beginning with aggressive policy and personnel changes to undo the damage of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The U.N. should be given clear authority over transitional political arrangements after June 30, with Washington fully backing Mr. Brahimi's efforts to assemble a caretaker government of credible Iraqis who are not associated with the occupation and are willing to put aside their own political ambitions.

I Adore Smart, Progressive People

From CNN:

A Colorado Bishop, in one of strongest stands yet taken by a U.S. Roman Catholic church leader, says communion should be denied to people who vote for candidates supporting such issues as abortion rights, gay marriage, euthanasia and stem cell research.

I suggest we ban this bishop from receiving a tax cut for his minister status, end non-profit status for his church, and be sure that if he gets ill with something that can be helped through stem cell research or he asks for a comfortable, dignified ending through euthanasia, it be denied him.

I'm just sick and tired of watching people promote hatred and stupidity in the name of God. How dare this man insert himself into the right to choose? Unless, of course, he hates God.

More Lies?

Via Buzzflash, I saw the quotes below on Democratic Underground, and then went back to read the CNN transcript regarding our government's supposed translation of the audio on the tape of Nick Berg's death.

NASR: Yes, and if you listen to these voices that we're hearing on Arab networks, Iraqis are condemning this execution. And they're saying these are foreigners. These are not Iraqis. They do not represent us and so forth.

Now, of course, the original claim was that Zarqawi is the actual man who performed this execution. Our experts listened to the accent, as you said, and they determined the accent is not Jordanian...

O'BRIEN: He is a Jordanian who is working supposedly, allegedly, at the behest of al Qaeda in Iraq. So go ahead.

NASR: Right, he is very close to bin Laden, and works, you're right, as an agent of al Qaeda in Iraq. Now, the accent is not Jordanian so that takes the Jordanian element out of the story immediately.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. All right, now one final thought here. You did a very careful translation of your own, of the statement. And in it, you see no reference to al Qaeda. And yet the official U.S. government translation does. Explain how that happened.

NASR: Oh, I find it very interesting, because out of the blue, there is a mention of al Qaeda on the U.S. government translation. It says: "Does al Qaeda need any further excuses?" Any speaker of the Arabic language is going to notice a difference between the word al Qaeda, which means "the base," and al qaed, which means "the one sitting, doing nothing."

Something is very fishy. Several folks around the net who did see the tape - I have not, nor could I translate it if I had - say there are Russians or Chechens speaking at different points.

And the man identified as the so-called Jordanian-born Osama bin Laden 2nd lieutenant is not only masked, he's NOT speaking with a Jordanian accent. Then there's the little matter of there being no mention, as the government alleges, of al Qaeda on the tape.

So who then had Nick Berg? Who killed him? Why is the government falling all over itself giving conflicting information? Some of what I'm thinking right now frankly scares me.

Global Dimming

[Ed. note: No, we're not talking about the rise of the Bushies. And I'll spare you my oddball fantasy about cicadas attacking Paul Wolfowitz, chasing him everywhere.]

Researchers tell us that over the past 50 years, we may have lost nearly 40% of the light normally available to us through pollution and increased cloud cover. This at the same time we're experiencing global warming.

June 30th

This administration - and the press - use the June 30th date in Iraq like some magic date. What exactly changes on that date, however, really remains very much to be seen.

Look at Bremer's recent comments and those from the administration, and we're hearing things like, "If we were asked to leave Iraq, we would. We don't stay where we aren't wanted." This begs the question about what constitutes "want" since a recent poll tells us 80% of Iraqis want us gone now. At the same time, we're talking about committing thousands of troops there through December 2005.