Home > Family of American beheaded in Iraq say U.S. government ignoring them

Family of American beheaded in Iraq say U.S. government ignoring them

by Open-Publishing - Sunday 18 July 2004

Edito Wars and conflicts Attack-Terrorism


Family members of slain U.S. businessman Nicholas Berg are being stonewalled by their government as they try to find out exactly what happened in the weeks before he was kidnapped and beheaded in Iraq in May, Berg’s father said.

Among other details, the Bergs want to know whether Berg, who had been in Iraq seeking work for his fledgling telecommunications company, was being held by allied or Iraqi forces before his kidnapping, The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper reported.

"If it weren’t for the fact that they were stonewalling us, I think I might have been able to put behind me this need for information," said Berg’s father, Michael Berg, an anti-war activist from West Chester.

"But it’s the fact that they won’t come forth with information that makes me wonder why."

Michael Berg said the government "has been persistent in its complete apathy toward us."

Berg’s body was found May 8 in Baghdad. He was last seen April 10 when he left his Baghdad hotel. His family has maintained the U.S. government contributed to his death because Berg was detained for about two weeks in Iraq, by either Iraqi police or the U.S. military and missed his flight home. By the time he was released, anti-American violence had increased.

The Pentagon maintains it was Iraqi police - not U.S. forces - who detained Berg for 11 days. But the Iraqi police chief has denied his forces in Mosul took Berg into custody. Berg also was questioned three times by the FBI and was urged to leave Iraq, U.S. officials have said.

The family also wants to know whether there was contact between the kidnappers and U.S. representatives, as claimed by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the video of Berg’s murder and an audiotape released earlier this month.

The Bergs’ congressman, U.S. Representative Jim Gerlach, said he has received written accounts of Berg’s arrest and detention from officials with the State and Defence departments but there "are still a lot of unanswered questions."

Gerlach said he has been frustrated, too, in his attempt to have a combined briefing of all the departments involved. If that doesn’t occur, he said he wants a congressional hearing.

"At some point, there’s got to be...a clearer understanding of who had control over Nick’s custody and his release," Gerlach said.

U.S. State Department spokesman Steve Pike said he wasn’t aware of Gerlach’s request but the department is "always open to contact with the Berg family."

While Nicholas Berg was being held, a State Department official and FBI agents told his parents he was in U.S. custody; after his release, Berg told his family the same. But U.S. officials later said that information was in error and he was actually being held by Iraqi police.

Even if that were the case, Michael Berg said he wants to know why the U.S. government couldn’t have prevented the tragic outcome because "we all know that the Iraqi police come under the authority of the provisional government, which is the United States." WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP)

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