An American civilian who was beheaded in Iraq had been visited three times by FBI agents while in the custody of Iraqi police, but he was never held by U.S. forces, contrary to claims by his family, U.S. officials in Baghdad said today.
The family of Nicholas Berg, 26, of West Chester, Pa., continued to insist today, however, that he had been had been held for 13 days by U.S. authorities in Iraq, a detention that family members said caused him to miss a scheduled departure from Iraq. Shortly after he was released, Berg was apparently captured by Islamic extremists.
WaPo article
The family of Nicholas Berg, 26, of West Chester, Pa., continued to insist today, however, that he had been had been held for 13 days by U.S. authorities in Iraq, a detention that family members said caused him to miss a scheduled departure from Iraq. Shortly after he was released, Berg was apparently captured by Islamic extremists.
On BBC World News this evening, a reporter was at the Berg home in Pennsylvania. The family are really upset, of course, but they are even more upset than they might have been as they are convinced that the U.S. government is culpable in the death of their son. Nick's brother came out of the house this morning to talk to reporters (the BBC narrative at one point said "argue with"). He wanted to make the point that they are especially angry now with the official statement that Nick was held only by Iraqi police, as they say that he emailed them that he was held in American custody. And further, that even the Iraqi police are under U.S. direction. The father said that at the very least the U.S. should have seen that Nick got safely out of the country, and the State Department says he was offered a seat on a flight out, but he turned it down.
There is something just a little smelly about what happened to Nick Berg, and his family are going to be tough customers for BushCo.
The British reporter also said that he talked to about 25 people in the neighborhood, and about 1 in 4 said they believe at this point the U.S. should get out of Iraq. (They showed one old lady who said we've been too easy on them, and this is what it's led to - we need to get more troops in there and get tougher.)
