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May 13, 2004
Berg Family Produces Evidence

Nick Berg's family has produced evidence which strongly contradicts what the U.S. government is saying about the few weeks leading up to his death.

Berg's family has claimed that Nick was held in U.S. custody for too long, without charges, and would have been out of the country if he had been released in a timely way. The government has denied this, saying that Nick was in the custody of the Iraqi police and not U.S. authorities. Today the family produced evidence.

A U.S. diplomatic official in Iraq told the family of slain American Nicholas Berg in early April that he was being detained by the U.S. military, according to e-mails provided by the family Thursday.

U.S. government officials have said Berg, who was found dead last weekend in Baghdad, was detained by Iraqi police March 24 and was never in the custody of American forces.

He is believed to have been kidnapped within days of his April 6 release by either Iraqi police or coalition forces, and later beheaded by militants who videotaped the slaying.

To back its claims that Berg was in U.S. custody, the family showed The Associated Press an April 1 e-mail 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," the e-mail said.

In two e-mails later that day, Payne wrote that she was still trying to find a local contact for the family.

source

This Reuters story has more, including this from Nick's father Michael:

My son died for the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. This administration did this."

In the past few days I've gotten into some heated comment thread debates (scroll waaaay down) over Nick's death and the proper response to it. The fact that the man's own father doesn't have a knee jerk "support the president" response goes a long way toward refuting their arguments. Meeting savagery with more savagery is not the only way, and the heightened emotions we all feel when we see something this brutal is not what should guide our country's policies. If we are ruled by rage, anger and fear, we are working from the same place as the terrorists are. We must be better than that.

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