Serious questions about being raised about the decapitation video. The excellent blog Politics in the Zeros sums them up.
Questions are also being raised (i) about whether Berg was some sort of clandestine operative, and (ii) about whether his execution was somehow set up as a distraction from the prison torture scandal.
Be that as it may, no one seems to deny the gruesome fact that the poor man was actually beheaded.
Questions on the Nick Berg video
Politics in the Zeros
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Questions are growing about just how authentic the decapitation video is (you can download a zip file of it, if you want.)
Bloggers doubt Berg execution video.
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".
There are plenty of questions raised concerning the video too. The body is completely motionless even as the knife is brought to bear - not so much as an instinctive wriggle.
More graphically, some claim that cutting the throat's artery would cause a significant amount of blood. But little emerges and when the head was raised - not a drop of blood is seen to fall.
Indeed. Also, I have viewed the video, and the above points are quite valid. Also, the actual cutting of the throat is not shown, which is something I find odd.
However, the circumstances of the video release are also strange. A Reuters journalist in Dubai first named the Muntada al-Ansar al-Islami website as the source for the video - at www.al-ansar.biz.
Although the site has now been shut down, Aljazeera.net had looked at the site within ninety minutes of the story breaking - and could find no such video footage.
But Fox News, CNN and the BBC were all able to download the footage from the Arabic-only website and report the story within the hour.
More 'anomalies' about the video
Fishy circumstances and flawed timelines surround American's beheading
Among their points:
Berg mysteriously captured by Al-Quaeda (still wearing jumpsuit). Either he escaped from U.S. captors or U.S. let him out -- with orange suit and all -- to be immediately apprehended by Al-Quaeda (before he had a chance to
change).
Tape obviously spliced together and heavily edited. Goes from a) Berg sitting in chair talking about family, to b) Berg sitting on floor with hooded "militants" behind, to c) blurry camera movement, to d) almost motionless Berg on floor as head cut off.
Audio clearly dubbed in.
Berg's body didn't move while on the ground. Although held down, Berg would have tried to instinctively wiggle and writhe away from captor's grip.
Camera angle made it impossible to see if Berg's eyes were even open.
Alleged "scream" from Berg sounded to be that of a woman and was clearly dubbed in.