A Brief History
On May 7, 2004, American inventor and businessman Nicholas Berg, only 26 years old, was beheaded by Islamic terrorists in Iraq, a barbaric event made all the worse because the terrorists posted a video of the murder on the internet, to the chagrin of horrified Americans. The fact that he was Iraq for humanitarian reasons made the murder that much harder to understand.
Digging Deeper
Nick Berg the inventor of a construction brick he called “Bovl Block” and owner of a construction company, was traveling overseas to teach poor countries how to make his bricks so they could erect buildings without using much steel, Nick found himself in Iraq where the United States had deposed Saddam Hussein and was attempting to restore order and help rebuild the country.
Taken into custody by Iraqi forces at a checkpoint on March 4, 2004, Berg was turned over to American military authorities and held until April 6, 2004. (The US has denied holding Berg, but Berg’s family has convincing evidence to the contrary.) Released on April 6, 2004 and advised by US officials to return to the US, Berg instead went to Baghdad and checked into a hotel. Berg was last heard from by his family on April 9, 2004 and by US officials on April 10, 2004.
After no contact from Nick for several days, his family made inquiries to US authorities who were able to turn up no clues as to Berg’s whereabouts. Frustrated, Berg’s family hired an investigator, and appealed to the Red Cross and their congressman for help.
On May 8, 2004, the decapitated body of Nicholas Berg was found by a US military patrol. A US press release reported finding Berg’s lifeless body, but failed to mention the decapitation. On May 11, 2004 Islamic terrorist group Muntada al-Ansar posted a video on their website of Berg being decapitated by terrorists after Berg read a brief statement identifying himself and a terrorist read a statement. Wearing an orange jumpsuit, Berg was held down by 2 terrorists while a 3rd terrorist used a large knife to cut off Berg’s head, holding the head up and then laying it on the body. Please only watch the video with caution as it is among the most painful and disturbing things you may ever watch (our video below does NOT show the complete beheading, which I am not willing to link directly to as I am not interested in giving vile terrorists free publicity by hosting their propaganda video in its entirety, and also out of respect for the Berg family). If you are so inclined, you can of course find the actual video doing a Google search, but again, it is something that is both disgusting and enraging to watch.
The website claimed the knife wielding terrorist was Abu Musa’b al-Zarqawi, a highly sought fugitive from American justice and one of history’s most evil wastes of life. CIA analysis confirmed Zarqawi’s identity, although the terrorists in the video wore ski masks. Zarqawi was killed in 2009 by guided “smart” bombs from US Air Force F-16’s.
The reason given for the brutal act of terrorism was the recently revealed misconduct of US military jail guards and the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
The video also threatened President George W. Bush and promised more Americans would be killed. The terrorists later claimed they attempted a prisoner exchange for Berg but the US authorities refused.
Berg had contact in the US with Zacarias Moussaoui who had used Berg’s computer and email account prior to engineering the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. The FBI reported that Berg had no link to terrorism.
Question for students (and subscribers): Did the American mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib really lead to Bergs horrible murder, or was that just an excuse? Did the US really reject a prisoner trade? What was up with Berg’s contact with Moussaoui? Tell us what you think in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more on the beheading in its broader context, please see…
Gabriel, Brigitte. Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2008.
The featured image in this article, a screenshot from the 2004 hostage video of Nick Berg, titled Abu Musa’b al-Zarqawi slaughters an American, where Berg was executed by Al Qaeda in Iraq fighters, was posted on the website for Muntada al-Ansar on May 11, 2004. The copyright in this image is believed to be held by a person, organization or state subject to U.S. sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA, 50 U.S.C. Chapter 35). As such, it is believed that the corresponding U.S. copyright is “blocked property“. The image is used as “information or an informational material” under the provisions of 50 U.S.C. § 1702(b)(3), and under the fair use provisions of U.S. copyright law. In particular, it is not possible to create or use an alternative work in the context of the article.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2089 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=2089">29 Comments
I believe that the US would reject a prisoner trade. Such acts like this are disgusting, I was glad to read that the US went after the guy who decapitated him.
Terrorists will continue to terrorize… that is why, no one should negotiate with them! — DAVID WARDLE
We shouldn’t negotiate with terrorists
This was enraging! I don’t understand the terrorists’ thought process.
This is still going on, especially with ISIS. They have no emotion of killing any American.
Sad that human life means so little to these terrorists
He should have left the middle east when advised, but it sucks he died trying to do good for the world.
good call by not showing the full video. It’s sad to think many of these terrorists are disrespecting the religion of Islam
I watched that Video senior year in high school, absolutely stomach turning.
That is what made it worse on them. Beheading an American citizen on live tv, real smart. It sucks he had to die by doing good.
Geez people are just brutal. Especially doing it on live tv to an American. Problem is there are so many Americans that join the terrorists groups. Just can not trust anyone now a days.
The United States of America always say they don’t negotiate with terrorists plus we do not know who they were trying to exchange this man for. I believe their excuse for beheading Berg was just that, an excuse.
Sad how he was killed in such a brutal way. Terrorists don’t seem to value human life at all.
I don’t think the US’ treatment of prisoners had anything to do with the decapitation. That was an excuse.
Terrorists are awful ass people that should be treated like animals
Life never really seems to mean much to any terrorist, Not even their own. Any one who would commit an act like this or blow themselves up to kills others is mentally corrupt.
Terrorist really would do anything to prove there no matter what it is they seem to always find killing as an answer to all there problems. They claim it was U.S . treatment of prisoners but i doubt that was there motivation.
Terrorists love to kill people and send it to the US. It’s disgusting but they’re trying to show that they’re not a force to play with. Sad, why can’t we all just be friends?
Theyve been doing this for so long , and its uncomfortable !!!! I hate seeing stuff like this wish it would end!!!
Shady as heck that the U.S. military could’ve actually had him in their hands but somehow he got retaken by the terrorist.
There is no negotiating with radical terrorist you have to just go in and crush them and once their down crush them again they’ll be afraid forever if they did anything they would get a retaliation attack.
I will never understand how people are able to commit such tragedies.
Beheading is so horrible. There are other ways of killing someone if its necessary
Such a sad way for them to use just to put fear in people
Nick Berg was the inventor of a construction brick he called “Bovl Block”
Beheading just seems so unnecessary and overdramatic. Just shoot them or inject them with something, why behead them?
I watched another video and it said to look at the guy on the left and look how he was standing. He was standing like our men stand in the military. So there is other accusations that it could have been our men that were under those masks.
I just don’t know why terrorists would behead people. They act like they’re living in the ancient times.
This man was not a soldier or someone fighting the terrorists. He was a man that wanted to help people and he was killed because of it.