No Strings Attached

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One Response to “Symbol”

1. EClark1849 says:

   May 13, 2004 at 8:01 pm

   Kath:

   “The ironic twist in the whole thing is that the FBI detained Nick for 13 days and he missed his March 30th flight out of Iraq. If he had caught it, I wouldn’t be writing this right now.”

   From news reports:
   One of Berg’s friends in Baghdad said the slain man told them that Iraqi police arrested him because he had a Jewish-sounding last name and an Israeli stamp in his passport.

   “They thought he was a spy” because of his name and passport, Hugo Infante, a Chilean who works for the United Press International news service, told today’s Philadelphia Inquirer.

   KATH:
   “His parents are upset that their son was detained without a lawyer and they had to sue the US government to find out if the US had their son in custody.”

   From news reports:
   His parents learned that Berg was in jail when FBI agents showed up on their doorstep to check his story. But when Berg was not immediately released, they filed a federal lawsuit April 5. The next day, Berg was sprung.

   Infante said Berg did not seem too shaken by his two-week stint in jail.

   “He wasn’t mad,” Infante said. “It was an adventure for him.”

   KATH:
   “If he had a lawyer, he would have been on that plane and would have probably continued to do goo works.”

   From news reports:
   But the State Department wanted to end Berg’s adventure and send him home.

   “At that time, the U.S. consular officer extended an offer to assist Mr. Berg to depart Iraq by plane to Jordan,” said State Department spokeswoman Kelly Shannon. “We’d already discussed that possibility with his family, and we mentioned that to him, obviously, when we talked to him on the 10th.”

   But Berg believed flying out of Baghdad airport was too dangerous and wanted to try driving to Kuwait, his dad said.

   Sometime after April 10, Berg fell into the clutches of terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

   *******************
   I’m sure somehow it eases their pain, but grieving people rarely make the most rational charges.

   News reports courtesy of the New York Post.