The video showed Nick Berg, 26, in a staged execution carried out by an al-Qaida affiliated group. The video said the killing was to avenge the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers. "My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my mother's name is Suzanne," the man said on the video before being killed. "I have a brother and sister, David and Sara. I live in ... Philadelphia." "Hi Nick, my name is also Nick. My middle name is Michael, and it comes from my father's side of the family. I'm from the Jersey Shore." Berg had traveled several times to Third World countries to help spread technology, his family said. He had previously traveled to Kenya and Ghana, where they said he had purchased a $900 brick-making press for a poor village, the family said. "He had this idea that he could help rebuild the infrastructure," she said. According to his father, he was caught only after US officials detained him without charging him or allowing access to a lawyer. I'm guessing he was being "discouraged" from leaving at a point when officials didn't want the appearance of contractors and the like all leaving? shrug. Newsday.com - World News |