heh. nice bit of theory work, though it's really quite wrong.
(those orange jump suits, btw, are also used in prisons in Canada (i've visited friends wearing them) and are also easily found in Iraq these days, since releases from Abu Ghraib and others have been freed wearing nothing but them at times. There's nothing exclusively 'military issue' about them)
As to why they had him identify himself ("He did it so that they wouldn't question it being him! Because he's not!" to sum up the article), that's actually totally typical. They did it with Thomas Hamill as well...it's not at all an untypical thing to do when trying to prove you actually have possession of someone...
Not to mention, the whole thing is riddled with anti-Semitism, and it is totally insensitive to Nicholas Berg's family. A Jew, going to another country to try to do good? Unheard of! (That was sarcasm. For those of you not familiar with Jewish culture, we are commanded by the Torah to do Tikkun Olam, or the repair of the world.) Is it a fake? I don't know, but I could do without the "blame the victim" mentality.
This story reminded me an awful lot of the theories that circulated among some Americans after the Oklahoma City bombing and among some Muslims after 9/11:
After the OKC bombing, many in the U.S. assumed that the attack was carried out by Muslim extremists, although it seemed unclear why this obscure, out-of-the-way target would interest them; on the other hand, this was during the heyday of right-wing anti-government fever & in a part of the country where that fever was running high.
After 9/11, many in the Arab & Muslim worlds refused to believe that people from their cultures could have done such a thing--preferring a bizarre conspiracy theory about Israelis & American Jews; this despite the earlier attack on the WTC by Islamist militants, bin Laden's public calls for attacks on Americans (including civilians), the presense of men with Islamist ties on the hijacked planes, later claims of responsibility, etc.
In both instances, they "they-did-it" theory failed the test of Occam's Razor: Absent further evidence, the hypothesis containing the least number of unproven assumptions is the most likely to be correct. So, an attack on a federal government building in the midst of militia country was more likely the work of domestic than foreign terrorists; similarly, an attack on the centers of U.S. financial & military power was more likely conducted by those with the declared intent & (in the case of the WTC) demonstrated history of attacking those targets than by a state whose only ally is the attacked country ...
In the case of the Berg execution, I think that the theory with fewest unproven assumptions is that an American Jew named Nicholas Berg was murdered by people who don't like Americans &/or Jews, in a part of the world where the U.S. & Israel are both deeply unpopular, where law & order have largely broken down, & where the kidnapping & murder of foreign civilians is not exactly unheard-of.
The alternative theory demands that we assume that essentially nothing is as it appears, & makes that demand on the basis of some rather shaky conjectures.
I was so embarassed and confused that so many people jumped to the Islamic extremist idea in the Oklahoma City bombing. It seemed immediately intuitive to me that it _had_ to be the act of an American.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-05-17 01:05 am (UTC)(those orange jump suits, btw, are also used in prisons in Canada (i've visited friends wearing them) and are also easily found in Iraq these days, since releases from Abu Ghraib and others have been freed wearing nothing but them at times. There's nothing exclusively 'military issue' about them)
As to why they had him identify himself ("He did it so that they wouldn't question it being him! Because he's not!" to sum up the article), that's actually totally typical. They did it with Thomas Hamill as well...it's not at all an untypical thing to do when trying to prove you actually have possession of someone...
Whackjobs abound.....
no subject
Date: 2004-05-17 05:33 am (UTC)In the long run, what does it accomplish. We're still angry over the prison abuse scandal, and it's getting worse.
The theory seems too conspiracy-ish.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-17 08:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-17 01:35 pm (UTC)After the OKC bombing, many in the U.S. assumed that the attack was carried out by Muslim extremists, although it seemed unclear why this obscure, out-of-the-way target would interest them; on the other hand, this was during the heyday of right-wing anti-government fever & in a part of the country where that fever was running high.
After 9/11, many in the Arab & Muslim worlds refused to believe that people from their cultures could have done such a thing--preferring a bizarre conspiracy theory about Israelis & American Jews; this despite the earlier attack on the WTC by Islamist militants, bin Laden's public calls for attacks on Americans (including civilians), the presense of men with Islamist ties on the hijacked planes, later claims of responsibility, etc.
In both instances, they "they-did-it" theory failed the test of Occam's Razor: Absent further evidence, the hypothesis containing the least number of unproven assumptions is the most likely to be correct. So, an attack on a federal government building in the midst of militia country was more likely the work of domestic than foreign terrorists; similarly, an attack on the centers of U.S. financial & military power was more likely conducted by those with the declared intent & (in the case of the WTC) demonstrated history of attacking those targets than by a state whose only ally is the attacked country ...
In the case of the Berg execution, I think that the theory with fewest unproven assumptions is that an American Jew named Nicholas Berg was murdered by people who don't like Americans &/or Jews, in a part of the world where the U.S. & Israel are both deeply unpopular, where law & order have largely broken down, & where the kidnapping & murder of foreign civilians is not exactly unheard-of.
The alternative theory demands that we assume that essentially nothing is as it appears, & makes that demand on the basis of some rather shaky conjectures.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-17 10:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-18 01:36 pm (UTC)