:
Tues - May 11 -

AMERICAN BEHEADED: An Islamic "militant" website has displayed a video which purportedly documents the beheading in Iraq of an American man named Nick Berg from Philadelphia. The ritual murder has been compared by some journalists to that of reporter Daniel Pearl. The "militants" claimed that their action was in revenge for the alleged prisoner abuse photos from Abu Ghraib prison.

:: BBC NEWS - Middle East ::


JOOO FEVER: Meanwhile, perhaps covertly connected to the afore-mentioned item, Prof Juan Cole points to a highly speculative essay by Wayne Madsen who *explores the evidence for an Israeli connection to the prison torture scandal in Iraq. He seems to suggest a possible nexus between Israeli ex-security men trained in anti-Palestinian torture techniques and the private security contractors.* From Madsen redacted:

With mounting evidence that a shadowy group [The Protocols?] of former Israeli Defense Force and General Security Service (Shin Bet) Arabic-speaking interrogators were hired by the Pentagon under a classified "carve out" sub-contract to brutally interrogate Iraqi prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison...

Ah, but he doesn't provide any evidence-- There's nothing there but blue smoke, hot air and mirrors.

:: From Prof Cole's Blog ::
-- Entry of 5/11/2004 07:00:36AM --

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