May 2004
Nick Berg's Execution
"My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my mother's name is Suzanne. I have a brother and sister, David and Sara. I live in West Chester, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia."
—Nick Berg, speaking his final words before being beheaded
An American freelance telecommunications contractor named Nick Berg is abducted and beheaded in Iraq by militants in retaliation for U.S. abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. Berg's decapitation and a statement from his killers are videotaped and posted on the Internet on May 11. Berg's family claims that their son would have left Iraq earlier but he had been detained by U.S. authorities in Iraq who were suspicious of his reasons for being in the country. The U.S. insists that, though he may have been held by Iraqi police, he was never held by coalition authorities.