Today in Manhunting History -- May 11, 2004: The Murder of Nicholas Berg

Although he had operated an al-Qa'ida sponsored training camp in Afghanistan and killed an American diplomat in Amman, Jordan, Abu Musab al Zarqawi was largely unkown to Americans until Secretary of State Colin Powell invoked him in his February 2003 presentation at the United Nations as the link between al-Qa'ida and Saddam's regime.  On the second day of Operation Iraqi Freedom, more than 40 U.S. cruise missiles were fired at a terrorist facility near the northern town of Khurmal in hopes of killing Zarqawi.  Yet by the time the Coalition invaded Iraq, the Jordanian had already fled across the Iranian border.

Zarqawi fell off the U.S. radar screen after Baghdad fell in April 2003.  As Coalition forces focused on hunting Saddam, he was lumped together with other foreign Arab terrorists.  In the summer of 2003 Zarqawi moved back to the Sunni areas of Iraq and, beginning with the bombing of the UN headquarters, masterminded an eight-month wave of suicide attacks across Iraq.  Whereas other insurgents targeted Americans or other Coalition military personnel, Zarqawi's network terrorized Shi'a civilians with attacks in market places, cafes, and other crowded, everyday locations.  This spree of suicide bombings culminated with the murder of an estimated 185 Shi'a worshippers celebrating the religious festival of Ashura in twin bombings in Karbala and Baghdad.




Nicholas Berg moments before his beheading by Abu Musab al Zarawi

 Zarqawi's reputation for barbarism, however, was sealed on May 11, 2004, when a video titled "Sheikh Abu Musab Zarqawi Slaughters an American Infidel" appeared on an Islamist web site.  The video showed a thin, bearded man wearing an organge jumpsuit -- who identified himself as Nicholas Berg of West Chester, Pennsylvania -- bound and seated before a row of five men dressed in black, their faces obscured by scarves and ski masks.  One of the masked men, later identified as Zarqawi, read a proclamation in Arabic.  "For the mothers and wives of American soldiers," the short, stocky man said, "You will receive nothing from us but coffin after coffin slaughtered in this way."  The men then pushed Berg to the floor as Zarqawi produced a long knife from his shirt.  He stepped forward and put the blade to Berg's neck.  As the men yelled "Allahu Akbar!" (God is great!), Berg's bloodcurdling screams filled the air.  Zarqawi began to saw until Berg fell silent, and finally held the American's decapitated head to the camera.

Abu Musab al Zarqawi was now the most wanted man in Iraq.