Staged Beheading?

IN the light of the pictures of the beheading of Nic Berg which you ran on May 14, accompanied by a credulous story, and which understandably provoked some emotional reader response.

I think you should now report on the prevailing opinion that the whole incident was either faked, fabricated or staged. Reasons for this include: * The all-too-convenient timing, designed to distract attention from the US prisoner abuse scandal * The fact that Berg was probably still in US custody at the time the beheading was supposed to have taken place * Berg’s orange prisoner jumpsuit, familiar from the pictures of US Guantanamo bay prisoners – where did Al Qaeda get this from a Guantanamo old boy? * Medical evidence most obviously that no blood seemed to accompany the beheading * That the screams of Mr. Berg did not seem synchronised with the wielding of the knife * The mysterious web-site, which vanished immediately its purpose had been served * The US style flak jackets (and new trainers!) worn by the Arab captors * That in one frame of the video, the cap of a US MP seemed to intrude momentarily into the pictureThis of course does not answer the horrible question of what happened to Mr. Berg. Was he already dead when the execution took place?Was the video staged with a dummy?Could he even, in the current coalition’s campaign of disinformation and lies, have been executed by US forces? If so, how much lower can they stoop? So much for the promotion of democracy.W S Torbitt WindhoekReasons for this include: * The all-too-convenient timing, designed to distract attention from the US prisoner abuse scandal * The fact that Berg was probably still in US custody at the time the beheading was supposed to have taken place * Berg’s orange prisoner jumpsuit, familiar from the pictures of US Guantanamo bay prisoners – where did Al Qaeda get this from a Guantanamo old boy? * Medical evidence most obviously that no blood seemed to accompany the beheading * That the screams of Mr. Berg did not seem synchronised with the wielding of the knife * The mysterious web-site, which vanished immediately its purpose had been served * The US style flak jackets (and new trainers!) worn by the Arab captors * That in one frame of the video, the cap of a US MP seemed to intrude momentarily into the pictureThis of course does not answer the horrible question of what happened to Mr. Berg. Was he already dead when the execution took place?Was the video staged with a dummy?Could he even, in the current coalition’s campaign of disinformation and lies, have been executed by US forces? If so, how much lower can they stoop? So much for the promotion of democracy.W S Torbitt Windhoek