Much of it concerns technical matters. There is the surprising revelation that Berg ran into the Iraqi police in January, during his first trip; they seem to have wondered (for at least a moment or two) if he was a spy for the Iranians!
Incidentally, one report claims that a hotel staffer saw that Berg possessed both Jordanian and Iranian currency. I have no idea what to make of all this; these facts may be significant or otherwise.
More pertinent to our current inquiry is Berg on his shadowy new partner, Aziz Taee or "Joe Aziz":
Other than that, we're trying to wrap up our preparations here so I can get back to the US. I think our interests will be well taken care of while I'm gone. I've found a very competent and fairly reliable commercial Manager here. He's actually been living in Philadelphia the last twenty years and just came back - so he's similarly a bit out of his element. Imagine coming home to a country so different form where you grew up. We're right now at an office near the sporting club where he played European Football as a kid.Nothing in this section indicates that Berg knew anything of Aziz's reported link to drug smuggling, illegal CD duplication, the Russian mafia, the neocon's pro-war propaganda effort -- and, just possibly, the intelligence community.
Since then it's been destroyed, rebuilt, run by Oday, son of Hussein, and finally privatized. The fact alone that he and I are just now sitting in a free and open internet shop is unbelievable to most Iraqis. Even a year ago he would have been arrested upon his return. Neither of us would be seeing the un-restricted internet. At any rate, Aziz will do us well I think, and I'm happy I finally found someone I can strategize with.
Irony of ironies, Aziz also had a connection to the thugs at FreeRepublic, the right-wing hate site which put Berg's father on an enemies list. A usenet post of December 16, 2003, includes this message:
The FReepers and MOVE-OUT also will host Aziz Al-Taee of theFurther Googling reveals that Aziz has connections with GOPUSA and other right wing groups. At a pro-war rally, Aziz was quoted -- hilariously -- as saying of war opponents: "They never tell of Saddam's horrible crimes. They never want to show pictures of Halabja..."
Iraqi-American Council as speaker.
"Theirs is a voice that isn't heard in the media," Taylor complains.
Aziz recently appeared on Greta van Susteren's Fox News show, Taylor
said, and now he is starting to get a "few appearances." He adds that
Aziz and his group publicly demean Osama bin Laden in very strong
terms, something that isn't seen or heard – a very rare thing in the
Islamic world."
No, Mr Aziz. You're wrong. In fact, you're re-writing history.
In the 1980s, it was Reagan and the elder Bush who tried to cover up the atrocity at Hallabja; liberals made an effort to direct the public's attention to the issue. Theirs were the only voices in this country discussing Saddam's many crimes. The Republicans treated Saddam Hussein as a partner. Since then, even the most vociferous opponents of the latest war have always been careful to stipulate the evils of Saddam Hussein. Anyone who pretends otherwise is a propagandist.
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