Comments on: More on Nicholas Berg’s Murder

By: Justene

Justene — Sun, 16 May 2004 15:34:53 +0000

He talked during both segments, so obviously he was still alive at that point. However, while his lips moved, almost nothing else did. Perhaps he was sedated. More likely, perhaps he was physically restrained so that he couldn’t move much.

There were reports on Pearl that they tried to sedate him several times before the beheading but he resisted.

By: The Angry Clam

The Angry Clam — Sun, 16 May 2004 05:51:27 +0000

As I watched it, they seemed to keep it pointed down. At one point, I think I did see a pretty decent sized blood squirt. Watch the pool, at one point, it looks like it suddenly gets much bigger, in the direction one would expect it to go.

I couldn’t tell if they started from the front or the back. When they got down to sawing it off though, they clearly started from the front- note the part where they pull the head back to keep on going.

By: maura

maura — Sun, 16 May 2004 05:32:31 +0000

I’ve killed large and small animals (biologist, and I went hunting with my Dad). I agree with dorkafork on that point.

As for the blood volume and spurting issue(and I posted roughly this over at Kate’s):

I only watched the video once, and was not paying that type of attention to it. But maybe some (or a lot) of blood got on the guys doing it. Maybe the view of blood spurting was blocked by one of them?

Also…the notion of cutting sequence is important. It did appear to me that they went from the back of the neck first – meaning they’d cut the spinal cord before the carotid arteries.

The nervous system controls musculature of arterial walls (that’s what gives you blood pressure). If the cord were cut first, a massive drop in blood pressure would follow very quickly. You can’t ‘spurt’ without blood pressure; you would merely ‘spill.’

By: dorkafork

dorkafork — Sun, 16 May 2004 04:37:46 +0000

Sorry about the double post, I've got a post up that goes into slightly more detail.

By: The Angry Clam

The Angry Clam — Sun, 16 May 2004 03:21:50 +0000

People that say “not enough blood” and “too clean a cut” probably have never killed a large animal.

I have. I’m not particularly dubious of those portions of the video.

It was a deer, not a person. Get a grip.

By: dorkafork

dorkafork — Sun, 16 May 2004 03:01:42 +0000

I left a comment at Wizbang that explains it, you should look at the time stamps during the actual execution. The moment where the terrorist raises Berg’s head upwards gives a point for synchronization. I’d rather not retype it all. If I didn’t explain it well enough, I can go into further detail. I’m just sick of watching/discussing it, and I’m absolutely convinced the two camera theory is correct.