Your mission, should you choose to accept it...

I'm looking for someone who's been doggedly following the Nick Berg case. Truth be told, I've been avoiding the news for the past week; it's just too goddamn depressing. But I can't ignore reports of renewed fighting in Najaf. I've been hoping for a negotiated settlement that disarms Muqtada al-Sadr's men without encouraging other demogogues to make a similar power play. Frankly, it's the only plausible solution since a raid on Najaf's shrines would be disastrous, as would allowing the Mehdi Army to fortify them unmolested.

In any case, I came across an article in a blog of unevaluated reliability that runs through some of the odd bits of the Nicholas Berg story. One mystery, the fact that no state records can be found for the business he purportedly owned, has been corroborated by a local newspaper. I don't really have the time or inclination to track down the other leads, but I'm wondering if anyone else around here does (or already has). Please share!

Edit: Okay, now I'm starting to run into speculation that the video itself was faked (that is, Berg was really killed, but not by Arab terrorists) in order to distract us all from the torture allegations. Perhaps I should back away from this topic slowly and go back to my ostrich act.