"There are no cell phones in Iraq," Aziz told a reporter in May 2003. "That's the way to the future."
There's another strange new twist to the saga of Nick Berg and his final days of Iraq before his savage videotaped beheading.
Berg teamed up in Baghdad with an ex-Philadelphia man who led a controversial group of Iraqi expatriates encouraged by the U.S. government - even as he faced deportation for his role in Russian-emigre crime ring selling millions of vials used for crack.
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"I was always pressuring him to keep a low profile, but he ignored all my caution and advice," Aziz said. "Berg kept a high profile, wandering around late at night or took public transport. Sometimes he got upset, looked at me in such a way, or said, 'You're not my dad' or 'I'm an adult, I can make my own decision."
Aziz said that Berg left his equipment with him during a short trip back to the U.S. When he came back, the two spent an hour climbing tall buildings at Abu Ghraib, site of the infamous prison. Aziz said they re-recorded measurements that were in his stolen notebook.
The next day, Aziz said, Berg called to say that he was going to the northern city of Mosul, where the brother of Berg's uncle lives. "He invited me to go with him, but I declined because it was dangerous," said Aziz.
It's not known whether Aziz ever told Berg of his controversial past.
In 1993, about a decade after fleeing Saddam's Iraq for America, Aziz was in the electronics business when he was one of 25 people charged with distributing some 100 million crack vials on the East Coat. Prosecutors said that Aziz, who lived in Northeast Philadelphia, was tied to a network run by a Soviet immigrant namedtwoValery Sigal.two Most in the ring were immigrants from Russia or the former Eastern Bloc.
Aziz claimed he didn't know the vials were going to drug dealers. But he pled guilty. He was sentenced to three years of probation, fined $3,000, and forced to forfeit $17,673 in profits.
William Bunch/Philly.com May.17.04
