Maybe the reporter that was beheaded a few years back was a sly message... a threat to the network stations to get them to play ball. His name eludes me at the moment and I suspect the other poor beheaded victims were probably whistle blowers too...
Edit: I think his name was Danail Pearl, and Nick Berg was another one of the poor souls...
the below link is a little back ground about Berg...hmmm
is it official...idk.
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/5/15/22827/0477
Peace