Posted on 05/13/2004 4:50:22 PM PDT by KQQL
A CIA official said Thursday that U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was, in "high probability," the person shown on a video beheading American Nicholas Berg, based on an analysis of the voice on the video.
The speaker on the video, now believed to be al-Zarqawi, reads a lengthy statement criticizing Islamic scholars and taunting the crusaders. Standing alongside four other militants wearing headscarves and masks to disguise themselves, al-Zarqawi then kills Berg.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told reporters Thursday in Baghdad that it appears al-Zarqawi was responsible. The U.S. military has already posted a $10 million reward for Zarqawi for having orchestrated some of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Iraq.
Initially, Berg's murder seemed to be a case of an eccentric young American who was in the wrong place at the worst possible time -- just as the revelations of American mistreatment of iraqi prisoners were coming to light.
But CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin reports on what is turning into a bizarre mystery with a connection to 9/11.
U.S. officials say the FBI questioned Berg in 2002 after a computer password Berg used in college turned up in the possession of Zaccarias Moussaoui, the al Qaeda operative arrested shortly before 9/11 for his suspicious activity at a flight school in Minnesota.
The bureau had already dismissed the connection between Berg and Moussaoui as nothing more than a college student who had been careless about protecting his password.
But in the wake of Berg's gruesome murder, it becomes a stranger than fiction coincidence -- an American who inadvertently gave away his computer password to one notorious al Qaeda operative is later murdered by another notorious al Qaeda operative.
Berg's body was found Saturday in Baghdad. Two e-mails he sent to his family and friends show he traveled widely and unguarded throughout Iraq, an unsafe practice rarely done by Westerners.
On Tuesday, an Islamic Web site released the video, titled "Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi slaughters an American infidel with his own hands."
Al-Zarqawi is thought to be in Iraq, operating his own terrorist network, known simply as the "Zarqawi network." A specialist in poisons, he is thought to have extensive ties across the militant Islamic movement and is considered an ally of Osama bin Laden.
As recently as March, U.S. officials said al-Zarqawi's practice was not to make taped public pronouncements or take credit for attacks. However, in the last five weeks, he has increased his public profile with at least three recordings, including Berg's beheading.
Al-Zarqawi is believed to be behind well over a dozen high-profile attacks in Iraq, and many other acts of violence, which have killed hundreds.
Martin reports that in at least one other case, a high-level al Qaeda operative has personally carried out a brutal killing. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected Sept. 11 mastermind now in U.S. custody, is widely believed to have killed Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Meanwhile Thursday, new details emerged about Berg's last weeks in Iraq — a timeline that has been contested by his family and the U.S. government.
Authorities in Baghdad denied that Berg, 26, was held in U.S. custody before he disappeared in early April, despite claims to the contrary by his family. The authorities said he had been held by Iraqi police for about two weeks and questioned by FBI agents three times.
In Baghdad, U.S. spokesmen Dan Senor said that "to my knowledge" Berg was not affiliated with any U.S. or coalition organization, nor was he ever in U.S. custody.
Iraqi police arrested Berg in Mosul on March 24 because local authorities believed he may have been involved in "suspicious activities," Senor said. He refused to elaborate, except to confirm that the Americans were aware Berg was in custody.
Berg was released April 6 and "was advised to leave the country," Senor added. Instead, Berg checked into a Baghdad hotel.
Berg had told friends he was arrested by Iraqi police in Mosul because he had an Israeli stamp in his passport. In e-mails released by his family, Berg wrote about his experiences in trying to track down and later meet an in-law in the Mosul area.
In Mosul, police chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Khair al-Barhawi insisted Thursday that his department had never arrested Berg and maintained he had no knowledge of the case.
"The Iraqi police never arrested the slain American," al-Barhawi told reporters. "Take it from me ... that such reports are baseless."
Since Iraq remains under U.S. military occupation, it seems unlikely that the Iraqi police would have held Berg, or any other American, for such a length of time without at least the tacit approval of U.S. authorities.
"The Iraqi police do not tell the FBI what to do, the FBI tells the Iraqi police what to do," Berg's father, Michael Berg told the AP. "Who do they think they're kidding?"
The younger Berg told his family that U.S. officials took custody of him soon after his arrest and he was not allowed to make phone calls or contact a lawyer, his father said.
Kimmitt said U.S. forces kept tabs on Berg during his confinement to make sure he was being fed and properly treated because "he was an American citizen."
But the three FBI visits suggest American authorities were concerned about more than Berg's well-being. They may have had their own suspicions about what the young American was doing in Iraq.
Two e-mails Berg sent to his family and friends show he traveled widely and unguarded throughout Iraq, an unsafe practice rarely done by Westerners.
Shortly before Berg's disappearance, he was warned by the FBI that Iraq was too volatile a place for unprotected American civilians and that he could be harmed, a senior FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday.
Officials said the U.S. government warned Berg to leave Iraq, and offered him a flight out of the country, a month before his grisly death.
On April 10, four days after Berg was released from an Iraqi prison, an American diplomat offered to put him on a flight to Jordan, State Department spokeswoman Kelly Shannon said.
But Berg told the diplomat he "planned to travel overland to Kuwait and would call (his) family from there," Shannon said.
Michael Berg, said that although his son wanted to leave Iraq, he refused the flight offer because he thought the travel to the airport would be too dangerous.
His Aunt, (on the father's side I think) she is now passed away, but she was married to an Iraqi.
After his initial trip to Iraq, Nick Berg was back in Pennsylvania, left again for Iraq on March 14 believing he had some work lined up, and had promised to be back in Pennsylvania by March 30 for a friend's wedding! No body pops back and forth between Iraq and the U.S., balancing odd jobs there and social engagements here. I can't imagine the two weeks' work would even cover the airfare, never mind compensate for the actual work, lousy living conditions, and huge risk to life and limb.
None of this makes one iota of sense. Add in the ANSWER-member Dad, and the fact that U.S. authorities in Iraq were obviously perplexed by Nick and his activities, and the presumably Jewish aunt married to a presumably Muslim Iraqi living in Iraq, and the whole thing just doesn't hold together. He was definitely up to something more than kicking around Iraq looking for free-lance work.
Curioser and Curioser still.
Why stop the fun? We already have a kid that no one has anything bad to say about, who was getting more religious(JEWISH RELIGION) and who helped make bricks and other humanitarian things in Africa and have got people making him into an Al Qaeda terrorist.
If it was their son???
I assume Nick's body has been DNA tested?
I assume Nick's body has been DNA tested?
"Another interesting nugget. Who is the in-law?"
Plus WHERE is the in-law since this happened?
Yes, there are lots of questions regarding the murder of Nick Berg, but the fact remains he was decapitated by the most brutal people on the face of the earth. They filmed it and released it on the internet. No matter what the story is, the ending is still the same...an American was beheaded and his death is being used for political propaganda by AlQuaeda and by Democrats and liberals here at home.
"What does this have to do with Bush?"
The liberals are playing "if only" - but they're selecting details that blame the US. "If only Berg had not been detained so long."
How about, "if only Berg wasn't running around with a backpack like Iraq was some kind of student holiday, with NO CONTRACTS, looking for comm tower work"?
The father's reaction is most suspicious of all --- he's wasting no time at all in using his own son's horrific death for politics. Who would do that??? If your kid had a different political view from yours, and he just got decapitated by barbarians, you'd have a little respect for his viewpoint --- you wouldn't be so quick to disrespect his death in such a way. The father has already met with Kerry but claims his son was pro-Bush?
And including his own father.
It certainly looks like he was some kind of go between.
Uh, except very few iraqis are in Al Qaeda. Zarqawi himself is Jordanian. Most are Saudis, Jordanians, Pakistanis, Chechens, etc.
I've not heard of one Iraqi-native AQ member.
He doens't have ANSWER connections, his father does.
But keep on truckin'. Reynolds will be rich after these threads.
I wonder if the uncle has Al Queda connections like the college friend did.
Nick Berg's father is just as guilty as AlQuaeda, John Kerry, et al in using Nick's deathe for political propaganda.
A Chechen might speak Russian.
bump for later reference with other thread
The phonecall answer is interesting too. He obviously felt he was going to be listened in on....which is very likely. What did he not want to say? Nick's travels don't add up in the end. You can't find a single US businessman who is in Iraq...that isn't dealing directly with the US or the Iraqi council. Unless you are running some kinda illegal scheme...you just won't make any cash in this country. Something smells fishy on this story.
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