Family of Executed American Angry with U.S. Govt.
Wednesday May 12, 2004
By Jon Hurdle
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters)
Family and friends of the American civilian executed by Islamic militants are angry about U.S. government denials that their son was ever in U.S. custody in Iraq, a family spokesman said on Wednesday.
Neighbor Bruce Hauser, who has acted as a family spokesman, said, "The community feels that if the government had Nick Berg in their control they should have sought to release Berg back to his home country."
"I have to believe that the American government had him in their custody. The Bergs knew that Nick was in their custody and the Bergs wanted the government to release him so he could come home," Hauser said.
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FBI Saw Berg During Iraq Police Detention
Wednesday May 12, 2004
Berg Interviewed By FBI In Iraq
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The FBI saw Nick Berg, the American civilian beheaded in Iraq, three times while he was being detained by Iraqi police, the U.S.-led occupation authority said Wednesday.
An Islamist Web site Tuesday carried a video clip of Berg's beheading, with a statement saying a group linked to al Qaeda carried it out in revenge for the abuse of Iraqis by U.S. troops.
Dan Senor, spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, said Berg had not been in U.S. custody before or after his arrest by Iraqi police on March 24. "My understanding is that they suspected that he was engaged in suspicious activity," Senor told a news conference. "U.S. authorities were notified, the FBI visited with Mr. Berg when he was in Iraqi police detention and determined that he was not involved in any criminal or terrorist activities," Senor said. "They had contact with him on three occasions."
Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt, the U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said U.S. military police had seen Berg during his detention to make sure he was being fed and treated properly.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5121419