U.S. identifies Berg's killer

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is an ally of Osama bin Laden.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was the masked man who beheaded an American civilian in Iraq, U.S. intelligence officials concluded Thursday, leaving other questions unresolved about Nicholas Berg's final days and his contacts with U.S. and Iraqi authorities.
In an odd twist, it also emerged Thursday that the FBI questioned Berg in 2002 about an e-mail address traced to him that was used by an acquintance of terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui. Investigators concluded that Berg had nothing to do with Moussaoui.
Through a technical analysis, intelligence officials were able to determine "with high probability" that the speaker on a video showing Berg's beheading was al-Zarqawi, said a CIA official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The same person is shown decapitating Berg, the official said.
Three days after Berg's body was found on Saturday, an Islamic Web site released a video, titled "Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi slaughters an American infidel with his own hands."
U.S. authorities consider al-Zarqawi an ally of Osama bin Laden and say he is running his own terrorist operation.
The video shows five armed men disguised by head scarves and masks line up behind Berg, who is seated on the ground. Standing in the middle, the man identified as al-Zarqawi reads a lengthy statement that criticizes Islamic scholars and the "shameful photos" of the humiliation of men and women at the Abu Ghraib prison. He then decapitates Berg.
Berg's detention
It is unclear when and how Berg, a self-employed telecommunications businessman, was captured. Accounts of his detention in Mosul in late March are also conflicting.
U.S. officials insist Berg was arrested by Iraqi police for involvement in "suspicious activities." The Mosul police chief has denied that. An April 1 e-mail from a U.S. consular official in Iraq, provided by Berg's family, said he was being detained by the U.S. military.
But State Department spokeswoman Kelly Shannon said late Thursday that the diplomat had been given erroneous information from the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. Not until one day after Berg's release from jail was the diplomat told that Iraqi police had held Berg, Shannon said.
"As Mr. Berg had been released, the consular officer did not convey this information to the family because he was released, thankfully -- he was released," Shannon said late Thursday. "And we thought he was on his way."
The FBI visited Berg three times before his April 6 release, a U.S. spokesman in Iraq, Dan Senor, said Wednesday. The agents told Berg that Iraq was too dangerous for unprotected American civilians.
Berg wrote his parents after his release that federal agents had questioned him about whether he had ever built a pipe bomb or had been in Iran.
Berg's family members have called on the government to tell all it knows about its contacts with the 26-year-old.