Zarqawi beheaded Berg, CIA finds

The CIA concluded yesterday that the hooded terrorist shown beheading an American civilian in a videotape is al Qaeda-linked terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi.

“After the intelligence community conducted a technical analysis of the video posted on May 11, the CIA assessed with high probability that the speaker on the tape is Zarqawi and that person is shown decapitating American citizen Nicholas Berg,” a U.S. official said.

Zarqawi, 37, is a Jordanian of Palestinian descent who is leading anticoalition terrorist operations in Iraq against U.S. and allied forces, according to American intelligence officials.

He was the hooded man who appeared in the middle of five men in the video of the slaying of Mr. Berg, 26, the Pennsylvania businessman found decapitated in Baghdad on Saturday.

Although he would not specify whether Zarqawi wielded the knife, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez told reporters in Baghdad that “indications that we are getting is that Zarqawi did it.”

Mr. Berg’s father, Michael, yesterday blamed President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld for his son’s death.

“My son died for the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. This administration did this,” Mr. Berg’s father told a Philadelphia radio station. He said the terrorists “did not know what they were doing. They killed their best friend.”

Asked about the father’s comments, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, “The Berg family is going through a very difficult period, and they remain in our thoughts and prayers.”

Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry told Fox News that he had spoken to Michael Berg to express sympathy.

“I mean, as a parent, if I lost one of my children that way, visibly, learning about it the way he did, I’d personally give up whatever I’m doing and I’d spend the rest of my life trying to bring those people to justice,” he said, adding that Mr. Berg “feels let down by those who should have been protecting his son.”

Meanwhile in Iraq, a Mosul police chief said Mr. Berg was never arrested by Iraqi authorities and a friend said that Mr. Berg planned to leave Iraq through Turkey.

Mosul Police Chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Khair al-Barhawi said his department had never arrested Mr. Berg and said he had no knowledge of the case. “The Iraqi police never arrested the slain American,” he told reporters. “Take it from me … that such reports are baseless.”

Questions about Mr. Berg’s travel and kidnapping in Iraq remain unanswered.

A defense official said he was a contractor looking for work who was abducted by Iraqis and who was never in U.S. custody, as some news reports have said.

Some U.S. officials say Mr. Berg was arrested by Iraqi police March 24 based on suspicion he was involved in improper activities. He was then released and disappeared until video of his killing was posted on an al Qaeda-linked Web site Tuesday.

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