The father of Nick Berg, the American beheaded in Iraq, directly blamed President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday for his son's death.
"My son died for the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. This administration did this," Berg said in an interview with radio station KYW-AM two days after a video showing the execution of his son was shown on an Islamist Web site.
...Meanwhile, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge Bush in the November election, said he had spoken to Michael Berg to express sympathy. "I know as a father how I would feel if it were one of my daughters or stepsons. I think every American is pained by what is going on."
Asked if Bush had also called Nicholas Berg's family, McClellan said he had not but pointed to the president's public expressions of condolence to the family.
...Berg rejected U.S. government claims that his son had never been held by American authorities in Iraq. The Iraqi police chief in the city of Mosul has also contradicted statements by the U.S.-led coalition concerning the younger Berg's detention.
..."I have a written statement from the State Department in Baghdad ... saying that my son was being held by the military," Berg said. "I can also assure you that the FBI came to my house on March 31 and told me that the FBI had him in Mosul in an Iraqi prison."
...CBS reported on Thursday that Berg was questioned by FBI agents who discovered he had been interviewed before because a computer password he used in college had turned up in the possession of accused Sept. 11 conspirator Zaccarias Moussaoui.
It said the FBI had concluded there was nothing sinister in that. The FBI had no comment on the report.
Dan Senor, spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority, said this week that Nick Berg was arrested in Mosul by Iraqi police on March 24 and released on April 6 and was visited by the FBI three times during his detention.
...On April 5, the Bergs filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, naming Rumsfeld and alleging their son was being held illegally by the U.S. military in Iraq. The next day, he was released.
Reuters article
"My son died for the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. This administration did this," Berg said in an interview with radio station KYW-AM two days after a video showing the execution of his son was shown on an Islamist Web site.
...Meanwhile, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge Bush in the November election, said he had spoken to Michael Berg to express sympathy. "I know as a father how I would feel if it were one of my daughters or stepsons. I think every American is pained by what is going on."
Asked if Bush had also called Nicholas Berg's family, McClellan said he had not but pointed to the president's public expressions of condolence to the family.
...Berg rejected U.S. government claims that his son had never been held by American authorities in Iraq. The Iraqi police chief in the city of Mosul has also contradicted statements by the U.S.-led coalition concerning the younger Berg's detention.
..."I have a written statement from the State Department in Baghdad ... saying that my son was being held by the military," Berg said. "I can also assure you that the FBI came to my house on March 31 and told me that the FBI had him in Mosul in an Iraqi prison."
...CBS reported on Thursday that Berg was questioned by FBI agents who discovered he had been interviewed before because a computer password he used in college had turned up in the possession of accused Sept. 11 conspirator Zaccarias Moussaoui.
It said the FBI had concluded there was nothing sinister in that. The FBI had no comment on the report.
Dan Senor, spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority, said this week that Nick Berg was arrested in Mosul by Iraqi police on March 24 and released on April 6 and was visited by the FBI three times during his detention.
...On April 5, the Bergs filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, naming Rumsfeld and alleging their son was being held illegally by the U.S. military in Iraq. The next day, he was released.
Michael Berg, in turn, is being ripped by right-wing bloggers.
There is something really strange about this whole deal.
