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Berg 'met 9/11 suspect on bus'
14/05/2004 08:15 - (SA)
Washington - The father of a US hostage beheaded by Islamic radicals in Iraq said Thursday his son may have crossed paths with the only person charged in the United States in the September 11 attacks.
Michael Berg, father of 26-year-old Nicholas Berg, told CNN at his home in West Chester, Pennsylvania, that his son went to Oklahoma University several years ago and allowed people later identified by US authorities as terrorists to use his computer.
"Nick was taking a course at a remote campus that was near the airport and he was on a bus and some terrorist people - no one knew they were terrorists at the time, they were just fellow students - were also taking the bus," said Berg.
"Someone asked him basically to let him use his computer, and he did. It turned out that this guy was a terrorist and that he used my son's e-mail, among many other people's e-mail."
US officials, according to CNN, say Berg shared his computer - and his password - with one individual, and that password somehow ended up in the possession of Moussaoui, a French citizen arrested one month before the September 11 attacks.
Separate plot
Moussaoui has denied any role in the attacks, insisting he was part of a separate plot.
Michael Berg told CNN the Federal Bureau of Investigation tracked his son down and questioned him, and that his son "co-operated fully".
Nicholas Berg's contacts on the bus near the Oklahoma airport, according to CNN, may have been the reason "the FBI felt compelled to interview Berg three times in Iraq before clearing him for release".
Michael Berg said that at one time Moussaoui took flying lessons at the airport near where the bus contact took place.
He also alluded to reports that al-Qaeda, whose operatives are believed to have executed Berg in Iraq, had offered to trade his son for another hostage.
"I would like to ask George Bush if it's true that al-Qaeda offered to trade my son's life for the life of another person.
"If that's truth, I need that information."
CNN quoted US authorities as saying they "knew of no offer from al-Qaeda that would have saved Berg's life".
Earlier this week, a grainy video on an Islamist website linked to the al-Qaeda terror network showed Berg, 26, being decapitated with a large knife by a group of masked men who claimed their action was in retaliation for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
- AFP
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