Reply #9: That's a valuable recap. Here's some additional info.

[leveymg]

I believe that after Freed resigned earlier in the Summer, the Associate FBI Director served as Interim Director until Mueller came on board.

When you post things that aren't widely known, such as the Berg-Moussaoui password connection, you probably should link to a reliable source. I had to do some digging to find it, but this is from CBS: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=617380n , June 9, 2004 (see video on this page, "Strange Twist In Berg Case Investigations into the execution of American Nick Berg show his killer was a top al Qaeda operative, and reveal a past link to 9/11 suspect Zaccarias Moussaoui, David Martin reports.")

A CIA official said Thursday that U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was, in "high probability," the person shown on a video beheading American Nicholas Berg, based on an analysis of the voice on the video.

The speaker on the video, now believed to be al-Zarqawi, reads a lengthy statement criticizing Islamic scholars and taunting the crusaders. Standing alongside four other militants wearing headscarves and masks to disguise themselves, al-Zarqawi then kills Berg.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told reporters Thursday in Baghdad that it appears al-Zarqawi was responsible. The U.S. military has already posted a $10 million reward for Zarqawi for having orchestrated some of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Iraq.

Initially, Berg's murder seemed to be a case of an eccentric young American who was in the wrong place at the worst possible time -- just as the revelations of American mistreatment of iraqi prisoners were coming to light.

But CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin reports on what is turning into a bizarre mystery with a connection to 9/11.

U.S. officials say the FBI questioned Berg in 2002 after a computer password Berg used in college turned up in the possession of Zaccarias Moussaoui, the al Qaeda operative arrested shortly before 9/11 for his suspicious activity at a flight school in Minnesota.

The bureau had already dismissed the connection between Berg and Moussaoui as nothing more than a college student who had been careless about protecting his password.

But in the wake of Berg's gruesome murder, it becomes a stranger than fiction coincidence -- an American who inadvertently gave away his computer password to one notorious al Qaeda operative is later murdered by another notorious al Qaeda operative.

I have two possible takes on Berg: 1) "art students" or 2) the "Caucasian American", an apparent skinhead, who bought a ticket for one of the 9/11 hijackers at a kiosk at the the University of OK where Berg worked at the time. See this fascinating DU thread from long ago (Google):

Nick E. Berg as the Oklahoma Kid. - Democratic Underground8 posts - 7 authors - Last post: May 16, 2004
would be such a hotbed for terrorist activity? Funny how those art students keep popping up. Seems that Berg was living a double life? ...
www.democraticunderground.com/.../duboard.php?az...all.... - Cached - Similar -