U.S. Denies Berg Family Claims

Senor said, "He was not a U.S. government employee. He had no affiliation with the U.S. government, he had no affiliation with the coalition, and to our knowledge, he had no affiliation with Coalition Provisional Authority contractors." But, he said, Berg "still was an American citizen, and that's why we checked up on him. . . ."

Berg flew from New York to Amman, Jordan, on March 14 and traveled overland into Iraq, his family reported. It was his second visit to the country. But he was unable to drum up any business for his company, Prometheus Methods Tower Service, to inspect radio towers and provide parts and repair services.

He planned to leave Iraq March 30, but his detention in Mosul forced him to postpone his departure date, he reportedly informed his parents. He called his parents April 9 -- his last communication with them -- and checked out of a Baghdad hotel on April 10.

According to the Associated Press, Berg was a weight lifting enthusiast and amateur comedian who had traveled abroad to help people improve their lives. Among his trips was a visit to the West African country of Ghana, where he taught villagers to make bricks and returned emaciated because he gave away most of his food, the AP quoted his father as saying.

Michael Berg described his son as a Bush administration supporter who helped set up electronics equipment at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 2000, AP reported. The father said his son was a practicing Jew and that his captors probably found that out, the agency said.

"If there was any doubt that they were going to kill him, that probably clinched it, I'm guessing," the AP quoted Michael Berg as saying.

In the video shown on the Islamic militant group's Web site, a masked captor read a statement in Arabic saying that the group had tried to exchange Berg for prisoners held by the U.S. military at Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad but had been rebuffed. U.S. authorities said they knew of no such offer.

The speaker in the video said before committing the murder that it was in revenge for the mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and that more captives would be "slaughtered in this way."