The rumor running through cyberspace that Nicholas Berg had a "connection" with the 9/11 terrorists has been shot down and explained. However, the explanation has a lot to do with the Cyber World, and my guess is that it won't stop the conspiracy theory buffs. Just how statistically coincidental is it that two people, worlds and cultures apart, would have identical pass words?
That is what happened in this instance, as reported in today's The New York Times:
WASHINGTON, May 14 - Federal officials said Friday that they were satisfied that Nicholas Berg, the 26-year-old American decapitated in Iraq, had had no terrorist links even though his computer password had apparently been used by a terror suspect.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation first interviewed Mr. Berg in 2002 after his e-mail password appeared to have been used by that suspect, but the connection "was just a coincidence," a senior official of the bureau said.
Attorney General John Ashcroft echoed that assessment, rejecting any suggestion that Mr. Berg "was in some way involved in terrorist activity."
"It is not uncommon" for college students like Mr. Berg, who was attending the University of Oklahoma at the time, to have their computer passwords shared and distributed, Mr. Ashcroft said, adding, "We do not believe that that reflects any association with terrorist objectives or activities" by Mr. Berg.
That Mr. Berg's password may have been used by the terror suspect, who remains unidentified, has been a subject of news accounts since Thursday. But there are conflicting reports as to whether the password was discovered by the authorities in the belongings of Zacarias Moussaoui, who is in custody awaiting trial in an American court on charges related to the Sept. 11 attacks. And law enforcement officials were unwilling Friday to clear up those conflicts, citing a judge's order barring the parties from discussing the Moussaoui case.
The F.B.I. is investigating Mr. Berg's beheading, by militants in Iraq, which was captured on a grisly video posted on an Islamic Web site. Mr. Ashcroft pledged Friday to seek criminal charges in the United States against those responsible.
