I hope you're right. But the Moussoui connection is too much of a coincidence. Was Berg well known in the trade, really? Or is that a cover? Does his company have a web site? Does he have any REAL references? These are they type of questions that need to be asked.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.berg13may13,0,1712176.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines
EXCERPT
...'An adventurous sort'
The youngest of three children, Berg attended Cornell University, Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oklahoma. He didn't receive a degree from any of them, but he did find his niche - rigging and repairing telecommunications equipment, some of it hundreds of feet above the ground.
In 2000, he helped set up the electronics equipment at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.
Two years ago, he formed a small company in Pennsylvania, Prometheus Methods Tower Service, named after a character from Greek mythology who stole fire from the gods and brought it to mortals for their use.
Acquaintances describe Berg as equal parts entrepreneur and good Samaritan. He liked lifting weights, enjoyed comedy and had a passion for taking modern technology to Third-World countries. Friends and family say Berg did volunteer work in Kenya and Ghana, where he taught villagers how to make bricks and drill for water.
"He was an adventurous sort. You kind of have to be if you're going to be climbing these big towers 500 to 1,000 feet up in the air, hanging only by a sling," said Walt Billings, a colleague of Berg's who, along with fellow employee Ed Bukont, turned down the Pennsylvania man's invitation to join him in Iraq.
Billings said Berg worked as a subcontractor for a division of his Baltimore-based company, Total Engine Service and Supply Co.
"He did tower work for radio and television stations. He went up the towers and did all the work associated with that," Billings said. "He knew his work was going to be in demand in Iraq, and that it was going to pay quite handsomely.
'On his own'
"We chose not to go just because of the deteriorating circumstances and concern for life and limb. It's a war zone. We saw it a little bit differently than Nick saw it.
"He wasn't attached to any particular company. He was there on his own," Billings said. "But it's not like he was bumming around looking for a job. He was a specialist in tower work, and one of the first contracts being released was for rebuilding of the radio station infrastructure. He wanted to be in the country, on the ground, when that work started to take off."
Because of increasing security concerns, though, the work never took off, leaving Berg in limbo, Billings said.
"It kept getting pushed back. I'm sure he wasn't hanging around because he wanted to hang around. I'm sure he was waiting for that opportunity to break."
Billings said Berg had done work for his company for about a year and a half. He said he had three jobs waiting for Berg once he came back.
Jeff Loughridge, chief engineer for Infinity Stations, based in Washington, also hired Berg for tower work.
"It started as a business relationship, but he became a very trusted friend," he said. "It takes a unique individual when you are having someone do work 500 feet in the air. You have to find someone you trust. They don't come along all the time, Nick was one of these people. I could trust him to do it top drawer."
E-mail from Iraq
When Berg helped install a communication system in Kenya last year, Loughridge said, he would send his clients e-mail about his adventures there and the work he was doing.
He continued that practice in Iraq.
"About Iraq ... I am taking photos - where allowed," he wrote during his trip in January. "It's actually pretty sad - I just got off one of two 320 meter monster towers in Abu Ghraib (also home to the main political prison) which use[d] to support most of Baghdad area's VHF and UHF. Both have been badly looted. ...
"I'll definitely share some of these pix with you and others next time I'm in the area - I'd love to put together a little presentation for SBE [Society of Broadcast Engineers] ... in about six months after I've been on every site and fixed some of them."
(snip)
See the posting
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Tower-pro/message/19463
Tower pro group is the Yahoo site for the professionals, who work on tall towers.
My two kids have email accounts at OU and they are not like logging into AOL. You have to have several codes to get in the email accounts and the student's email screen name is not one of the items required. It has been like that for a long time. I do not believe Moussoui just happened to use this guy's email account either because he left an open account on a computer lab computer. That is not going to happen according to what my daughter told me!
Moussoui did not live on campus but in an apartment and he was over at Westenheimer Airport on the North Base not on the OU campus so it makes less sense about the email account being used unless he was given the access codes!
< /sarcasm >
Yes and No...His company Prometheus Towers DID NOT have a website...But he was known to an extent in the 'industry'.
If you go to the Yahoo Message board 'Tower Pro', there is one poster that details work he did with Nick...and If you search the news wires photo banks you will find a couple of pictures of him related to his industry.
Two are at a trade show, one is him fixing what looks like some sort of electrical panel. He is wearing climbing gear.
The fact is that his company was probably more of a write off channel... or somthing else...
What kind of guy who has a serious business is 'chipping wells' in Uganda and 'making mud bricks in Ghana...and the next thing he is a freelance high-tower guy gallivanting around Iraq...