Replies

"And I notice this Washington Post article doesn't mention email addresses being stolen, nor Ashcroft indicating that was the case:"

Cyn, if you'll click the link I gave you with the cite, you will see that it goes to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28087-2004May14.html

Here is as much of the text as I dare post without messing with copyright - you can click the link for the rest.

FBI Questioned Berg on 9/11 Link
Suspect in Attacks Stole Computer ID From Iraq Victim
By Sewell Chan and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, May 15, 2004; Page A17

BAGHDAD, May 14 -- Nicholas Berg, *snip* was interviewed by FBI agents in the United States in 2002 because of a tangential connection to the case of alleged al Qaeda member Zacarias Moussaoui, U.S. officials said Friday.

The link between Berg, whom FBI agents in Iraq questioned three times shortly before he disappeared, and Moussaoui, who is accused of conspiracy in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, was confirmed by Attorney General John D. Ashcroft.

Ashcroft emphasized that FBI agents had cleared Berg of any suspicious activity. "We did not develop any interest in Mr. Berg or determine in any way that he had any relationship to any activities of terror," Ashcroft said in Washington.

"The suggestion that Mr. Berg was in some way involved in terrorist activity . . . is a suggestion that we do not have any ability to support and we do not believe is a valid one."

Moussaoui and an acquaintance used an e-mail address or other computer identification traced to Berg, Justice Department officials said. The FBI concluded that Berg had been one of numerous victims of scam artists who were stealing e-mail addresses and passwords at the main campus of the University of Oklahoma, where Berg had been a student, several officials said.

Berg, 26, never met Moussaoui, who attended the school later, officials said.

Ashcroft said the theft of Berg's e-mail address was unremarkable. "It is not uncommon for individuals from time to time to allow . . . computer use by other individuals in university settings," Ashcroft said.

*snip*

Eggen reported from Washington.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company

Now, I wasn't even going to answer your last, #1193, but now that I'm back in this for the moment... you said:

..."I was referring the Washington Post making a flat statement of what the FBI concluded.
...As to Nick's father, he was completely on the record now, not being anonymously quoted and not claiming faulty memory from two years ago. "

The Washington Post cite I gave you in that post just said the FBI concluded that Nick was among many who had their e-mail accounts stolen.
The article you challenged me to answer has Michael Berg saying the same thing:

"...amongst many other people's e-mail who he did the same thing to," Berg said."

So I'm at a loss for why you're still after me. lol
You started off accusing me of having no source. I gave it. Is it one source's word against the other? Yes.

I'm not here "zealously debunking a conspiracy". I'm answering questions directed to me since this afternoon.

I'm with you - we just want to focus on the best info we have available, and finding more. I have not decided one way or the other either. There is plenty of weirdness about this case even if Ashcroft is right.

I had already clicked and read your link last night.

I'm not "after you", except you made an assertion (which I challenged because the only source for "stolen" and "several students" appears to be this one particular WaPo article which I had not seen before) as if it was established that there was a rash of emails being stolen. Most other stories, including the Ashcroft press conference, indicate Berg gave his email and password willingly--while there are occasional fuzzy references, in yet other articles, to a scenario where Berg in fact let this individual use his computer but did not give the password and/or email address. I would say we cannot say with certainty, as you tried to, what exactly the facts are.

BTW, here is what you stated that prompted my first post on the matter:

There's no evidence of his ever hooking up with Moussaoui, just that he was seen in the company of Arab students, (not known to be contacts of terrorists) and that his e-mail account info was found in the possession of a man the FBI investigated after 9/11 because he was believed to be an acquaintance of Moussaoui.

There were numerous other students whose e-mail account info was stolen at the same time, so the FBI concluded that he was just one of them.

~snip~

"And I notice this Washington Post article doesn't mention email addresses being stolen, nor Ashcroft indicating that was the case:"

Cyn, if you'll click the link I gave you with the cite, you will see that it goes to

It just occurred to me you might have thought by "this Washington Post article" I meant your link from the earlier post.

No, right after I say the above I gave a link to another Washington Post article, and THAT was what I was talking about.

Of course I'd already read the link you'd provided.