The accused: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

WASHINGTON - Terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was the masked man who beheaded an American civilian in Iraq, U.S. intelligence officials concluded Thursday, leaving other questions unresolved about Nicholas Berg's final days and his contacts with U.S. and Iraqi authorities.

Through a technical analysis, intelligence officials were able to determine "with high probability" that the speaker on a video showing Berg's beheading was al-Zarqawi, said a CIA official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The same person is shown decapitating Berg, the official said.

Three days after Berg's body was found on Saturday, an Islamic Web site released a video, titled "Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi slaughters an American infidel with his own hands."

U.S. authorities consider al-Zarqawi an ally of Osama bin Laden and say he is running his own terrorist operation.

The video shows five armed men disguised by head scarves and masks line up behind Berg, who is seated on the ground. Standing in the middle, the man identified as al-Zarqawi reads a lengthy statement that criticizes Islamic scholars and the "shameful photos" of the humiliation of men and women at the Abu Ghraib prison. He then decapitates Berg.

Below is a shortened version that avoids a bunch of Arabic-language crap that his murderer, al-Zarqawi, is reading to the world before the deed. The original is 5 minutes long and too big of a file to leave here for random downloading...

See the Berg Murder Video Here
(2.0 MB Windows Media Video)

To view this properly, right click on the link and then choose "Save Target As..." and download it to your hard drive first.