Poetry, humor help mourners celebrate victim's life

WEST CHESTER, Pa. - Nicholas Berg was remembered as adventurous and caring Friday at a private memorial marked by heavy security at a suburban Philadelphia synagogue, friends and family said.

Berg, the 26-year-old whose beheading in Iraq was broadcast on an Islamic militant Web site, was an intelligent and outgoing man whose travels took him from abject poverty in Africa to perilous hot spots in Iraq, friends said.

"You realized what an energetic and talented young man this was, and what a tragedy his death is," said Chester County Commissioner Andrew Dinniman, whose daughter was on a Science Olympiad team with Berg in high school. "On one hand, it was a solemn occasion in which you could hear a pin drop, but it was also a tribute done with poetry, humor and laughter."

The Berg family had urged curiosity seekers, politicians and media members not to attend the memorial. Police said they would turn away and, if necessary, arrest outsiders trying to attend.

Police and sheriff's deputies provided heavy security in and around the synagogue. Visitors were screened with hand-held metal detectors, said West Goshen police Chief Michael J. Carroll.

Dinniman said about 500 people attended the service, including Berg's friends from high school and college, and teachers. His father, brother and sister spoke, and the rabbi who presided over the ceremony read words written by Berg's mother.

Bob Concordia, 66, a family acquaintance from West Chester, said, "There were some tears, but there were also some laughs. I left with a feeling that he was somewhat of a martyr."

Berg's body was buried at a Jewish cemetery outside Philadelphia in a private ceremony earlier Friday, a family spokesman said.

Much of the world reacted in horror to Berg's death and the grisly video that recorded it. U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was the person shown decapitating Berg.

Berg was in Iraq seeking business for his communications company.

Questions continue to swirl around the time Berg, who was seeking business for his communications company, spent in Iraq. The family says his 13-day detention - by U.S. military officials, according to the family, or Iraqi police, according to military officials - contributed to his death.

U.S. investigators spent at least part of that time trying to verify who Berg was and why he was in Iraq. Officials say their investigation occurred while he was in Iraqi custody. He was released April 6, and he is believed to have been kidnapped days later.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said Friday that U.S. authorities investigated Berg for a possible connection to terrorists but determined there was no link.

Berg was investigated by the FBI in 2002 after an e-mail address traced to him was used by an unidentified person believed acquainted with Zacarias Moussaoui, an al-Qaida adherent now in federal custody and awaiting trial on conspiracy charges stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks.

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

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