PHILADELPHIA, May 12 (UPI) -- The family of slain contractor Nicholas Berg is demanding answers Wednesday as to why he was detained in Iraq so long by the U.S. military.
The 26-year-old Philadelphia man's father, Michael Berg, said he holds the federal government indirectly responsible for his son's death by preventing him from coming home before the violence in Iraq worsened.
The telecommunications worker was due to arrive home March 30, but instead, Berg's family learned he had been detained by Iraqi police at a checkpoint for unknown reasons, then turned over to the U.S. military. On April 9, Berg called his family to say he was free and trying to find a way home.
Tuesday, videotape of five masked men beheading Berg was released on the Internet by an Islamic Web site. The same day, U.S. officials said Berg's beheaded body, with his hands tied behind his back, was found on the weekend along a Baghdad road.
Berg's mother, Suzanne, said Tuesday she had been told her son's body would be transported to Kuwait, then to Dover, Del., the Philadelphia Daily News said.
She said the family had been trying for weeks to learn where their son was, but federal officials had not been helpful.
