ABCNews: Kidnapped US Soldier Seen Alive in Video

ABCNews.com ^ | April 20, 2004 | ABCNews

[mikegi]

U.S. military officials have seen video of an American soldier who was taken hostage in Iraq, ABCNEWS has learned.

A senior military official told ABCNEWS that the soldier in the video was one of two G.I.s who disappeared on April 9, during the same convoy attack in which American contract worker Thomas Hamill was taken hostage.

In the video, which the official expected to be shown on the Arabic television channel Al Jazeera, the soldier is seen talking, the military official said. Al Jazeera denied having the video.

The two soldiers who were unaccounted for since April 9 were Sgt. Elmer C. Krause, 40, of Greensboro, N.C., and Pfc. Keith M. Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio. Both soldiers were assigned to the Army Reserve's 724th Transportation Company, based in Bartonville, Ill. The official did not say which of the soldiers appeared in the video.

The two have been missing since their convoy came under attack by individuals using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.

The parents of the soldiers have been notified, the official said.

[HairOfTheDog]

Prayers for their safe return, and for those who would take risks to make that happen.

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

I have a question, there was a story about how WalMart was going to put tracking devices in their products to better serve marketing schemes.

Why cant the military do this with our soldiers?

[saquin]

Why does the ABC story say April 20th?

And why the heck would this video only be coming out now, a week after the incident? It seems to me whoever was holding him hostage would have let it be known sooner.

I hope to God this isn't true.

[Killborn]

Thank God! May he return home soon and may his captors suffer under the righteous fury of the US Armed forces!

[areafiftyone]

In the video, which the official expected to be shown on the Arabic television channel Al Jazeera, the soldier is seen talking, the military official said. Al Jazeera denied having the video.

Lying B#$%ST$RDS! Sorry but Al Jazeera is a terrorist news network and should be thrown out of business.

[Killborn]

That is an excellent suggestion.

[mikegi]

Why does the ABC story say April 20th?

I'm so out of it today that I didn't even notice the post-dating. This is an official page on abcnews.com. Maybe it's just a typo.

[Izzy Dunne]

Why cant the military do this with our soldiers?

The devices don't emit any signal of their own - they have no battery or power source.
You have to put them near a scanner, which emits a signal - the devices respond.

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

The devices don't emit any signal of their own - they have no battery or power source. You have to put them near a scanner, which emits a signal - the devices respond.

What are you saying...the military cant SCAN a tag before putting it in a uniform and giving it to the soldier?

[aft_lizard]

As good an idea as that is I think a loud minority would not allow it, especially many of the libertarian soldiers, think anthrax shots redux times 10.

[b4its2late]

Dittos.

[saquin]

Funny that we had such different reactions. I said "I hope to God this isn't true" and you said "Thank God." I hope your optimism is correct. I have to admit, my first reaction was that my stomach dropped. I guess it's good to know he's shown alive (when the other alternative is that he's been dead since the attack), but I guess my gut tells me that he won't stay alive long, if they're holding him hostage.

On the other hand... if we were somehow able to rescue him and capture or kill the kidnappers... then I'd definitely say "Thank God".

[george wythe]

I have a question, there was a story about how WalMart was going to put tracking devices in their products to better serve marketing schemes.

Why cant the military do this with our soldiers?

Massachusetts is trying GPS traking technology for sex offenders

The only problem for the military is that tracking 130,000 GPS devices might be overwhelming. Furthermore, if the devices are implanted inside the skin, the terrorists might harm a kidnapped soldier looking for the GPS chips.

[lonevoice]

There's a lot I don't get about our relationship to Al Jazeera. I understand there are legal and political reasons why we can't just blow the snot out of them. But, in the interests of national security, as the occupying force of Iraq, can't we ban their presence from Iraq? And, if they obtain video of anything that compromises the safety of our troops or national security, can't we stop them from showing it?

[Izzy Dunne]

What are you saying...the military cant SCAN a tag before putting it in a uniform and giving it to the soldier?<

But all that does is tell them that soldier # 123456789 was at the scanning station.
It can't tell them where he is NOW - the scanning range is a few feet.
Don't get me wrong - there are probably ways to implant devices and pick them up by satellite.
But not the Wal-Mart kind.

[ruiner]

If I was a soldier in the field I sure as heck wouldn't want a radio transmitting my location 24/7!!!

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

(not to your post)

this is BS, we can stolen track cars, animals in the wild, tracking freaken asteroids in space, etc...etcc...

but we cant track out soldiers?

[Graybeard58]

My son Steve is with the 724th transportation co. in Iraq and he says we get the news before they do. Some of his friends were wounded in that attack too. One of his friends was killed there. The Lieutenant who was shot just above his eye is going to lose that eye. He and my son are good friends.

Steve is a member of FR, screen name: smaagee

[TLI]

probably putting pressure on to let him go, if he is alive and the video proves it, they would have a tough time explaining his death after a capture....