Posted on 11/09/2003 6:17:05 PM PST by yonif
An American businessman working for the United States Army in Iraq has mysteriously disappeared while driving his car along an isolated road in the country's "Sunni Triangle".
Fears are growing that Kirk von Akermann, 37, a contractor, may have been abducted and murdered after his car was found abandoned between the towns of Tikrit and Kirkuk.
His satellite mobile telephone, laptop, and a briefcase containing about $40,000 (£24,000) were found inside his vehicle, suggesting that he had not been the victim of a robbery. There was no sign of a struggle at the scene.
Since his disappearance on October 9, the US army - assisted by Iraqi police - has conducted an "aggressive" investigation but has yet to find out anything of note.
Initially it was thought that Mr von Akermann might have been kidnapped for ransom, but neither the authorities nor the company he worked for have had any contact from groups claiming to be holding him.
It is now feared that he may have been murdered by locals loyal to Saddam Hussein, who saw the chance of an opportunist killing of a US citizen as he stood alone in hostile territory.
Anti-American feeling runs high in many of the areas around Tikrit, Saddam's home town and a corner of the "Sunni Triangle", where attacks on US forces have been at their highest. However, the case is thought to be the first such incident involving a private contractor in Iraq.
Mr von Akermann lived in San Mateo, California, with his wife and three children, and worked for an Istanbul-based company, Ultra Services, which provides domestic supplies and logistics for US army bases in Iraq.
A spokesman for the company said: "We can confirm that Mr von Akermann was working for us, but we do not wish to make any comment on this matter."
One officer close to the investigation, however, said: "It is a real mystery. Kirk was on a day trip from Kirkuk to Tikrit that day, and was coming back when he rang one of the company's Iraqi employees around 3pm to say he had a flat tyre and couldn't get it fixed with the jack he had.
"He was stopped right on top of a road that runs over a small range of hills between Kirkuk and Tikrit. The employee took about 45 minutes to get there, but Kirk had just vanished into the desert. There was no blood on the road or sign of a fight, no bullet cases fired anywhere, nothing."
Mr von Akermann, who previously worked for a computer software company in California, went to Iraq in late August to work as one of Ultra Services' contract managers. His work regularly involved driving between US army bases in and around Tikrit, an area where Western civilians are rarely seen and where travel requires considerable caution.
Contractors working for the US army are considered easy targets for insurgents. Mr von Akermann, a former air force captain, was said to have been aware of the risks, and was licensed to have a pistol which he always carried. "The pistol wasn't in the car when it was found, and that suggests that he had it on him at the time," said the officer. "But he would have almost certainly shot at anybody who attacked him."
The matter is being investigated by members of the Criminal Investigation Division of the US army's Fourth Infantry Division, which is based in Tikrit.
The strange circumstances of the case have prevented investigators from ruling out the possibility that he has tried to fake his own disappearance. In particular, they are thought to be puzzled as to why he chose to drive alone that day, rather than taking an Iraqi colleague as he normally did.
With US troops facing daily attacks in the Tikrit area, conducting a proper manhunt for Mr von Akermann has been all but impossible. Even so, there is concern that not enough effort is being made by the American authorities or Iraqi police to investigate the matter.
At a US army checkpoint just a few miles from where Mr von Akermann disappeared, soldiers were issued with a photocopy of his photograph several weeks ago. But during troop changeovers, no information was passed on about the case, leaving the incoming troops unaware of who he was or even why they had his photograph.
Businessman. Right.
I'm just going to pass.
Hmmmm. . .
Yea, the real Devils triangle.
Kidnapped Israelis/Captured soldiers held by terrorist groups or terror regimes hostile to Israel is a very interesting political topic in Israel. It is a given that Israeli government will always try to get their Jewish brothers back home. There is a verse I believe in the bible which goes something like "and the boys returned to their borders"
The 3 bodies are Israeli soldiers who were kidnapped by Hizbullah while on patrol on the Israeli-Lebanese border. The Businessman, who is an IDF officer in reserves, was lured by Arab businessmen with promises of a good business deal. But it was a trap. He is alive but in very dire condition.
The Israeli people expect their government to get their citizens back home, especially those who were sent by the government themselves, like IDF soldiers.
This is not to say that if you are an Israeli and you commit and offense in a foreign country, Israel will help you get back. They might meet with you, but you have to follow rules of the country you are in.
The whole controversy with this businessman is that some wanted the government to get information about a missing airforce navigator, Ron Arad, as part of the deal.
Have no worries, though, as the IDF has announced they will commence operations to kidnap Hizbullah terrorist leaders, as bargaining chips, for receiving info on Ron Arad (who has been in terrorist custody since the mid 1980s).
I cannot explain it really.
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