Video Claims 25 Iraq Soldiers Kidnapped

Kentucky.com ^ | Sep. 19, 2004 | Associated Press

[yonif]

CAIRO, Egypt - A videotape showing several Arab men seated at gunpoint - purportedly kidnapped Iraqi soldiers - was aired on an Arabic television station Sunday, and the announcer said they were threatened with death unless a detained Shiite leader is freed within 48 hours.

The video was from a group calling itself the Brigades of Mohammed bin Abdullah and claimed to have 25 captive members of the Iraqi National Guard, according to Al-Jazeera television, which obtained a copy of it.

The brief video clip aired by the station showed men in military dress sitting on the floor, with men standing behind them pointing guns to their heads. Most of the hostages had their heads bowed, but they were not blindfolded and appeared uninjured.

No audio was aired, but Al-Jazeera's announcer said the militants threatened to kill the 25 unless Hazem al-A'araji, a member of rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr' office in Baghdad, was released within 48 hours.

U.S. forces and soldiers from Iraq's national guard raided the Baghdad houses al-A'araji and another senior al-Sadr aide, Raed al-Khadumi, on Saturday. Al-A'araji and his brother were detained.

The raid came as a new round of talks with al-Sadr's militia rejected demands to disband and turn in their weapons in a poor Baghdad neighborhood called Sadr City. Dozens have died in sporadic clashes between U.S. forces and militiamen in Sadr City.

It was not clear where the hostages were taken or when the deadline expires.

An Al-Jazeera producer told The Associated Press the station received the tape Sunday.

[NormsRevenge]

Hazem al-A'araji, a member of rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr' office in Baghdad

Execute this pig in public for all to see.

Enough of this coddling terrorists..

[nwctwx]

ping

[Savage Rider]

Seems like the Iraqui forces need to be taught not to surrender to the terrorists. If you are going to die anyway, might as well put up a good fight and take some of them with you.

[Hugin]

My thoughts too. Execute the Al Sadr aide. When the terrorists release the video of the soldiers being executed, play it for all new troops as part of their training.

[NormsRevenge]

Time to Whack-a-molemullah

War requires the will to defeat the enemy at his own game.. Sadr should have been dust months ago and all his supporters.

Sheikh Hazem al-Araji, a top aide to Shiite Muslim radical leader Moqtada Sadr sits near a poster of his leader in Baghdad's al-Kazemiya neighborhood, April 2004.(AFP/File/Antonio Scorza)

And don't forget these old farts..

Members of Iran's Assembly of Experts listen to a speech during a rare meeting open to journalists in Tehran September 19, 2004. The Assembly condemned a resolution by the U.N. nuclear watchdog that it should freeze uranium enrichment. (Raheb Homavandi/Reuters)

[headsonpikes]

For organic cancers, radiation therapy and chemotherapy have each proved to be effective.

It's time to try corresponding therapies on the Islamist political cancer.

Thoroughness in killing all cancerous cells is paramount.

Time is of the essence in both cases, of course.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Thank you, nwctwx for the ping.

[Ptarmigan]

Dude, now they go kidnap fellow Muslims? I guess they will just go kill anyone as they are now following their vile agenda.

[nw_arizona_granny]

From the evidence, the terrorists are now willing to kidnap anyone and kill them.

[b4its2late]

Holy Shiite!

[mirkinmuffley]

Kidnap soldiers? WTH! How can a soldier be kidnapped? Maybe they were in on it. I am tired of fighting a politically correct war. ID terrorist targets, and eliminate them. Al Sadr alive is a mistake. I support the President but there has been too much Powell and not enough Rumsfeld!

[Donna Lee Nardo]

I think I ran across a translated jihadi posting on Friday or very early Saturday that foreshadowed this. I wish I could remember where exactly I saw it...

Well, regardless, it appears to have truly occurred and we have got to find a way to annihilate these monsters. Their tactics grow more and more souless and callous.

[Captain Kirk]

Powell is out of the loop. Rumsfeld is in charge of this mess. Of course, we wouldn't probably even be mired in this Bosnia writ large if wasn't for Rummy.

[mirkinmuffley]

I guarantee you Rumsfeld has the tools to clear up this "mess"! Can't fight politicaly correct wars as the state department wishes.

[Captain Kirk]

There is no way to win in this sinkhole e.g. achieve the objective of a unified/democratic/stable Iraq. Conservatives understood this when they opposed Clinton's similar crusade for "liberty" in Kosovo.