Posted on 02/01/2005 11:22:09 AM PST by Peach
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi militants claimed in a Web statement Tuesday to have taken an American soldier hostage and threatened to behead him in 72 hours unless the Americans release Iraqi prisoners.
The posting, on a Web site that frequently carried militants' statements, included a photo of what appeared to be an American soldier in desert fatigues seated with his hands tied behind his back.
A gun barrel was pointed at his head, and he is seated in front of a black banner emblazoned with the Islamic profession of faith, "There is no god but God and Muhammad is His prophet."
A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, Marine Sgt. Salju K. Thomas, said he had no information on the claim but "we are currently looking into it."
A statement posted with the picture suggested the group was holding other soldiers.
"Our mujahadeen heroes of Iraq's Jihadi Battalion were able to capture American military man John Adam after killing a number of his comrades and capturing the rest," said the statement, signed by the "Mujahedeen Brigades."
"God willing, we will behead him if our female and male prisoners are not released from U.S. prisons within the maximum period of 72 hours from the time this statement has been released," the statement said.
The claim, carried on the Web site ansarnet.ws, could not be verified.
More than 180 foreigners have been kidnapped in the past year. At least 10 of them, including three American civilians, remain in the hands of their kidnappers.
The only American soldier known to have been taken hostage is Pfc. Keith M. Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, who was shown in a video in April being held by militants. Another video aired in June showed what purported to be Maupin's slaying, but the picture was too unclear to confirm it was him and the military still lists him as missing.
Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun went missing in Iraq in June and later photos surfaced on Arab television showing him blindfolded with a sword to his head. In July he made his way to the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. Back in the United States, he said he had been captured, but in December he was charged with desertion for the incident.
If someone hacked the headers, why would they date them for 2001 when the claim is the photo was taken recently?
" There use to be a way to *post* stuff"
Oh my, I just checked your link. I didnt know there was such a thing! And I never really thought about leaving "footprints".
The hosting company took that site down already.
Well my husband is happy about that!
Unfortunately, I don't have an account at fark.com.
Are you old enough to remember anon.penet.fi?
I haven't heard of that one....just the anonymizer.com one.
I never had a reason to use it...but in this case, I definitely would. There are some really good IP tracing programs out there..some can trace to a city and even street...(if a person is using cable for internet) That's about all the info I know.
Damn,,I didn't know that was possible. Scary when you think about it.
It was the first one.
I use a program called NeoTrace Pro. It has latitude and longitude of routers, servers, etc. Coupled with a mapping site, you can get a rough idea where that particular IP is located. The only exception of course is dialup IP addresses. They're usually centered on the location of where the modems are located, which in many cases is the same location of the ISP.
I'm trying to find a cool link for you...
here's one..but automatically traces YOUR ip #. The one I'm looking for lets you post an IP number for free...it shows a map, and traces all the routes say from an email you have received.
http://network-tools.com/
Yeah, maybe that's the same one I saw a year or two ago. I was really impressed, and didn't like it at the same time. (the privacy thing)
Ahahahah...ya gotta love AP. ROTFLMAO
Very very cool! You could use it to track your hubby's emails when he is away to make sure he is where he says he is. Not that my hubby would do that but I know people whose hubbies would!!!
I am about to go to bed but will peruse this and may become an internet detective. Doesn't that sound fun?
Thank you, that will be an interesting read. I've heard of anonymous free email services too..unlike hotmail.
Steganography. Lots of hits using that word on Google.
About all I use it for is to see where the bottlenecks are in the network if a site, particularly a domestic one, seems slow to load or respond.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.