Posted on 06/20/2006 3:36:36 AM PDT by xzins
Moderator: Just Announced Fox News. They said it was coming from Reuters via the Iraqi Defense Ministry
Good idea. Since so much 'journalism' has become about the reporter instead of the report, it IS time to name names.
Aren't they always calling for "accountability"!
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The bodies of two U.S. soldiers reported captured last week have been recovered, and an Iraqi defense ministry official said Tuesday the men were "killed in a barbaric way." The U.S. military said the remains were believed to be those of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said U.S. forces — part of a search involving some 8,000 American and Iraqi troops — found the bodies late Monday near Youssifiyah, where they disappeared Friday. The bodies were recovered early Tuesday.
Caldwell said the cause of death was "undeterminable at this point," and that the bodies would be taken back to the United States for DNA tests to confirm the identities.
Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for killing the soldiers, and said the successor to slain terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had "slaughtered" them, according to a Web statement that could not be authenticated. The language in the statement suggested the men had been beheaded.
The two soldiers disappeared after a deadly insurgent attack Friday at a checkpoint by a Euphrates River canal south of Baghdad. Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was killed. The three men were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky.
The director of the Iraqi defense ministry's operation room, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, said the bodies showed signs of having been tortured. "With great regret, they were killed in a barbaric way," he said.
The claim of responsibility was made in the name of the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of five insurgent groups led by al-Qaida in Iraq. The group had posted an Internet statement Monday claiming it was holding the two American soldiers captive.
"We give the good news ... to the Islamic nation that we have carried God's verdict by slaughtering the two captured crusaders," said the claim, which appeared on an Islamic militant Web site where insurgent groups regularly post statements and videos.
"With God Almighty's blessing, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer carried out the verdict of the Islamic court" calling for the soldiers' slaying, the statement said.
The statement said the soldiers were "slaughtered," suggesting that al-Muhajer beheaded them. The Arabic word used in the statement, "nahr," is used for the slaughtering of sheep by cutting the throat and has been used in past statements to refer to beheadings.
The U.S. military has identified al-Muhajer as an Egyptian associate of al-Zarqawi who is also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri.
The killings would be the first acts of violence attributed to al-Muhajer since he was named al-Qaida in Iraq's new leader in a June 12 Web message by the group. He succeeded al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike on June 7.
Al-Zarqawi made al-Qaida in Iraq notorious for hostage beheadings and was believed to have killed two American captives himself — Nicholas Berg in April 2004 and Eugene Armstrong in September 2004.
The checkpoint attacked Friday was in the Sunni Arab region known as the "Triangle of Death" because of frequent ambushes there of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi troops.
Iraqi and American troops involved in the search for the missing soldiers killed three suspected insurgents and detained 34 in fighting that also left seven U.S. servicemen wounded, Caldwell said.
A farmer claiming to have witnessed the attack told The Associated Press on Sunday that insurgents swarmed the checkpoint, killing the driver of a Humvee before taking two of his comrades captive.
Ahmed Khalaf Falah said three Humvees were manning a checkpoint when they came under fire from many directions. Two Humvees went after the assailants but the third was ambushed before it could move.
He said seven masked gunmen, one carrying a heavy machine gun, killed the driver of the third vehicle and took the two other U.S. soldiers captive. His account could not be verified independently.
Kidnappings of U.S. service members have been rare since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, despite the presence of about 130,000 forces.
The last U.S. soldier to be captured was Sgt. Keith M. Maupin of Batavia, Ohio, who was taken on April 9, 2004 after insurgents ambushed his fuel convoy. Two months later, a tape on Al-Jazeera purported to show a captive U.S. soldier shot, but the Army ruled it was inconclusive and remains listed as missing.
Caldwell said that in addition to the two soldiers, a dozen Americans — including Maupin and 11 private citizens — are missing in Iraq. In addition, Capt. Michael Speicher, a Navy pilot, remains listed as missing in Iraq since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, he said.
___
Associated Press writers Ryan Lenz in Balad, Iraq, and Nadia Abou el-Magd in Cairo, Egypt, contributed to this report.
After the videotaped beheadding of Nick Berg (Which was NEVER done before, I might add), and the enemedia's lack of outrage against those who did it, I agree 100%.
I'll say it louder.
Islam sucks. Stone age animals.
I prefer to hold out hope, as I am sure his family does as well. If he were no longer alive, IMO they would have used his body as an example...just like they did with these heroes.
You said it well. My feelings exactly.
Boy -- they buried THAT didn't they?
What is the point of you reponding 'yes, sir' to all of these comments, please?
These reporters need to be treated just like the enemies we are fighting and no more allowing them to hide behind the flimsy little badge that says "Press". They know where the terrorist are hiding and they know when they are going to attack, that's why they always seem to be just minutes away from where the bombs go off. Any reporter that has any contact with any "insurgent", terrorist, had better start talking about or they need to be arrested for aiding the enemy. They can not be allowed to hide behind their occupation while protecting criminals.
I hope so. Especially the terminal disease part.
That's why I made it...
On this thread
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1650572/posts
there are a few other graphics, and a whole bunch of questions to ask people...
Hope is always a good thing.
susie
That's it. Thank you so much for the link and I have bookmarked it.
An undated file photo released by the U.S. military of Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, in Baghdad June 15, 2006. Muhajir, the new leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, 'slit the throats' of two U.S. soldiers whose bodies were found in Baghdad, according to a statement posted on the Internet on Tuesday. The statement could not be authenticated. It was posted on one Web forum used by Islamists, but not on the main site used by Iraqi insurgent groups. (U.S. Army/Handout/Reuters)
Is there a difference?
Yes, there's one--the Islamofacists can't raise your taxes.
Boo-hoo, sniffle, sniff, tears flowing. I just started watching the slideshow again.
I forgot the emotional impact. All should see.
from MSNBC:
U.S. soldiers found the bodies based on a tip from a reliable Iraqi source, military officials told NBC News. U.S. forces had to literally fight their way to the bodies; enemy forces laid a series of improvised explosive devices, also known as IEDs, on the primary route to the bodies.
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