Posted on 06/20/2006 6:26:39 AM PDT by areafiftyone
BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Iraqi military official said Tuesday that the bodies of two missing U.S. soldiers showed signs of torture, and that men appeared to have been killed "in a barbaric way." Also, the umbrella group for Iraqi insurgents claimed responsibility for the soldiers' deaths.
"We give the good news ... to the Islamic nation that we have carried God's verdict by slaughtering the two captured crusaders," said a statement in the name of the Mujahedeen Shura Council, which groups five insurgent organizations including al-Qaida in Iraq.
At a news briefing, U.S. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell declined to identify the two men until their families could be notified.
Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore., disappeared after an 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 checkpoint was in the Sunni Arab region known as the "Triangle of Death" because of frequent ambushes there of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi troops.
The three men were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
"The news is going to be heartbreaking for my family," Menchaca's uncle, Ken MacKenzie, told NBC's "Today" show.
He said the United States should have paid a ransom for the two soldiers from money seized from Saddam Hussein.
"I think the U.S. was too slow to react to this," MacKenzie said. "Because the U.S. did not have a plan in place, my nephew has paid with his life."
The director of the Iraqi defense military's operation room, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, said the two bodies were found on a street near the town Youssifiyah, close to the scene of the attack. The U.S. military could not confirm that account.
Caldwell, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said details of what happened to the two missing soldiers and about the bodies found would be released later Tuesday after the families of the soldiers were informed.
"Until we know the families have been both briefed and have been fully informed ... it would be inappropriate," he said.
A search involving more than 8,000 Iraqi and American troops turned up nothing over the weekend, but troops searching for the 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.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari also said the soldiers appeared to have been taken prisoner by insurgents.
The military said Saturday that soldiers at a nearby checkpoint heard small-arms fire and explosions during the attack at 7:15 p.m. Friday, and a quick-reaction force reached the scene within 15 minutes. The force found one soldier dead but no signs of the other two.
One can hope.
Prayers to the families of the two soldiers, but also prayers to all of our heros in Iraq!
Exactly. We don't have the media and 99.9% of the Democrats on our side and these terrorists know it. They use the media for their purposes and the media doesn't even care because they hate Bush so much that they will side with terrorists just to spite Bush.
"The US military is quite able to play hardball."
They are able to play but they will not for fear of offending the PC community. They would rather let this war drag out, have more of our soldiers killed or maimed, then fight it the right way. Nothing will change this.
I agree. We need to drop some more of the 500-pounders.
They are routing out quite a few of them, though. And there are some more offensives planned.
Heh! Yeah.
And trucking Jihad Sheehan's butt around the world on their dime.
Looks like she may have another friend, though. Isn't that nice.... *retch*
I don't think the media will shut it up but use it to make a case that we should cut and run.
Of course, I forgot. American miliary forces are expendable and have no such human rights that are applicable to them.
Silly me...
Seems to me that the only thing these islamics understand is torture and beheadings so I say why not give them what they want? Capture a bunch of them and behead them - and watch them squirm.
They got the right idea! It's the only thing these Islamic devils understand!
unleash the Dogs, Pres. Bush.....unleash 'em......now!!!!
What is that? British troops about to test the aerodynamics of an, "Insurgent?"
Image information?
Title?
Artist? Thanks.
The Dems/MSM will not blame the terrorists.
It is "our" fault for being there; it is Bush's fault; it is the Army's fault.
Terrorist thugs took our soldiers, tortured and killed them. When will the American people get angry over acts like this?
Howard Dean.. (no difference I guess... :-) )
They hate him so much they would polish Satan's hooves with their tongues, if they thought it would hurt Bush.
I lurked on DU and they are blaming Bush/Cheney Rice and Rumsfeld and saying this is colateral damage for the Bush war and saying they are murderous savages just like Bush yada yada yada. They will never blame the terrorist they already started blaming Bush.
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