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.
This is how these Satan loving goats repay us for not leveling and incinerating the "Triangle of Death". Maybe we should rethink the "Hearts and Mind" strategy in this area.
Grape shot hopefully?
BINGO!!!
Hearts and minds yes. You put a bullet in the heart to instill fear i the mind. Let the bodies hit the sand.
They probably were beheaded. But before that, in typical Islamic style, their private parts were cut off and stuffed down their throats, and then a dagger was stuck below the chin and rammed up into the mouth, thus securing the jaw. I know that this is gruesome visual, but it has always been done in Israel to captured IDF troops, and it shows you the kind of animals that we are dealing with. That is why the British, in the battle of Khyber Pass in Afghanistan would dig graves for the arabs and throw the bodies in, and then pour pigs blood over it--(the only thing that rattles these bastards.) I am not suggesting that we do this, but it shows that it is not a modern problem.
Not that I know of. The Islamic website was going to come back with more info in a couple of days but looks like they were thinking of maybe doing a ransom for some dead bodies. I guess they didn't figure our soldiers finding the bodies so quickly before they could ask for ransom.
Sepoy Mutiny, India, 1857
Ok, I got the info myself:
"An Execution in Britsh India" Painting by Vassili Verestchagin (Russian).
"As part of his article accompanying the wood engraving of the painting when it was published in Harper’s Weekly on November 17, 1888, [Harper’s Weekly art critic Clarence Cook] wrote:
So with the other picture, the shooting of the Sepoys, Verestchagin does not say that this particular scene is an incident of the great mutiny. Shooting from guns is the only way, he says, that 60,000 soldiers in a strong country can keep in awe 250,000,000 natives. Superstition must be utilized. The natives do not fear to die, but they fear to die in any way that destroys the identity of the body. They cannot enter heaven blown limb from limb. Therefore this is the way to touch their souls with dreadful awe, and the English, says our artist, have always blown from guns, blow from guns today, and will blow from guns as long as India is held."
These guys were worth more alive than dead. Their bodies were found close to where they were abducted. It is highly likely they fought to the death and were subsequently mutilated by their adversaries.
I'll tell you when. They will get angry when there is a major attack in the U.S. 3,000 dead on 9/11 wasn't enough -- it will have to be more like 3 million dead. Only then will these liberal idiots wake the %$#@ up and realize the kind of subhumans we're dealing with over there.
"He said the United States should have paid a ransom for the two soldiers from money seized from Saddam Hussein."
Lesson #1, you can never buy peace.
Lesson #2, Now war was ever won by being nice.
Thanks.
Oooops "NO"
It would stand to reason, since it's being reported that the new replacement for Zarquwi did the killings himself.
Waiting for Conformation.
sw
The freakin Uncle is all over the TV this morning and the papers - don't tell me he doesn't have a leftist agenda!
You're right, they sure do get angry. Their precious bubble was popped for a few months and then the libs helped build a new one. What do we need, a couple thousand dead women and children every few months to prove this is no joke? "We have nothing to fear from anyone." Yeah, because men like the ones tortured are keeping you safe in your free country. Drink your lattes and listen to you iPods whil men are blown to pieces and say we have nothing to fear.
the sad part is, if we get hit again, it will be blamed o Bush for invading Iraq. we made them mad. Terrorism? Oh, Bush stirred that pot up himself and made everyone angry with us.
EARTH TO LIBERLAS. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPING, TORTURING, AND BOMBING US FOR DECADES!!! I KNOW IT IS ODD TO BLAME ANYONE BUT BUSH, BUT THE COFFEE HAS BEEN BREWING FOR A LONG TIME NOW AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU DON'T SMELL IT!
A pity we don't have a Waffen SS to turn the killers over to.
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