Posted on 11/02/2006 11:21:21 PM PST by HAL9000
A kidnapping ring has demanded a $250,000 ransom from the family of the U.S. soldier abducted in Iraq, a suspiciously low sum that his family worries could be a sign that he is no longer alive.The Pentagon Thursday confirmed for the first time that Specialist Ahmed al-Taie, a Michigan National Guardsman assigned to the Provincial Reconstruction Team Baghdad, has been "unaccounted for" since Oct. 23 at 4:30pm; he is currently listed as "duty status whereabouts unknown." Family members of the 41-year-old Iraqi-American from Ann Arbor, Mich. say he was nabbed by a gang claiming to be from the Mahdi Army while he was on an unauthorized trip outside the fortified Green Zone to visit his wife in Baghdad.
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(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
I can't believe that the US military is allowing the negotiation for the release of a US soldier being held by kidnappers.
They've never negotiated.
It seems like they are trying to open up communication lines and get him released through contacts in the iraqi govt.
The general said they are have many operations looking for him.
There's a standard all American name. One that says he would never betray his country, and join the Army of Islame.
It reads that his family in Iraq is receiving the ransom information, not the US Army. It could well be that the family wants to negotiate IF he is still alive, which they seem to doubt.
This sort of thing happens a LOT...it's just unusual that a U.S. soldier is involved in this one.
It's not all that unusual for the terrorists to kidnap an Iraqi they have discovered to be working with Americans.
They always demand some outrageous ransom, it gets negotiated down by the family, the family sells their cars and what they have, raise the money and get the guy freed. The trouble is that the money funds the terrorists.
This soldier could very well still be alive.
Question: Why was his wife in Iraq?
This incident reminds me ofthe Marine that went missing in Iraq and then turned up in Lebanaon. He was later charged with desertion.
1. The sum of 250,000 is possibly not a ransom, but a proof of life request. Iraqi kidnappers generally do a first round of bargaining and payoff, to build the suspense, and milk a little extra money. Being that this is a news report of likely 2nd or 3rd hand information, I'd assume that this is just the 'appetizer' price.
2. It is possible he is dead, but professional Iraqi kidnapping rings don't usually kill their hostages. It would be like a farmer shooting a cow before milking it. They don't kidnap for fun, it's a business endeavor. There's no profit in dead hostages.
3. He's clearly in the hands of professional kidnappers, not jihadis.
4. There's an outside chance that the soldier himself, who is a Middle Easterner, and married to an Iraqi woman, is pulling a con. It's not likely, and it's a very dangerous game, but it is possible.
5. Either way, it's good that the U.S. authorities communicate and 'negotiate' with the kidnappers. The more they communicate, the more clues may be gleaned about the kidnappers themselves.
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