Free Republic

Linda Vester just reporting that Paul Johnson has been killed.

Sunday morning at around 11:15 a wounded man came panting up to a New York National Guard unit near the Iraqi town of Belad, about 30 miles south of Tikrit. The man said he was an American: Thomas Hamill, a contractor kidnapped last month after insurgents ambushed a convoy in which he'd been driving. He said he'd heard the US patrol pass the building in which he was being held, so he'd pried a door open and chased them half a mile up the road. Other than an old gunshot wound to the arm, Mr. Hamill seemed fine, so the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will not negotiate for the release of an American soldier being held by insurgents in Iraq (news - web sites) but is working to win the freedom of hostages there, top administration officials said on Sunday. U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) said the United States was taking unspecified measures to ensure security amid intensifying violence in Iraq in which at least 99 U.S. soldiers have died since March 31, and some 50 people taken hostage. Though many have been released, two Americans and three Italians are still being held....

Foxnews anchor Julian Phillips interviewed POW Matt Maupins mother along with the mother of another soldier who is currently serving in Iraq. Both were very upbeat, and very positive. Despite the situations that there sons are currently in. Now lets flashback for a second. Earlier in the week, Jesse Jackson offered to intervene in Thomas Hamil's case. Hamil's wife said that she approved and that she hoped Jackson was successful. Phillips apparently did not read his facts correctly. He thought that Maupin's mother was the one that had said she approved of Jesse Jackson's involvement. So he asked a question...

Hundreds of people showed up for a Friday night vigil in support of hostage Matt Maupin on the steps of the Clermont County courthouse in Batavia. The events kicked off at 7 p.m. off with the Pledge of Allegiance led by by Clermont County Commissioner Bob Proud. "I know when we planned this, we planned this with the thought that he's alive. Now we know he's alive and being held hostage. We must keep strong," said Proud following the pledge. Proud stressed the importance of yellow ribbons as a sign of support in the community. He also announced that ClermontYellowRibbon.com...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi guerrillas paraded a captive U.S. soldier Friday, shortly after President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair vowed to stamp out all violence in Iraq. Arabic television station Al Jazeera broadcast a video tape that showed U.S. Private Keith Matthew Maupin held by masked and heavily armed guerrillas after being captured in an attack on a convoy last week. "A group of mujahideen (holy fighters) has succeeded in taking an American soldier prisoner...and he will be treated in the Islamic tradition of treating prisoners and he is in good health," one guerrilla read from a statement....

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi guerrillas have paraded a captive U.S. soldier after U.S. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair vowed to stamp out all violence in Iraq. Arabic television station Al Jazeera broadcast a video tape that showed U.S. Private Keith Matthew Maupin held by masked and heavily armed guerrillas after being captured in an attack on a convoy last week. "A group of mujahideen (holy fighters) has succeeded in taking an American soldier prisoner...and he will be treated in the Islamic tradition of treating prisoners and he is in good health," one guerrilla read from a...

U.S. military officials have seen video of an American soldier who was taken hostage in Iraq, ABCNEWS has learned. A senior military official told ABCNEWS that the soldier in the video was one of two G.I.s who disappeared on April 9, during the same convoy attack in which American contract worker Thomas Hamill was taken hostage. In the video, which the official expected to be shown on the Arabic television channel Al Jazeera, the soldier is seen talking, the military official said. Al Jazeera denied having the video. The two soldiers who were unaccounted for since April 9 were Sgt....

Shin Bet say Tannenbaum's story does not make senseIsrael would not have agreed to the prisoner swap that freed a hostage had the true circumstances of his capture been known, according to media reports. Elhanan Tannenbaum was the only living captive given to Israel last month in exchange for about 400 Palestinians and 59 dead fighters, mostly of Hezbollah. But Channel One said he was not fully co-operating with interrogators who doubted his story about his capture. Israeli media reported earlier that Mr Tannenbaum failed lie-detector tests. Israeli lawmakers also expressed concerns that Mr Tannenbaum - a businessman and a...

NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND 7115 South Boundary Boulevard MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101 Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894 December 22, 2003Release Number: 03-12-55 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TASK FORCE “ALL AMERICAN” CONDUCTS OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS AR RAMADI, Iraq – Soldiers from Task Force “All American” continue missions aimed at assisting local Iraqis in the reconstruction effort and stopping violence in the Al Anbar province. During the last 24 hours, we conducted 204 patrols, including 25 joint patrols with the Iraqi Border Guard and Iraqi police. Soldiers also carried out 16 offensive operations. During these operations, there were...

After his last audioaped message was delivered and aired over Al Arabia TV on Sunday November 16, on the occasion of Ramadan, Saddam was seized, possibly with the connivance of his own men, and held in that hole in Anwar for three weeks or more, which would have accounted for his appearance and condition. Meanwhile, his captors bargained for the $25 million dollar prize the Americans promised for information leading to his capture alive or dead.The negoiations were mediated by Jalal Talabani's Kurdish PUK militia.These circumstances would explain the ex-ruler's docility -described by Lt. General Sanchez as 'resignation'-in the face...

Bush Says Iraq's Aziz Skirting the Truth By SCOTT LINDLAW The Associated Press Saturday, May 3, 2003; 2:36 PM CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush expressed unshakable confidence Saturday that banned weapons will be found in Iraq and complained that Tariq Aziz, one of Saddam Hussein's closest deputies, is not cooperating with U.S. forces who have him in custody. Bush said the deputy prime minister, the most visible face of the former Iraqi government other than Saddam's, "still doesn't know how to tell the truth." The president, at a news conference on his ranch with visiting Australian Prime Minister John Howard,...

UMM QASR, Iraq -- Hurling rocks, bottles filled with sand and wooden stakes, detainees at the only permanent U.S. prisoner-of-war camp in Iraq riot almost daily, military officials said Sunday. Anger over slow food lines or disputes among ethnic groups can spark uprisings--especially with ringleaders quick to incite riots inside the prison camp that houses about 6,000 Iraqis under long white open tents, they said. "Pretty much every day there's a riot. It can get real ugly in there for the MPs [military police]," said Maj. Joel Droba of the 13th Psychological Operations battalion, which broadcasts orders for calm over...