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On July 11th, PFC James Gonzalez told his family he was heading to Laredo to hang out with friends before returning to the Ft Hood. But on July 13th Gonzalez' commander called looking for the private. "They've asked what our thoughts are about him going AWOL. It just doesn't add up with the phone..it goes straight to voice mail. If he would have done it he would have contacted somebody," said Jason Gonzalez, who is James' brother. The Gonzalez family says the FBI called them to say the Army had received a call saying the private had been kidnapped. The...

Jun. 10, 2007 23:15 | Updated Jun. 11, 2007 0:55 Exclusive: PA pays benefits to Schalit captors' families By KHALED ABU TOAMEH Gilad Shalit with two friends. Photo: Courtesy photo Some of the Palestinian gunmen who participated in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit last year have long been on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian sources revealed Sunday. The sources named two of the suspected kidnappers as Muhammad Azmi Farawneh and Majdi Tayseer Hammad. The two were killed by Israel in separate attacks over the past year. Farawneh is believed to have played a key role...

BAGHDAD, Feb 14 (Reuters) - CNN broadcast on Wednesday what it said was a video showing a U.S.-Iraqi soldier who was kidnapped in Baghdad nearly five months ago. The undated video, posted on a militant Web site, showed Ahmed al-Taie, a 41-year-old linguist, reading a statement. "Proof of life was a condition for continuing dialogue" with the kidnappers, his uncle Entifadh al-Taie told CNN from Washington. "There is no date on this. We don't know if he is in good shape now."

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...

The U.S. military identified a kidnapped soldier for the first time on Thursday, saying he was 41-year-old Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie. Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell also confirmed widely published reports that the reserve soldier was visiting his Iraqi wife when he was handcuffed and taken away by gunmen during a visit to the woman's family. The soldier's name first became known after a woman claiming to be his mother-in-law told the story of the interpreter's allegedly secret marriage three months ago and his abduction on Oct. 23. The spokesman said the United States believed the soldier was still in the...

2 hours ago GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli aircraft sent missiles tearing through the office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Sunday in an unmistakable message to his ruling Hamas group to free an Israeli soldier. Defense Minister Amir Peretz told a Cabinet meeting that Israel would go after "higher-caliber targets" in the future _ a reference to senior Hamas officials inside and outside the Palestinian territories, a high-ranking political official said. Israeli aircraft, tanks and naval gunboats have been pounding Gaza for the past week in an effort to win the freedom of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who...