Iraqi official says bodies of missing GIs found
Signs of 'barbaric' torture; U.S. military awaiting positive ID from DNA
NBC News and news services
Updated: 2 hours, 6 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The bodies of two U.S. soldiers reported captured last week have been found and the men appear to have been “killed in a barbaric way,” a senior Iraqi general said Tuesday. A statement posted on a militant Islamic Web site said the two men were killed by the new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
U.S. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the remains, found late Monday by American troops, were believed to be those of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore.
Caldwell said the cause of death was “undeterminable at this point,” and that DNA tests would be conducted to confirm the identities.
The two disappeared after an insurgent attack Friday at a checkpoint by a Euphrates River canal south of Baghdad and near the town of Youssifiyah. 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.
'Barbaric' deaths
The director of the Iraqi defense military’s operation room, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, said the bodies showed signs of having been tortured. “With great regret, they were killed in a barbaric way,” he said.
Mohammed also said the two bodies were found on a street near Youssifiyah. The U.S. military could not confirm that account.
The bodies are to be flown to the military’s forensics lab in Dover, Del., for autopsies and to make positive identifications, U.S. military officials said. Any formal declaration of death will be withheld until the bodies are positively identified.
U.S. soldiers found the bodies based on a tip from a reliable Iraqi source, military officials told NBC News. U.S. forces had to literally fight their way to the bodies; enemy forces laid a series of improvised explosive devices, also known as IEDs, on the primary route to the bodies.
“The news is going to be heartbreaking for my family,” Ken MacKenzie, Menchaca’s uncle, told NBC’s “Today” show. He said the United States should have paid a ransom from money seized from Saddam Hussein.
“I think the U.S. was too slow to react to this. Because the U.S. did not have a plan in place, my nephew has paid with his life.”
Claims of kidnapping, killing
On Monday, the Mujahedeen Shura Council said it was holding two U.S. privates captive and taunted the U.S. military for failing to find the soldiers despite a search involving more than 8,000 Iraqi and American troops.
A statement posted on a militant Islamic Web site Tuesday said the new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq killed the soldiers.
The statement, which could not be authenticated, said the two soldiers were “slaughtered,” suggesting they had been beheaded. The Arabic word used in the statement, “nahr,” is used for the slaughtering of sheep by cutting the throat and has been used in past statements to refer to beheadings.
U.S. officials believe the new leader is Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the chief bombmaker for al-Qaida in Iraq. NBC VIDEO
The group offered no video, identification cards or other evidence to prove that they kidnapped or killed the soldiers. The group had vowed to seek revenge for the June 7 killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, in a U.S. airstrike.
The council also said it was responsible for the June 3 kidnapping of four Russian Embassy workers. The two separate postings could not be authenticated, but they appeared on a Web site known for publishing messages from insurgent groups in Iraq.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, when asked about the claim by the Shura Council that it was holding the soldiers, said: “We have no independent confirmation of that report.”
Ahmed Khalaf Falah, a farmer, has told The Associated Press that he witnessed seven masked gunmen seize the soldiers near Youssifiyah, about 12 miles south of Baghdad.
Maybe a few guys being held at Gitmo should be 'used' to send a message to the 'mujjies'. Turn about is fair play.
Signs of 'barbaric' torture; U.S. military awaiting positive ID from DNA
NBC News and news services
Updated: 2 hours, 6 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The bodies of two U.S. soldiers reported captured last week have been found and the men appear to have been “killed in a barbaric way,” a senior Iraqi general said Tuesday. A statement posted on a militant Islamic Web site said the two men were killed by the new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
U.S. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the remains, found late Monday by American troops, were believed to be those of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore.
Caldwell said the cause of death was “undeterminable at this point,” and that DNA tests would be conducted to confirm the identities.
The two disappeared after an insurgent attack Friday at a checkpoint by a Euphrates River canal south of Baghdad and near the town of Youssifiyah. 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.
'Barbaric' deaths
The director of the Iraqi defense military’s operation room, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, said the bodies showed signs of having been tortured. “With great regret, they were killed in a barbaric way,” he said.
Mohammed also said the two bodies were found on a street near Youssifiyah. The U.S. military could not confirm that account.
The bodies are to be flown to the military’s forensics lab in Dover, Del., for autopsies and to make positive identifications, U.S. military officials said. Any formal declaration of death will be withheld until the bodies are positively identified.
U.S. soldiers found the bodies based on a tip from a reliable Iraqi source, military officials told NBC News. U.S. forces had to literally fight their way to the bodies; enemy forces laid a series of improvised explosive devices, also known as IEDs, on the primary route to the bodies.
“The news is going to be heartbreaking for my family,” Ken MacKenzie, Menchaca’s uncle, told NBC’s “Today” show. He said the United States should have paid a ransom from money seized from Saddam Hussein.
“I think the U.S. was too slow to react to this. Because the U.S. did not have a plan in place, my nephew has paid with his life.”
Claims of kidnapping, killing
On Monday, the Mujahedeen Shura Council said it was holding two U.S. privates captive and taunted the U.S. military for failing to find the soldiers despite a search involving more than 8,000 Iraqi and American troops.
A statement posted on a militant Islamic Web site Tuesday said the new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq killed the soldiers.
The statement, which could not be authenticated, said the two soldiers were “slaughtered,” suggesting they had been beheaded. The Arabic word used in the statement, “nahr,” is used for the slaughtering of sheep by cutting the throat and has been used in past statements to refer to beheadings.
U.S. officials believe the new leader is Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the chief bombmaker for al-Qaida in Iraq. NBC VIDEO
The group offered no video, identification cards or other evidence to prove that they kidnapped or killed the soldiers. The group had vowed to seek revenge for the June 7 killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, in a U.S. airstrike.
The council also said it was responsible for the June 3 kidnapping of four Russian Embassy workers. The two separate postings could not be authenticated, but they appeared on a Web site known for publishing messages from insurgent groups in Iraq.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, when asked about the claim by the Shura Council that it was holding the soldiers, said: “We have no independent confirmation of that report.”
Ahmed Khalaf Falah, a farmer, has told The Associated Press that he witnessed seven masked gunmen seize the soldiers near Youssifiyah, about 12 miles south of Baghdad.
Maybe a few guys being held at Gitmo should be 'used' to send a message to the 'mujjies'. Turn about is fair play.
