| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Iraq arrests seen as break in case of 2 missing US soldiers |
| 2007-12-28 |
| It was one of the more chilling attacks on US troops: an ambush on an isolated highway that left four American soldiers and their Iraqi translator dead, and three Americans missing. Seven months later, two of the soldiers have yet to be found, but yesterday the military announced a break in the case that could reveal the fate of the missing men. A US military statement said two people had been arrested in Ramadi, about 60 miles from the scene of the May 12 attack. Neither of the suspects was identified, but one is alleged to have used his home to hide the captured soldiers, the statement said. A weapon belonging to one of the captured men was found in the home of one of the suspects, the statement added. Attempts to find the missing soldiers, Specialist Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass., and Private Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich., have proved futile despite a massive dragnet following the attack in an agricultural village along the Euphrates River. Private First Class Joseph J. Anzack Jr., 20, of Torrance, Calif., also was abducted, but his body was discovered in the river 11 days after the ambush. The four other US troops died when their Humvees were attacked with grenades and gunfire by insurgents lying in wait in the dark. A Sunni Muslim insurgent group linked to Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack and put out a video showing some of the soldiers' dog tags. In July, the IDs of Fouty and Jimenez were found in a house north of Baghdad. In October, weapons belonging to some of the troops were found in a house a few miles north of the attack site. The two soldiers are among four US troops listed as missing since the start of the war in March 2003. The Islamic State of Iraq, a front group for Al Qaeda, claimed in an Internet video earlier this year that the three missing soldiers were killed and buried. The militants showed images of the military IDs of Jimenez and Fouty but offered no proof that they were dead. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #2 I hope they are in Iraqi custody and the gloves are off. |
| Posted by: DanNY 2007-12-28 12:48 |
| #1 I'm sure ICRC, AI, and HRW have all filed complaints to the appropriate organizations about the Geneva Convention Rights of these missing soldiers. Just like the NYT has run twenty something front page articles mentioning this situation. /sarcasm off |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-12-28 09:15 |