Two Alive
UPDATE: Flopping Aces has a roundup of jihadi claims and other reports.
Two believed to be alive as recently as Friday, military says, and they think they know who has them. LA Times:
Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told the newspaper that the military had identified the person chiefly responsible for the abduction of the three men and the killing of four other soldiers and an interpreter.
“We know who that guy is,” he said. “He’s sort of an affiliate of Al Qaeda. He’s the big player down in that area. We’ve tangled with him before.”
The missing are Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr., 20, of Torrance; Spc. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass.; and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich. It is not known who among them may be dead or alive …
Petraeus said, “We just tragically haven’t found the individuals. But on the other hand, they haven’t been able to smuggle out, at least to my knowledge, the traditional video.”
That could suggest the 6,000 U.S. and Iraqi forces searching the area have them pinned down, and could be the best cause for hope.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 7:16 am on Sunday, May 20, 2007
5 Responses to “Two Alive”
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May 20th, 2007 at 8:33 am
I’m baffled as to why Petraeus is commenting publically about this case. It’s like signalling to the captors how valuable the soldiers are and how demoralizing it would be to the US military and people for them to kill the captives.
I’m losing all confidence in the ability of our large bureacratic institutions to successfully deal with this enemy.
Lincoln complained about his military leaders, especially his Generals, in the early days of the Civil War. This group is worse. They are politicians, not warriors and it shows.
I will hope and pray that these soldiers are rescued.
May 20th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
KAD, well put.
May 20th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Petraeus may be saying to the kidnappers: We know who you are, and if we don’t get our guys back, we will kill you. At least I hope that’s what he’s saying.
May 21st, 2007 at 3:30 am
Death to the bastards. Russian justice. Enough of this BS!
But noooooooo. We’ve got to make sure that we play nice and send them to fatten up at Club Gitmo while idiots fret over Geneva Conventions that don’t exist, else the world might click their collective tongue at us. I’m so sick of all of this.
May 21st, 2007 at 4:49 am
RebeccaH: I hope that’s the case. If he is signalling that he will be ruthless, then I’m for it.
He seems PC to me, that’s all.