AP - Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:07:32 AM By CHELSEA J. CARTER and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
Shiite militants kidnapped an Iraqi-American contractor after luring him into central Baghdad with promises of visiting distant relatives, an Iraqi defense official said Saturday, after a video apparently showing the man surfaced online.
The U.S. Department of Defense said Friday that Issa T. Salomi, 60, went missing Jan. 23 in Baghdad and that search and recovery efforts were under way.
In the video, the man -- who did not identify himself -- says his abductors from the League of the Righteous are demanding the release of militants and the prosecution of Blackwater security contractors accused of killing 17 Iraqis in 2007 in Baghdad.
"The second demand is to bring the proper justice and the proper punishment to those members of Blackwater company that have committed unjustifiable crimes against innocent Iraqi civilians," the man said. "And to bring justice by proper compensation to the families that have been involved in great suffering because of this incident."
A U.S. intelligence official and an Iraqi defense official confirmed the man in the video is Salomi. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.
Blackwater security contractors were protecting U.S. diplomats when the guards opened fire in Nisoor Square, a crowded Baghdad intersection, on Sept. 16, 2007. Seventeen people were killed, including women and children, in a shooting that inflamed anti-American sentiment in Iraq.
There was no way to verify the authenticity of the video, but a high-ranking Iraqi defense official told The Associated Press that Salomi was the man in the video and that he was abducted by the militant group in the central Baghdad district of Karradah. The official said Salomi is of Iraqi origin and that his abductors lured him to Karradah under the pretense of visiting distant relatives.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
"We obviously hope for his safe return," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. "We aren't certain of the circumstances under which he disappeared."
The Department of Defense said the missing contractor is from El Cajon, California.
Salomi's family issued a statement, released through the FBI in San Diego, saying they were hoping for his safe return. The statement did not say whether Salomi was believed abducted.
"We are confident that everything is being done by the most capable people here and abroad to bring Issa home safely, and we all are anxiously awaiting his safe return," the statement said.
The man in the video is seated in a chair and wearing what looks like a U.S. military uniform. Behind him is the black banner of the militant group, also known by its Arabic name, Asaib Ahl al-Haq.
He says his captors were also demanding the immediate withdrawal of the U.S. military from Iraq.
The militant group's Web site claimed the man in the video is an American officer.
The same group was believed to be behind the kidnapping of British computer consultant Peter Moore in May 2007 along with his four British bodyguards. Moore was handed over to Iraqi authorities in late December. Three of the bodyguards were killed and the fourth is believed dead.
The British government has said no deals were struck for Moore's release, though it coincided with the transfer of the head of the militant group from U.S. to Iraqi custody.
Qais al-Khazali, along with his brother, were accused of organizing an attack on a local government headquarters in the city of Karbala that killed five U.S. soldiers on Jan. 20, 2007.
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Associated Press Writers Lara Jakes, Bushra Juhi and Hamid Ahmed in Baghdad and Anne Flaherty, traveling with the U.S. defense secretary in Europe, contributed to this report.
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Iraq militia hands over last missing U.S. soldier's remains
27 Feb 2012 21:17
Source: reuters // Reuters
* U.S. Army interpreter went missing more than 5 years ago
* Shi'ite militia says handed him over to Iraqi government
* Family members want him buried in Michigan (Adds U.S. comment, paragraphs 4-7)
By Peter Graff and Suadad al-Salhy
BAGHDAD, Feb 27 (Reuters) - A Shi'ite militia has handed over the body of the last U.S. soldier missing in Iraq, closing a final chapter of the war two months after U.S. troops left and more than five years after the soldier vanished while secretly visiting his wife in Baghdad.
A source in Shi'ite militia Asaib al-Haq said the group had acted as an "intermediary" in handing the body of American soldier Ahmed al-Taie to the Iraqi government. The source denied the group was behind his abduction and killing.
Sami al-Askari, a Shi'ite lawmaker close to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said the Iraqi government had received the body from Asaib al-Haq on Wednesday and passed it immediately to the U.S. embassy.
In Washington, a State Department official said the body had been handed over by the Iraqi government and subsequently turned over to the Defense Department, which confirmed it was that of the missing soldier.
"We received the remains from the government of Iraq, so there was no contact or association between the U.S. and AAH," the official said, referring to Asaib al-Haq.
The official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States understood that the Iraqi government had received the remains from Asaib al-Haq, but did not have details of the exchange.
"We're not aware that there was any type of deal that happened for the remains to be exchanged at this time," he said, adding that he was not in a position to speculate on the possible motives of the group in this transaction.
Al-Taie, an Iraqi-born immigrant, joined the U.S. Army to serve as an Arabic interpreter after the invasion of his native land. Shortly before enlisting, he had returned to Iraq and married a woman from Baghdad.
He went missing in 2006 at the age of 41 while visiting his wife at the height of the sectarian conflict.
'ALMOST EXPECTED THIS OUTCOME'
His uncle, Entifadh Qanbar, said the family was devastated by the news of his death but thankful at least to have a body to bury. He would be buried near the family home in Michigan.
"We almost expected this outcome, but we always had hope, especially the father and the mother. It is a big loss for them. They are quite old and I am quite worried for them," Qanbar told Reuters by telephone from Dubai.
The family has yet to be given any details of the circumstances of how the body was found or how al-Taie died, said Qanbar, who lives in the region and is a former spokesman for Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi. The body was identified by the U.S. military at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, he said.
Al-Taie was the last U.S. service member listed as missing in Iraq, where nearly 4,500 U.S. troops were killed between the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and the withdrawal of American forces at the end of last year.
Qanbar said the family had heard nothing about al-Taie's whereabouts since 2008, when they received reports that he was sick and his captors were looking for medicine to treat him.
Asaib al-Haq is an offshoot of the Mehdi Army of anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr which has claimed responsibility for the killings of scores of American troops. Washington has long accused Iran of sponsoring the group.
The Asaib al-Haq source, who asked not to be identified, said the militants were not behind al-Taie's abduction or killing. "We were simply mediators in the process of handing him over to the Iraqi government," the source told Reuters.
FOUR ARRESTED
A Sunni Muslim, al-Taie was taken from Baghdad's religiously mixed downtown Karrada neighbourhood in October 2006. Four men were arrested days later and confessed to the kidnapping, said Qanbar, who later met the captors at a U.S. prison camp.
The captors said they had turned al-Taie over to the Mehdi Army in Sadr's stronghold Sadr City, and did not know what happened to him. From there, the trail went cold.
At the time, the Mehdi Army was embroiled in sectarian fighting against Sunni insurgents as well as conflict with U.S. forces and Iraqi government troops.
Sadr ordered the Mehdi Army to lay down its arms after it was defeated by U.S. and Iraqi government forces in 2008, but Asaib al-Haq and other splinter groups broke away and kept fighting. After U.S. troops withdrew in December, Asaib al-Haq announced it too would lay down arms and join Iraqi politics.
The abduction came at the peak of fighting in Iraq, when Shi'ite and Sunni militia were vying for control of the capital, with death squads carrying out sectarian killings on the streets and bombers striking several times a day.
With civilian death tolls in the thousands and kidnapping rife, U.S. troops were not allowed off-base on their own. But al-Taie was determined to see his wife.
"It was hell," his uncle said of the conditions in Baghdad at the time. "I had arguments with him not to leave his base and he kept doing it. He even bought a motorcycle, which was completely crazy."
"I cannot say I am glad it's over," Qanbar said of the family's five-year ordeal. "But I am relieved to at least have some sort of closure." (Additional reporting by Andrew Quinn in Washington; editing by Yara Bayoumy and Mohammad Zargham)
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Iraq militia frees U.S. hostage after 9 months
Sat, Mar 17 18:28 PM EDT
image
1 of 2
By Peter Graff
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A militia loyal to Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr freed an American former soldier on Saturday after holding him captive in Baghdad for nine months.
The American, identified as Randy Michaels, was shown on television in a U.S. military uniform with no insignia, flanked by two members of parliament from Sadr's movement, including the parliament's first deputy speaker.
He was handed over to the United Nations mission in Baghdad, which transferred him to the U.S. embassy. Washington confirmed he was a U.S. citizen but released no further details.
In brief remarks to Iraqi journalists hastily convened to witness his release, Michaels said he had deployed to Iraq in 2003 and initially served there as a soldier for 15 months.
He remained in Iraq "in a civilian capacity from then until June of 2011, when I was taken hostage by elements of Yom al-Maoud," he said, referring to the Promised Day Brigade, an offshoot of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.
"I was taken inside Baghdad and have been kept in and around different locations within the city by al-Maoud. It was explained to me that my release has been for humanitarian purposes and there was no exchange involved."
Sadrist lawmakers repeatedly described him as an American soldier. However, the Pentagon says none of its serving troops have been listed as hostages in Iraq since the remains of the last missing soldier were recovered last month.
Maha al-Douri, a lawmaker from Sadr's bloc, said: "We declare the release of the American soldier, Randy Michaels, without any compensation, according to the instructions of Moqtada al-Sadr, as a gift from him to the soldier's family and to his people, and to correct the image of Islam."
Qusay al-Souhail, deputy parliament speaker, said the leadership of the Promised Day Brigade had made the decision to free their captive in light of the confirmation that U.S. troops had withdrawn from Iraq.
The U.N. mission in Baghdad, UNAMI, confirmed that Souhail and Douri had handed over a U.S. citizen and said it had passed him to the U.S. embassy.
A U.S. State Department official in Washington said: "We can confirm that the UNAMI has transferred a U.S. citizen to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, which is providing consular assistance. Due to privacy considerations, we are unable to provide additional information."
Nine years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, the United States withdrew its forces from Iraq in December, with the exception of a few hundred service members stationed as part of the diplomatic mission at its embassy.
The U.S. mission still includes 2,000 diplomats and, as of last year, 14,000 civilian contractors. The embassy says the number of contractors has declined since then but does not release updated figures.
Sadr's Mehdi Army fighters controlled swathes of Baghdad and southern Iraq until they were largely defeated by Iraqi government forces and U.S. troops in 2008.
Sadr disbanded most of the Mehdi Army and joined mainstream politics, and his followers are part of the governing power-sharing coalition.
The Promised Day Brigade and other Mehdi Army offshoots continued to battle U.S. forces and have claimed responsibility for kidnappings of foreigners. Those groups have mainly said they are disarming now that U.S. troops have left.
(Additional reporting by Raheem Salman, Suadad al-Salhy and Wathiq Ibrahim in Baghdad, and Arshad Mohammed in Washington)
==============
Iraq militia frees U.S. hostage after 9 months
Sat, Mar 17 18:28 PM EDT
image
1 of 2
By Peter Graff
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A militia loyal to Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr freed an American former soldier on Saturday after holding him captive in Baghdad for nine months.
((There is actually a Rand Michael Holtz mentioned as CEO of Iraq's first hedge fund in 2007..
FWIW there is also an Afro-American Sgt Rand Hultz serving with US army in Najaf in 2004 here http://www.arcent.army.mil/media/10699/28may%20old%20ironsides%20report.pdf
Guess this is the person to go after, Rand Michael Holtz, operations director of Iraq Fund LLC.
http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/21381))
The American, identified as Randy Michaels, was shown on television in a U.S. military uniform with no insignia, flanked by two members of parliament from Sadr's movement, including the parliament's first deputy speaker.
He was handed over to the United Nations mission in Baghdad, which transferred him to the U.S. embassy. Washington confirmed he was a U.S. citizen but released no further details.
In brief remarks to Iraqi journalists hastily convened to witness his release, Michaels said he had deployed to Iraq in 2003 and initially served there as a soldier for 15 months.
He remained in Iraq "in a civilian capacity from then until June of 2011, when I was taken hostage by elements of Yom al-Maoud," he said, referring to the Promised Day Brigade, an offshoot of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.
"I was taken inside Baghdad and have been kept in and around different locations within the city by al-Maoud. It was explained to me that my release has been for humanitarian purposes and there was no exchange involved."
Sadrist lawmakers repeatedly described him as an American soldier. However, the Pentagon says none of its serving troops have been listed as hostages in Iraq since the remains of the last missing soldier were recovered last month.
Maha al-Douri, a lawmaker from Sadr's bloc, said: "We declare the release of the American soldier, Randy Michaels, without any compensation, according to the instructions of Moqtada al-Sadr, as a gift from him to the soldier's family and to his people, and to correct the image of Islam."
Qusay al-Souhail, deputy parliament speaker, said the leadership of the Promised Day Brigade had made the decision to free their captive in light of the confirmation that U.S. troops had withdrawn from Iraq.
The U.N. mission in Baghdad, UNAMI, confirmed that Souhail and Douri had handed over a U.S. citizen and said it had passed him to the U.S. embassy.
A U.S. State Department official in Washington said: "We can confirm that the UNAMI has transferred a U.S. citizen to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, which is providing consular assistance. Due to privacy considerations, we are unable to provide additional information."
Nine years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, the United States withdrew its forces from Iraq in December, with the exception of a few hundred service members stationed as part of the diplomatic mission at its embassy.
The U.S. mission still includes 2,000 diplomats and, as of last year, 14,000 civilian contractors. The embassy says the number of contractors has declined since then but does not release updated figures.
Sadr's Mehdi Army fighters controlled swathes of Baghdad and southern Iraq until they were largely defeated by Iraqi government forces and U.S. troops in 2008.
Sadr disbanded most of the Mehdi Army and joined mainstream politics, and his followers are part of the governing power-sharing coalition.
The Promised Day Brigade and other Mehdi Army offshoots continued to battle U.S. forces and have claimed responsibility for kidnappings of foreigners. Those groups have mainly said they are disarming now that U.S. troops have left.
(Additional reporting by Raheem Salman, Suadad al-Salhy and Wathiq Ibrahim in Baghdad, and Arshad Mohammed in Washington)
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