BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 19, 2004
Militants: Journalist Has 48 Hours
Threaten To Kill U.S. Reporter Unless American Force Leaves Najaf
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Play CBS Video Video New Hostage Ultimatum Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr seemed poised to allow peace in the Iraqi city of Najaf. But a death threat against a kidnapped U.S. journalist could put the peace at risk, Barry Petersen reports.
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U.S. journalist Micah Garen (AP)
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Video still from the militants who have kidnapped Garen. (CBS)
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Interactive Held Hostage Details on foreign workers and soldiers captured by insurgents in Iraq.
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Photo Essay Kidnapped And Killed Al Qaeda strikes in Saudi Arabia, taking the life of American Paul Johnson.
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Photo Essay Hamill The Free Thomas "Tommy" Hamill, the captive who escaped in Iraq.
A group calling itself the Martyrs Brigade released a video to the pan-Arab television station that purported to show Micah Garen, who had been snatched off the streets of the southern city of Nasiriyah on Friday along with his Iraqi translator, Amir Doushi.
In the video, the kidnappers threatened to kill Garen within two days if U.S. forces did not leave Najaf, where they have been fighting with militants linked to militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr for two weeks.
Most of the insurgents behind the kidnappings of scores of foreigners here in recent months have been Sunni Muslims, not those aligned with al-Sadr or other Shiite groups.
When Shiite militants in the southern city of Basra kidnapped British journalist James Brandon on Friday and threatened to kill him, al-Sadr's aides condemned them and pressured them to release him, which they quickly did.
According to witnesses, Garen and Doushi, were walking through a Nasiriyah market when two men in civilian clothes and armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles seized them Friday, police said.
At the time of his abduction, Garen, 36, was working on a story about the looting of archaeological sites in Iraq, his fiance, Marie-Helene Carleton said.
Garen worked for Four Corners media, identified on its Web site as a "documentary organization working in still photography, video and print media."
The site features photographs of archaeological sites like Ishin Bahryiat, Babylon and Ur, as well as pictures of Iraqi looters and U.S. troops.
He has taken photographs as a stringer for The Associated Press and had a story published in The New York Times. His photographs also have appeared in U.S. News & World Report.
Neither U.S. nor Iraqi forces had any word on Garen's fate Wednesday.
Several hostages have been executed in Iraq.
One of four Italians taken captive was killed in April.
In May, American businessman
In June, a videotape emerged purporting to depict the murder of captured American soldier Keith Maupin, but the military has been unable to confirm the event.
İMMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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