American Captive Traveled World
Jeffrey Ake Pushed Businessmen To Pitch Wares In Foreign Countries
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Play CBS Video Video Dual Iraq Car Bombs Iraqi al Qaeda clamed responsibility for the worst car bombings in a month, which occurred during morning rush hour. Lee Cowan spoke with witnesses about the insurgents' agenda.
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Video American Pleads For Life American contractor Jeffrey Ake pled for his life after being captured by Iraqi insurgents. Lee Cowan reports that he was kidnapped in broad daylight, but he might not have been the target.
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Video U.S. Lied, Says Italian Journo 60 Minutes' Scott Pelley talked to Giuliana Sgrena, the Italian reporter kidnapped in Iraq whose car came under U.S. fire. She described what it's like to be in the hands of insurgents.
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Jeff Ake, 47, of LaPorte, Ind., president and CEO of Equipment Express, whose products include machines that fill water bottles, is shown in this 2004 photo. (AP/South Bend Tribune)
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A yellow ribbon is tied around a tree in the front yard of the home of Jeffrey Ake Wednesday, in La Porte, Ind. (AP)
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Interactive Held Hostage Details on foreign workers and soldiers captured by insurgents in Iraq.
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
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Interactive Attacks Map Details on the insurgency and terrorism that has continued to take lives since the fall of Saddam.
But Ake's frequent travels also made him a possible target. He is believed to have been kidnapped by Iraqi insurgents during his second business trip to Iraq in two years.
Ake, 47, was snatched Monday from a water treatment plant near Baghdad, according to officials at the American Embassy.
A videotape aired Wednesday by Al-Jazeera television showed Ake being held at gunpoint by at least three assailants as the Indiana man clutched what appeared to be a photo and a passport. In the video, Al-Jazeera said, Ake asked the U.S. government to withdraw from Iraq and save his life.
No group claimed responsibility for the abduction.
Ake built his business in Indiana, but he traveled the world to take his innovations for bottling drinking water and cooking oil to the people and places that needed them most, reports CBS News Correspondent Cynthia Bowers.
The father of four was in Iraq to help with postwar reconstruction by installing water bottling equipment.
"It's not only devastating, it's also very sad to see an innocent individual going over there and trying to help a country," said David Christian, another businessman in the community about 25 miles west of South Bend. "Having terrorist acts taken against people like that is just unthinkable."
Friends say he is the antithesis of the proverbial ugly American, reports Bowers.
"Jeff is a very bright young man, a wonderful family man," said LaPorte Mayor Leigh Morris on CBS News' The Early Show. "Jeff's not a wealthy person at all but he's been a very successful businessman, and at the same time, quite a humanitarian."
"If you can imagine, he probably could have done many other things rather than being in Iraq to try to help the Iraqi people," said Morris.
At Ake's ranch-style home in northern Indiana, an American flag fluttered on a pole Wednesday and a yellow ribbon was tied around a tree. By Wednesday night, the house was darkened and no one appeared to be home.
Ake's family and the company he runs, Equipment Express, made no immediate public remarks about reports of his kidnapping.
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