BAGHDAD, May 12, 2007
Massive Search For Missing U.S. Troops
5 Killed, 3 Missing In Iraq After Morning Ambush
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Play CBS Video Video Search For Missing Troops A pre-dawn ambush on a U.S. patrol in Iraq left 5 dead and 3 soldiers missing. American and Iraqi forces have embarked on a massive search for the troops. Mark Strassmann has more details.
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Iraqi soldiers take defensive position while on the joint search mission with the U.S. troops near Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, May 12, 2007. (AP)
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Iraqi soldiers take defensive position while on the joint search mission with the U.S. troops near Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, May 12, 2007. (AP)
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Interactive Iraq: 4 Years Later The conflict wears on as the nation struggles to rebuild.
The military said the patrol was struck in a pre-dawn explosion near Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad — an al Qaeda area where two U.S. soldiers were found massacred after disappearing at a checkpoint nearly a year ago.
A nearby unit heard the blast and the search was launched after communication could not be established with the patrol, the military said, adding that a drone plane later observed two burning vehicles after about 15 minutes.
An emergency response unit arrived at the scene about an hour later and found five members of the team killed and three others listed as duty status and whereabouts unknown.
U.S. military sources tell CBS News that it may take DNA tests to make final identifications, although an Iraqi Army interpreter is believed to be among those killed, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann.
Checkpoints were established throughout the area, while helicopters, jets and unmanned drones buzzed overhead.
But such a search is a nightmare scenario for the U.S. military: The soldiers are facing hostile terrain and have no idea whether the missing are captured, wounded or both, reports Strassmann.
AP Television News footage showed Iraqi soldiers picking through cattails and other weeds as they searched fields and canals for clues.
Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman, said the search would continue throughout the night.
"A lot of our vehicles have thermal capabilities, which sometimes work better at night than they do during the day," he said.
In Other Developments:
The attack in Makhmur, 30 miles south of Irbil, targeted the office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani, leader of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq. Makhmur is not part of the Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Iraq.
The military refused to specify whether the Iraqi interpreter was among those killed or among the missing or give more details about where the bodies were found.
An Iraqi army officer, who was familiar with the search but spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the information, said he saw five badly burned bodies inside a Humvee at the attack site, suggesting the remains may not have been recognizable.
(AP)
The Iraqi officer said U.S. troops singled out seven suspects out of as many as 50, including a wounded man who was hiding in a house and confessed to participating. He said most of the houses searched near the attack contained only women and children because the men had fled after hearing news of the attack, fearing arrest.
"I was in my cucumber field when I heard a big explosion followed by shootings. I ran toward my house because I was afraid that I would be arrested if spotted in the field," Mizaal Abdullah, a 37-year-old farmer who was in the custody of the Iraqi army, said by telephone. "This is the third time that I have been arrested. Each time, the real attackers flee the area and innocent people like me get arrested."
The attack occurred at 4:44 a.m. about 12 miles west of Mahmoudiya, a town of about 65,000 people located in a Sunni area dubbed the "triangle of death" for the frequent attacks against Shiite civilians and U.S. and Iraqi forces.
On June 16, 2006, two American soldiers — Pfc. Kristian Menchaca of Houston and Pfc. Thomas Tucker of Madras, Oregon — went missing after their Humvee was ambushed at a checkpoint near Youssifiyah, to the north of Mahmoudiya.
Their bodies were found days later, tied together with a bomb between one of the victim's legs, but the remains were not recovered until the next morning, after an Iraqi civilian warned that bombs had been planted in the area.
A third soldier, David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Massachusetts, was found dead at the scene of the attack.
Five U.S. soldiers also have been charged in the rape of a 14-year-old Mahmoudiya girl and the killing of her and her entire family, and three have pleaded guilty in the March 12, 2006, attack, which was initially blamed on insurgents.
More than 3,380 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. But few have been kidnapped in Iraq, due largely to strict military procedures for those on patrol or at checkpoints.
U.S. troops in Iraq travel in groups of armored vehicles, usually Humvees, and procedures are in place to keep track of troops so no one is left behind, either by accident or because of the chaos of war.
The last U.S. soldier known to have been captured was Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, whose name is also spelled Ahmed Kousay Altaie, an Iraqi-born reserve soldier from Ann Arbor, Michigan, who was abducted while visiting his Iraqi wife on Oct. 23 in Baghdad.
Sgt. Keith M. Maupin of Batavia, Ohio, was taken on April 9, 2004, after insurgents ambushed a fuel convoy. Two months later, a tape on Al-Jazeera purported to show a captive U.S. soldier being shot, but the Army ruled it was inconclusive proof of Maupin's death. He is listed as missing.
Capt. Michael Speicher, a Navy pilot, also has been missing since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 272 Comments
- PC wars are very expensive. In a war that was based on misinformation (or lies) whose very legality is in question, that has already seen the deaths of over 3300 US soldiers, why would so much energy and millions be expended to get 3 soldiers back? It may sound caring and daring but it actually is wasteful and phony. If American lives were so precious, they would not be in harms way just to nation build or secure oil. If these specific soldiers were so important, they would not have been left to patrol without adequate back up or communication tools. This is propaganda and it is stupid and dangerous. Recovery should be limited to equipment, wreckage and bodies with limited search in the vicinity for the men--if they are not found in that time in a specific area, they should be presumed either captured or dead (or both) and the mission and focus should continue.
In order to search for the 3, thousands of soldiers must be taken off of their ordinary patrols and duties, and millions must be spent in the temporary redirection. I wonder how many Americans will return to their regular beats only to discover little IED presents waiting for them? A mission is not predicated upon any 1 or 2 or 3 men, we need to stop acting like it is. . - Reply to this comment
- slave state confederate slimeball south.
murderous, psycho christian republican snakes.
never met a southerner i ever liked.
all backstabbing dixie creeps.
just like those 13,000 yankee p.o.w.'s they murdered in andersonville, georgia.
just like that assassin, john wilkes boothe.
just like those christian snakes falwell, robertson, swaggart and reed.
i wipe my azz with the confederate flag.
war, hate, phony, ignorant dixie christian republican trash.
i hate the south.
i hate bush.
i hate phony dixie christian trash.
nothing good comes out of the south! - Reply to this comment
- slave state confederate slimeball south.
murderous, psycho christian republican snakes.
never met a southerner i ever liked.
all backstabbing dixie creeps.
just like those 13,000 yankee p.o.w.'s they murdered in andersonville, georgia.
just like that assassin, john wilkes boothe.
just like those christian snakes falwell, robertson, swaggart and reed.
i wipe my azz with the confederate flag.
war, hate, phony, ignorant dixie christian republican trash.
i hate the south.
i hate bush.
i hate phony dixie christian trash.
nothing good comes out of the south! - Reply to this comment
- "Iraq's parliament objected Saturday to the construction of walls around Baghdad neighborhoods....U.S. and Iraqi officials have defended the construction of the barriers...."
OK, where are we getting our "Iraqi officials" if Iraq's government objects?
Have we already set up a two-tier government in Iraq?
One tier for domestic consumption, and another we're empowering - with rifles and rockets - to actually run the country? - Reply to this comment
- I am so tired of our Govt deceiving us. WHAT is the real reason we are there. WHAT???????
My son is over there he has a son2 months old. My nephew is over there 4th time in 4 years has 4 children hasn't been home for 3 Christmas's. What the Hell kind of life is this. I know they signed up. But hey even the prisoners get to see their family at Christmas. Dosen't anyone care?? Isn't anyone keeping tract of how many times these soldiers go over and when they need a break?
I want to see those twins of the Bush's go over there. see how long this war lasts. Gee Prince Harry is going.
Are soldiers are needed here for all the weather disaster we are having. The Gov't is not listening to us. Get us the HELL out of there.......... - Reply to this comment
- bush still trots out the 9-11 card even though the majority have stopped buying it years ago. The fact is bush isn't trying to get the majority to believe the lie by implication he's aiming to hold on to the ones who still want to believe they weren't wrong.
- Reply to this comment
- Sarcelle wrote:
"Mr. Bush,
How do you think your mother Barbara would feel on this Mothers' Day, knowing YOU (her son) had been massacred in a war based on lies and moreover, against the consent of the United Nations?"
Probably something like this (an actual quote from her two days before the beginning of the war on Iraq):
"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"
I hope that b*tch rots in hell with the rest of the Bush Klan. - Reply to this comment
- ......... most modern secret societies and especially those that practice degrees of initiation, and that is the key, are really one society with one purpose. You may call them whatever you wish--the Order of the Quest, the JASON Society, the Roshaniya, the Qabbalah, the Knights Templar, the Knights of Malta, the Knights of Columbus, the Jesuits, the Masons, the Ancient and Mystical Order of Rosae Crucis, the Illuminati, the Nazi Party, the Communist Party, the Executive Members of the Council on Foreign Relations, The Group, the Brotherhood of the Dragon, the Rosicrucians, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group, the Open Friendly Secret Society (the Vatican), the Russell Trust, the Skull & Bones, the Scroll & Key, the Order--they are all the same and all work toward the same ultimate goal, a New World Order.
A PASSAGE FROM A BOOK...
Maybe the internet can save the world via shedding light on all these secret societies. - Reply to this comment
- Mr. Bush,
How do you think your mother Barbara would feel on this Mothers' Day, knowing YOU (her son) had been massacred in a war based on lies and moreover, against the consent of the United Nations? This is what too many American mothers will have to deal with today...
Luckily, your mother Barbara will be able to keep her good spirit on this beautiful Mothers Day, because she knows her sons do not have to face being massacred fighting a war nobody wanted. - Reply to this comment
- "The president has said that setting a deadline for withdrawal from Iraq was setting a date for failure. And we all know, this is a president who likes his failures unplanned and 'spur of the moment'."
- Bill Maher - Reply to this comment
- "I don't want it to be said 50 years from now, 'What happened to America in 2007? How come they forgot the lessons of September 11? How come they couldn't see the impending dangers?'" - GW Bush
Translation: "I don't want it to be said 50 years from now that my whole presidency was a mistake. I don't want it to be said that Michael Moore was right about me.
So I am going to stay in Iraq and save face, no matter how many troops get killed in the process." - Commander Guy Bush. - Reply to this comment
- "On a Scale of 1 to 10"
There has been a steady and consistent stream of US casualties since March 2003. An average of 65 troops have been killed for each month of the war. The steady drip drip has weathered public support for the war to the point where opposition now exceeds support. On a scale of 1 to 10 US troop casualties probably rate as a 8 or 9 in terms of their impact upon public concionusness.
However, captured, paraded and executed US casualties are another matter. Few things terrorize our soldiers more than the thought of being captured and nothing it seems is worse for the US public. On a scale of 1 to 10 this rates as a 10. The administration knows it and the insurgents know it.
The only reason why insurgents would capture rather than kill US troops is for their propaganda value. To the terrorists, the "impact" of a paraded soldier on t.v or the web plays far more powerfully than the daily announcements of US troop deaths which we have already become accustomed to.
Give the chance, the insurgents will execute these soldiers on a video to achieve maximum impact upon US public opinion. If indeed our troops are still alive, the only way they will be released is if they are rescued.
It is difficult to be optimistic. - Reply to this comment
- Dubya still playing his games, desperately trying to link Iraq to 9/11.
"I don't want it to be said 50 years from now, 'What happened to America in 2007? How come they forgot the lessons of September 11? How come they couldn't see the impending dangers?'" - GW Bush, trying to justify his face-saving campaign in Iraq.
Don't worry, 50 years from now the same thing will be said as is said now. "Why did America elect such a blithering idiot in the first place?" - Reply to this comment
- First, I symthasize with the families of the 3 young soldiers. But, nbcnews.com is carrying a storey on the ongoing surge. Hundreds of Iraqis are being arrested by the US/Iraq forces and put into Iraq jails. The Iraq forces are made of *******. The story further describes the tortures and horrors ongoing in Iraq jails which we are powerless to prevent. The most reasonable conculsion is that if an Irai was not an insurgent before his arrest, he is upon release from jail. Does anyone really wonder why the ordinary Iraqi does not come forward with information on these missing soldiers?
- Reply to this comment
- "But such a search is a nightmare scenario for the U.S. military: The soldiers are facing hostile terrain and have no idea whether the missing are captured, wounded or both, reports Strassmann. AP Television News footage showed Iraqi soldiers picking through cattails and other weeds as they searched fields and canals for clues."
This pretty well sums up the whole mess.
They'll find a clue in those cattails before Dubya finds one in his bubble in D.C.
- Reply to this comment
- You just want us to set, say nothing unless it is politically correct and watch them kill our children and expect us to say nothing.
Be politically Correct. There is nothing politically correct about the death of our sons and daughters dieing out there. - Reply to this comment
- Then they give us the Month of Mayhem at the same time someones babies are missing. % are death and 3 are missing. Wanting us to give in to the "DRAFT" because there was not enough Backup for them. NO BACKUP!
They need to bring them home. I feel like they are my children.
Sometimes I feel like Abraham did ...I swing back and forth like a pendulum between faith and doubt. Then we have such catastrophic events like this horiffic weather that is destroying us.
Is it the Lord or HARRP? The Lord says 'Man will get to smart for himself and he will be the folly of his own demise!" I guess if your messing with the weather with a program like HARRP your getting a little to smart for your own good.
Then I see our leadership in the Oval office who sounds like he graduated from "NO student Left Behind"! And how does that make us feel. We see him in a negative light and we have lost all our respect for this administration. - Reply to this comment
- Then they give us the Month of Mayhem at the same time someones babies are missing. % are death and 3 are missing. Wanting us to give in to the "DRAFT" because there was not enough Backup for them. NO BACKUP!
They need to bring them home. I feel like they are my children.
Sometimes I feel like Abraham did ...I swing back and forth like a pendulum between faith and doubt. Then we have such catastrophic events like this horiffic weather that is destroying us.
Is it the Lord or HARRP? The Lord says 'Man will get to smart for himself and he will be the folly of his own demise!" I guess if your messing with the weather with a program like HARRP your getting a little to smart for your own good.
Then I see our leadership in the Oval office who sounds like he graduated from "NO student Left Behind"! And how does that make us feel. We see him in a negative light and we have lost all our respect for this administration. - Reply to this comment
- Then they give us the Month of Mayhem at the same time someones babies are missing. Wanting us to give in to the "DRAFT" because there was not enough Backup for them.
Sometimes I feel like Abraham did ...I swing back and forth like a pendulum between faith and doubt. Then we have such catastrophic events like this horiffic weather that is destroying us.
Is it the Lord or HARRP? The Lord says 'Man will get to smart for himself and he will be the folly of his own demise!" I guess if your messing with the weather with a program like HARRP your getting a little to smart for your own good. - Reply to this comment
