Hostage Recalls Basra Kidnapping Ordeal

60 Minutes: CBS News Producer Was Held By Gunmen For Months In Southern Iraqi City

(CBS)  "The fact that Richard heard Hezbollah ring tones and Hezbollah operatives were inside Basra does not surprise me in the least," says Col. Peter Mansoor, who at the time was the executive officer to America's top commander in Iraq.

"Iran had penetrated southern Iraq and it was very troubling," Mansoor remembered.

"Isn't it true in Basra there was a proxy fight, a proxy war of a kind going on?" Logan asked.

"Well, this proxy war that Iran is waging against the United States and Iraq has been going on for, almost since the beginning of the war," Mansoor explained.

"No one wanted to admit it at that time," Logan pointed out.

"I don't think initially we realized how deep Iranian involvement was," Mansoor said.

Nowhere was Iran more deeply involved than in Basra, Iraq's richest city. The militias it funded, trained and armed were in control, and the U.S. decided something had to be done.

Although a detailed U.S.-Iraqi battle plan was being worked out, Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki decided he wanted to launch the Basra incursion on his own.

"Prime Minister Maliki very much wanted this to be an Iraqi-planned, led and executed operation," Mansoor said.

"Put an Iraq face on it. Have them be responsible," Logan remarked.

"Right," Mansoor said.

So last March, the prime minister himself led around 30,000 Iraqi troops down to Basra - the first major Iraqi military mission since the U.S. invasion and a test of the strength for the Iraqi army.

By then Richard Butler, had been in captivity for nearly two months. "It sounded like World War Three starting up," he remembered.

"At that time, you were the only western journalist inside Basra. Describe for me what the battle around you was like," Logan asked.

"Well first of all it was very sudden It just exploded. I mean, you know, it was just huge explosions started. Gunfire just erupted," Butler remembered. "I could feel the shockwaves of each mortar round being launched. And I could feel the shockwave of each Katyusha (rocket) that they launched."

Like thousands of Iraqis, Butler was trapped in a city under siege.

"From the moment the fighting started, those areas of Basra, particularly, began running short of food and water. Did that affect you?" Logan asked.

"Yes. There was no food there to eat," he said. "It was pretty bad. I mean my diet was four boiled eggs and a tangerine, over a 12-day period."

[rrozsa-2009]

Thank you, CBS, for finally showing a news story that actually shows the positive aspects of the war in Iraq! The improvement in women's rights alone is something I wish we heard more about in the media.

[notblue]

Most likely he would have been beheaded as the rest before him but in his case there must have been monetary gain for his release. Those who think he was better off with the militants doesn't give those savages enough credit or is just ignorant to the reality of what happens to their prisoners.

[nor-one]

What's all the crying about? It could have been worse, he could have been in Gitmo or Abu Grave? And for seven years at that!

[notblue]

Iraq is a success despite what the leftwing news outlets and the libs claim. It is no longer in the news because of that success. THe troops should be proud, America should be proud, we now ghave an allie in the heart of the middle east where once an enemy ruled.

[jkutilek1]

It is an interesting story about the changes in Iraq. I suddenly realized that the release of Butler took place in the spring of 2008. I don't think that story would have appeared on 60 minutes if Bush was still in office.