U.S. POWs On TV Identified
U.S. officials confirm that 12 soldiers are missing after Iraqi forces ambushed an army supply convoy around an Nasiriyah, a major crossing point over the Euphrates northwest of Basra. Relatives in New Mexico and Kansas identified two of the soldiers.
Five U.S. captives appeared terrified as they were thrust in front of an Iraqi TV microphone Sunday and peppered with questions. The footage also showed at least four bodies.
They were identified Monday afternoon as Edgar Hernandez, Mission, Texas; Shoshawna Johnson, El Paso, Texas; Joseph Hudson, Alamogordo, N.M.; Patrick Miller, Park City, Kansas; and James Riley, New Jersey.
One captured American, speaking in a shaky voice, said he had nothing against Iraqis. "They don't bother me, I don't bother them," he said.
A woman soldier with a bandaged ankle, presumably Johnson, held her arms tightly in her lap, her eyes darting back and forth.
Another soldier, lying wounded on a mat, swayed slightly when Iraqis tried to prop him up for the camera.
With the POW captures and other setbacks, reports CBS News Correspondent Barry Bagnato, the Pentagon Monday released a statement that asks Americans to keep their perspective. War is a brutal and messy event, it says; there will be tragedy and losses. But it ends with a declaration that the ultimate victory of the coalition is assured.
Scenes of interrogators questioning four men and a woman were broadcast by the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera with footage from state-controlled Iraqi television. Each was interviewed individually.
The 507th Maintenance, part of the 111th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, is stationed at Fort Bliss, and at least two of the interviewed prisoners said they were with the 507th.
President Bush, returning to the White House from Camp David, demanded that the POWs be treated well.
"We expect them to be treated humanely, just like we'll treat any prisoners of theirs that we capture humanely. If not, the people who mistreat the prisoners will be treated as war criminals," he said.
International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman Nada Doumani said the showing of the prisoners on TV violates Article 13 of the Geneva Conventions, which says prisoners should be protected from public curiosity. But she stressed that the priority at the moment is to get access to them.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Iraq Monday to obey international conventions on the humane treatment of prisoners of war after 12 American soldiers were ambushed and believed captured or killed.
Putin told top Cabinet ministers that he had asked the Foreign Ministry "to appeal to Iraq with an urgent request to comply with these particular rules."
One of the prisoners, Hudson, is an American of Filipino descent, and Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo asked the Iraqis to observe international laws on the proper treatment of prisoners of war.
"Prisoners of war must be treated well and fairly — given food, medicine if needed, and never be tortured," Arroyo said.
Anecita Hudson of Alamogordo said she saw her son interviewed on Iraqi television as one of the U.S. soldiers taken prisoner. She said the interview was carried on a Filipino television station she subscribes to.
"I saw my son and I said, 'Oh, my God.' I looked at him, and he looked so scared. I started crying," said Anecita Hudson.
His brother, Anthony Hudson, said he was "pretty much shocked" by the capture.
They were close, Anthony told CBS News Early Show co-anchor Rene Syler, and they talked before Joseph left for the Gulf.
"Of course he didn't want to go. Who does? Who wanted to go?" Anthony Hudson said. "He kept a cool head about it. He didn't ... show it through his words, but in the back of his voice you can hear it."
Joseph Hudson is married and has a 5-year-old daughter.
A senior administration official tells CBS News President Bush has not seen the Iraqi TV tapes of the American POWs
The Iraqi government has said it would give the International Committee of the Red Cross freedom to move about the country to perform its traditional tasks, which include monitoring the care and treatment of POWs.
The U.S. military says it has more than 2,000 Iraqi prisoners of war.