Yellow Ribbons For Captured GI
An American soldier missing for a week was shown unhurt but clearly frightened in video footage aired on Arab TV, surrounded by masked gunmen who offered to exchange him for imprisoned Iraqi fighters and claimed they had more hostages.
The footage aired Friday showed Pfc. Keith Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, in a floppy desert hat, sitting on the floor and nervously looking around him. Men whose head were covered with keffiyeh scarves stood nearby.
"My name is Keith Matthew Maupin. I am a soldier from the 1st Division," he said, looking into the camera. "I am married with a 10-month-old son. I came to liberate Iraq, but I did not come willingly because I wanted to stay with my child."
In Batavia, 15 miles east of Cincinnati, Maupin's friends and neighbors said their prayers were answered with the news that he is alive, and now they are praying for his safe return.
A friend read a statement from the family but declined to answer questions. "We'd like to say, `Matt, we love you and we can't wait until we get to hug you again,"' said Carl R. Cottrell II, the boyfriend of Maupin's sister. He wore a yellow ribbon pinned to his shirt and was flanked by military officers.
Police closed off Main Street to accommodate the several hundred people who gathered in front of the courthouse for a vigil Friday night. An honor guard of former Marines stood next to a 2-foot by 2½-foot photos of Maupin in uniform, and several people in the crowd wore a smaller version of the photo pinned to their shirts and blouses.
Hundreds of people stood together singing "God Bless America," waving flags and praying for Maupin's safe return.
"He's a great kid," said Peggy Luck, a bus driver from Maupin's former southwest Ohio school district. "Every parent wants a kid to grow up to be like him."
In other developments:
U.S. civilian and military officials held a second day of direct talks with representatives from Fallujah focused on strengthening a fragile truce, allowing residents access to hospitals and arranging the return of tens of thousands who have fled the city.
The two sides are also working on a "mechanism" for the handover of the killers of four American civilians, whose slaying and mutilation sparked the Marine assault on Fallujah, launched on April 5, a representative of the Iraqi Governing Council at the talks said.
Officials said the talks would resume Monday - but suggested their continuation depended on continued quiet.
"I can't stress enough how key it is for the ceasefire to hold over the next 24 to 48 hours," Maj. Gen. Joseph Weber, the top U.S. military negotiator, said. "The time is very, very short."
But Brig. Gen. Kimmitt said Saturday the anti-coalition forces there are preparing for renewed fighting. Kimmitt said the insurgents are storing weaons in mosques, and are building roadblocks in the embattled city. He said the fighters there have reportedly taken over a number of homes -- forcing some residents out, and leaving others barricaded inside.
U.S. Maj. Gen. John Sattler said the 2,500 U.S. troops deployed on the edge of the southern city would not move in for now. Negotiations are under way to find a compromise to avert an attack on Najaf.
Al-Sadr, took a defiant tone, preaching while wearing a shroud symbolizing his willingness to die and warning that negotiations were near collapse. "I am ready to meet martyrdom for the sake of Iraq," al-Sadr said Friday.
In the video of Maupin, one of the gunmen was heard saying: "We are keeping him to be exchanged for some of the prisoners captured by the occupation forces."
"Some of our groups managed to capture one of the American soldiers, and he is one of many others. He is being treated according to the treatment of prisoners in the Islamic religion and he is in good health," the gunman said on the tape, a copy of which was dropped off at the U.S. Embassy in Doha, Qatar.
Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman Dan Senor said there would be no negotiation with the insurgents about releasing hostages.
Maupin, of Batavia, Ohio, went missing with Sgt. Elmer C. Krause, 40, of Greensboro, N.C., after their convoy was attacked. They are assigned to the Army Reserve's 724th Transportation Company, based at Bartonville, Ill.
Though Krause's fate was unknown, the voice on the tape also said, "This is the same situation for the other soldier like him," offering some hope that Krause is also alive, reports CBS News Correspondent David Martin.
Maupin was the first U.S. serviceman and second American confirmed kidnapped in a recent wave of abductions in Iraq.
Seven private U.S. contractors also disappeared after the convoy attack, including Thomas Hamill, a 43-year-old truck driver from Mississippi, the only other American known to have been captured. American experts were working to determine whether four bodies discovered west of Baghdad were the remains of some of the missing.
Top U.S. military officials said Friday they are trying to determine any organization behind the wave of abductions of foreigners in Iraq.
In investigating the various abductions, the U.S. military has seen "loose coordination" among them, said Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy head of operations in Iraq.
However, another top military official Baghdad said there was no information yet on who all the captors were and no evidence central organization.
At least 17 foreigners, according to an Associated Press tally, remain unaccounted for in the recent wave of abductions.
Three Czech journalists and a Syrian-Canadian aid worker were freed by their captors Friday; all said they were in good health. The Czechs had been missing since Sunday after checking out of their hotel to leave for Jordan by taxi.
A Chinese citizen was also released Friday, two days after being taken captive, said Muthanna Harith, a member of the Islamic Clerics Committee, the highest Sunni organization in Iraq.