U.S. Soldier Kidnapped in Iraqi City (isn't this a first?)

[donsu]

http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6687520


Insurgents have captured an American soldier in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad, an Iraqi police spokesman said Tuesday.

Lt. Col. Mohammed Ahmed of Samarra police told reporters the soldier had been seized Monday night by gunmen in two Opel cars. He said U.S. troops were out in force in the streets of the Sunni Muslim city Tuesday.

A U.S. military spokesman said he had no information on the incident. Ahmed said the Americans had alerted Iraqi security forces and asked them to look out for the missing soldier.

U.S. and Iraqi forces stormed Samarra, 62 miles north of Baghdad, in early October as part of the U.S.-backed interim government's campaign to retake rebel areas before national elections scheduled for January.
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[dave502d]

1. No n/t

[lebkuchen]

2. News like this only energizes the Chimpy supporters all the more

They can't get enough of this bad news!

[Catch22Dem]

3. Where's Maupin?

Isn't he still unaccounted for?

[TrustingDog]

5. He is dead. :(

SPC Keith M. Maupin Murdered

AP -- Report: Iraqi Militants Kill U.S. Soldier

NYT -- Tape Shows What Militants Say Is Execution of U.S. Army Soldier

Iraqi militants killed an American soldier they have held hostage for nearly three months, saying the killing was because the U.S. government did not change its policy in Iraq, Al-Jazeera television said Tuesday.

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/006647.html

[leetrisck]

6. Pentagon has never said publicly

that it was Pvt. Maupin - only that they could not identify.

[Romulus]

7. he may have been killed

sorry to say :(

But the sad thing is we don't really know:

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-3055480.php\

June 30, 2004

"“I’m letting the experts do their job,” Harris said, referring to Department of Defense investigators who continue to examine the videotape. It shows a man, facing away from the camera, appearing slightly slumped over and dressed in an American military uniform, being shot in the back of the head, then dumped into a shallow grave.

In the video, an Arabic speaker identifies the man as Maupin, who is now the U.S. service member held hostage longer than any since the Vietnam War.

On Monday, Harris berated local television stations that broadcast an “incorrect,” “premature” and “not substantiated” report that Maupin was, in fact, the man shown being executed in the video."

[KingChicken]

4. I think it's the first since the war "ended"

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. This is hard to do because the military moves in groups

and stay close to the tanks and bradleys. There would be a hell of a lot more if they were to mingle in the population.

[212demop]

9. I think it's the second

in all. That's two too many...