Iraq Militants Threaten to Kill U.S. Marine -- TV (new kidnapping)

[Purveyor]

DUBAI (Reuters) - An Iraqi Islamist group has kidnapped what is said was a U.S. Marine and is threatening to behead him unless Iraqi prisoners are freed, Al Jazeera television reported Sunday.

<SNIP>

Jazeera said the group threatened to kill him if Iraqi prisoners were not released.

Link to Reuters

[makhno]

1. Please

Somehow, the words "kidnapped" and "hostage" don't seem entirely appropriate when talking about soldiers captured on the battlefield. Otherwise, we could start applying the same label to the Guantanamo and Iraqi detainees.

[mike1963]

2. Not sure I believe this...

"a blindfolded man dressed in camouflage and a Marine Corps identity card that named him as Wassef Ali Hassoun."

A Marine with that name?.............

[Wright Patman]

3. Makes no sense

unless the kidnappers in this case, as appears to the cynics to be the case in most of them, are actually CIA/Mossad black operators fronting as "Islamists."

[UpInArms]

31. here's a related story that give more information

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9975924%255E2,00.html

Two more kidnap victims face beheading

MILITANTS in Iraq have snatched their fourth and fifth hostages in two days and are threatening to behead them.

In a video broadcast by Al-Jazeera television yesterday, a group calling itself the Islamic Retaliation Movement - Armed Resistance Wing said it had abducted the marine and would execute him unless all detainees in coalition prisons in Iraq were freed.

He was identified by his captors as Wassef Ali Hassoun, of Pakistani origin. The report said they had abducted him after infiltrating a US military base in Iraq.

US officials today confirmed Corporal Hassoun had been missing in Iraq since last Monday but that he was of Lebanese origin.

"Although we can't conform that he has been taken hostage, we can confirm that that he has been absent from his unit since June 21," Major Douglas Powell said.

The group gave no deadline for carrying out its execution threat.

Earlier, an armed group said it would behead another man within 72 hours unless prisoners were released.

A video broadcast by Al-Arabiya satellite TV news channel showed four hooded gunmen standing behind a man who was identified as Yousf Amjid, believed to be a Pakistani employee of US contractor Kellogg Brown and Root.

The Dubai-based satellite news channel showed four hooded gunmen standing behind a man who was described as a Pakistani employee.

...more...

[nolabels]

52. There is also this related story

(I thinking the manufacture of news is humming right along)

I found this story on another search engine after reading the prison planet one the has been hidden on from google. Has a kind of thing (several articles) about what is going on across the ocean.

http://kimcheegi.blogs.com/budaechigae/korean_news/
Saturday, June 26, 2004
Police to Set Up Anti-Cyber Terror Unit

Looks like the Ministry of Information and Culture is going to have some competition:

Police to Set Up Anti-Cyber Terror Unit

By Moon Gwang-lip

The National Police Agency (NPA) plans to create an anti-cyber terror unit within this year, following recent online government agency network hackings and the spread of images of the beheading of Korean translator Kim Sun-il in Iraq.

``The envisioned unit will consist of 110 people and will be headed by a high-ranking police officer,
(snip)

For the story read this this here

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/june2004/062404uscoveredup.htm

US Covered Up Kim Abduction to Ensure South Korean Troop Dispatch

Korea Times | June 25 2004

Video of Kim Sun-il beheading. Warning, very graphic, should only be seen by a mature audience.
Comment: Same decor, same orange jump suit. Victim looks already heavily sedated before beheading. Victim hated George Bush and US involvement in Iraq (why would Muslims kill him?). Korean government knew he was taken weeks before it was announced (or US prevented them from finding out, whichever is true). Is this merely a copycat killing or is it another Berg style psy-op?

The United States on Tuesday faced allegations that it had intentionally kept South Korea in the dark about the abduction of Kim Sun-il, the South Korean interpreter working for a subcontractor to U.S. forces in Iraq.

According to South Korean government officials, it had become aware of Kim being kidnapped on June 21, at least three days after he was taken hostage by an al-Qaida-supported terrorist group.

Kim was an employee of the Gana General Trading Company. In an interview with South Korean Yonhap News Agency, the president of the company, Kim Chun-ho, said that he had received a notification from U.S. forces there about Kim’s abduction on June 16.
(snip)

[Purveyor]

4. Associated Press version...

(06-27) 13:31 PDT BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) --

<snip>

There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military, but the video showed a card identifying the man by a Pakistani name and as an "active duty" Marine. The man had a trimmed moustache and his eyes were covered with a white blindfold.

The Al-Jazeera network said the group claimed it infiltrated a Marine outpost, lured the man outside and abducted him. The station said the group demanded the release of all Iraqis "in occupation jails" or the man would be killed.

The group identified itself as "Islamic Response," the security wing of the "1920 Revolution Brigades" referring to the uprising against the British after World War I.

<snip>

Also Sunday, Turkey refused demands by militants to cease business with Iraq's U.S. occupiers or three Turkish hostages would be decapitated.


Link to entire AP report

[shraby]

5. The name doesn't surprise me..

we have all kinds of citizens in the United States from every country in the world.

[thecrow]

9. We do have Muslim and Arabic marines, you know eom

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. I don't guess it's possible that a person of Arabic descent living in....

...the U. S. could possibly be a U. S. Marine? Is it the name itself that bothers you?

How about this name?: Humayun S. M. Khan. He was an Army Captain killed in Iraq on June 8, 2004.

<http://www.worldmessenger.20m.com/uscasualties.html#dead>

[sffreeways]

6. Where is

PFC Maupin ?

[leftchick]

8. that was my thought too...

poor fella fell right off the US "news" radar what with the new free Iraq happening in 3 days... So sad.... :(

[MaineDem]

16. Very good question!

Since April there's been no word. How sad for his family.

And how pathetic that our media aren't mentioning his name every day. My big question is whether the Red Cross has visited him.

[Kukesa]

18. Shrub visited his family when he was in Cinci last week.

The family no longer answers phone calls and has been "unavailable" to the press.

[DemoTex]

37. A French surname (Maupin), BTW.

So, where does that put us? We need more Smiths and Jones on the head-lopping scene. Otherwise it ain't really anti-American.

[Kukesa]

63. "Unconfirmed" report: he was shot to death today. n/t

[TacticalPeek]

7. F--k!

Just f--k!

[dArKeR]

10. Arab TV Shows Tape of Marine Held Hostage - AP Yahoo

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Arab satellite TV network broadcast a videotape Sunday showing a blindfolded man in military fatigues and said he was a U.S. Marine taken hostage in Iraq

There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military, but the video showed a card identifying the man by a Pakistani name and as an "active duty" Marine. The man had a trimmed moustache and his eyes were covered with a white blindfold.

The Al-Jazeera network said the group claimed it infiltrated a Marine outpost, lured the man outside and abducted him. The station said the group demanded the release of all Iraqis "in occupation jails" or the man would be killed.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040627/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_marine_hostage

Tell me if these were Halliburton executives if there'd be a deal like Reagan made? Tell me if aWol's daughters were being held he wouldn't pay a ransom!

Our taxes pay for all of Government politicians salaries, all of their travel, all of their food, all of their booze and prostitutes... And look, when the taxpayer needs help they let us die! Thank you 'Coalition of Disciples of Satan'!

Can you imagine if Moores film could be quickly edited to include Abu Ghraib and these hostage takings and he could compare to Reagan!

[leftchick]

11. Al-Jazeera: He is a Pakistani Working for KBR....

or is this a different kidnapping??...


http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E33BF471-6BE7-40F0-9505-DC61863B59A7.htm

The tape also showed the Pakistani man, who was wearing an
identity card given to contractors linked to the US military,
urging Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to shut down his
country's embassy in Iraq.

The ID named him as Yousf Amjid, an employee of US contractor Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR). KBR is a subsidiary of the giant Halliburton company which was once headed by US Vice President Dick Cheney.

Like other contractors for the US-led occupation, it has suffered mounting attacks on its staff.

[TacticalPeek]

13. Different guy.

With standard initial-reports-blah-blah.

[JCMach1]

58. another event... the latest news describes both

here is the most up to date story

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/Region2.asp?ArticleID=124835

[dArKeR]

14. Captured Marine Shown On Arab TV - CBS

Al-Jazeera television broadcast a videotape Sunday showing what it said was a U.S. Marine of Pakistani origin held hostage in Iraq. There was no comment from the U.S. military but the tape showed a card with the man's name and marked "active duty" Marine.

Al-Jazeera said the group claimed it infiltrated one of the camps and lured the man outside where he was abducted. The station said the group demanded the release of all Iraqis "in occupation jails" or the man will be killed.

The group identified itself as "Islamic Response," the security wing of the "1920 Revolution Brigades" referring to the uprising against the British after World War I.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/24/iraq/main541815.shtml

[bluestateguy]

15. I was afraid of this

I knew this would happen. First its civilian "contractors", then it's foreigners and next thing you know it's a US serviceman. I hate to have to be the one to break this to everyone, but I think this is a death sentence for this young man. The Administration has already made it clear that they will not do anything to get hostages home and they are more than willing to sacrifice American lives so that their little neo-con lab experiment can continue. His only hope is a successfull rescue mission.

[Raskolnik]

17. Damn. Damn. Damn.

This poor guy gets thrown into harm's way by W, then falls into the hands of these savages. Our soldiers deserve a hell of a lot better.

[greendeerslayer]

20. "Savages?"

Who are you talking about? Our troops are illegally occupying a country. Those who resist them are not savages. The sad truth is capturing a foreign national who has invaded one's country is entirely legitimate

[leftchick]

22. Thw VC were "savages" also...

look where that got the US... :eyes:

[Raskolnik]

27. Of course not all the VC were, but...

the people who tortured POW's for years after the end of armed conflict could certainly be labeled that way. Do you disagree?

Personally, I have no problem in categorizing inhuman behavior as savage, not matter who the perpetrators are.

[leftchick]

29. Indeed....

<Personally, I have no problem in categorizing inhuman behavior as savage, not matter who the perpetrators are.>

That is the shitty thing about a war.... everyone on both sides becomes a target for the "savage" label. In this war I would pit the AmeriKans the most likely savages to date given the THOUSANDS of innocents killed to date. They are not protecting their country just their king*s oil assets among other spoils...It is a pretty crappy way to treat our troops, No?

[Raskolnik]

33. I don't think the shitty thing about war is the labeling...

I think it might be the death and destruction.

"They are not protecting their country just their king*s oil assets among other spoils..."

I disagree with the tone or your statement. Please correct me if I am mistaken, but it seems that ignoring the fact that our troops don't get to decide whether or not they will take part in this war. Its not their fault that this war is/was a bad decision, its OURS. We put people in office that caused this to happen.

In our system, the civilian authority decides and the military acts on those orders whether they like them or not. OUR elected representatives = US. That is the only way our system works and the only way to keep us from falling into a military dictatorship. The soldiers didn't ask to be put in the middle of this, our gov't did.

The American men and women in Iraq deserve our sympathy and our respect for being willing to make sacrifices for you and me. That's what makes the improper use of those soldier's sacrifices all the more galling.

[NNN0LHI]

40. Say what?

>>>The American men and women in Iraq deserve our sympathy and our respect for being willing to make sacrifices for you and me.

This statement confuses me. These guys all volunteered. They could have declined to go kill a bunch of Iraqis that haven't done nothing to them or any of us after they joined up too. The soldiers who have declined to go received about 6 months in the brig for refusing to go kill and be killed for Halliburton in Iraq. They all have a choice. Lets not lose sight of this fact.

Don

[Raskolnik]

41. That's not the way our system works.

The ONLY way civilian control of the military works is if they obey the orders that the CIC gives them. If they start deciding on their own if an order should be followed or not, we as civilians lose any and all control of our armed forces. Then guess what happens? (hint: even worse stuff than now...*way* worse)

Its not, nor should it be, up to soldiers to decline to serve the country, its up to the citizens to make sure that the gov't doesn't put them in harm's way without a good reason. We failed them in that respect. They are already bearing the burden of that failure with their lives, so I think it is ludicrous to put more blame on them for something they cannot control.

[NNN0LHI]

43. Does all that mumbo jumbo hold true if the CIC has gone mad?

Should the German soldiers of WW II have obeyed the orders of Hitler because thats the way the military works? Should our soldiers have not rebelled during the Vietnam War and just continued to obey insane orders that led to over 56,000 US dead, and probably a couple of million dead Vietnamese for nothing?

Whats up? Are you still under some kind of illusion that the continued US occupation of Iraq can be some kind of a sucess or something? The answer to this last question will say a lot.

Don

[Raskolnik]

45. Mumbo Jumbo?! Good God man, that's what keeps us in control...

of the military. First of all, you have a picture of John Kerry as an icon! What the hell do you think he did during and after Vietnam? He obeyed his orders, he served as honorably as the situation permitted, he came home alive, and he tried to effect a change in the civilian leadership that was issuing those orders.

If the military had rebelled during Vietnam, or the Gulf War, or the current war, we cease to have a civilian controlled government of laws. It instantly becomes military dictatorship, and that way lies big goddamn trouble. Trouble that would make the Patriot Act look silly by comparison. THAT'S what would happen if soldiers just decided en masse that they no longer needed to obey the CIC.

Why do you want to place this burden on the soldiers, when it is us at home that should be bearing the burden of changing the situation? They do their job, I think we should do ours.

[NNN0LHI]

48. I didn't think you would answer it

>>>Whats up? Are you still under some kind of illusion that the continued US occupation of Iraq can be some kind of a success or something? The answer to this last question will say a lot.<<<

I have spotted your fatal flaw. Here it is.

>>>If the military had rebelled during Vietnam, or the Gulf War, or the current war, we cease to have a civilian controlled government of laws. It instantly becomes military dictatorship, and that way lies big goddamn trouble. Trouble that would make the Patriot Act look silly by comparison. THAT'S what would happen if soldiers just decided en masse that they no longer needed to obey the CIC.<<<

There. Did you see it? Here it is again.

>>>or the current war,<<<

There ain't no war going on here man. This is a popular uprising in an occupied country. Bound to happen. Can't get around it. This is an unwinnable situation. We need to be talking exit strategy. Yesterday. Dig?

Don

[Raskolnik]

49. You're being too clever by half with that.

You changed the subject, but I'll address your point anyway.

There ain't no war going on here? I think the soldiers getting shot at daily, getting rockets fired at their humvees, and getting mortars fired into their tents might tend to disagree with that. As might the folks getting bombs dropped on their houses. If this isn't a war, what is it? A police action, like Korea? Of course this is still a war. It started when W sent the order to invade, but didn't end when W said "Mission Accomplished". War is people getting blown up and blowing up others. That's what we have. You can call it whatever you like, but the folks die just the same. Dig?

I really don't think the current situaion will have a happy ending in my lifetime. That doesn't mean that I want to live in military dictatorship. Your rather half-baked suggestion of a military coup would guarantee us that. Somehow I doubt that would improve the situation for either of us. Dig?

I'll say it again: don't put the burden on soldiers. They have enough to worry about without us abdicating our responsibilty to provide them with competant leadership. Dig?

[Sugarbleus]

55. I agree Rask...to a point....

I think there may be untold stories where soldiers refused to obey orders in the field...I know my hubby did in Nam. He actually socked his superior at one point...I hear the bastard had it coming... People wig out in a war zone. That's a fact. Ugly stuff happens. Legal war or no.

As for the rest of your points, I'm with you. I'm absolutely appalled at the ignorance of some dems (probably very young) who constantly BASH our military in situations that they cannot control.

I prefer we get them the hell out of that place, the place we should NEVER have let them go to in the first place. In the meantime, unless anyone in here wants to physically go to Iraq themselves and hold a gun to the generals head and force him/them to let our people come home RIGHT NOW then perhaps we can tone down the soldier bashing a bit. Those guys WANT to come home. IT IS A WAR NOW. Just as you said. It was needless. It was wrong. It is WORSE than Viet Nam. It is a tragedy for the Iraqi and for our people...but IT IS WAR. It is now a matter of survival.

These soldiers didn't go to Iraq to protect our freedoms. But that is the pap they were told.
Didn't any of these posters see F 911??? I think MM didn't do the film justice in that he left out more needed scenes of death and screaming and dying of OUR soldiers IN ADDITION to the Iraqi people. THAT would have driven the message home more than anything to those that support this shit JUST HOW BAD IT IS...JUST HOW BADLY WE NEED TO CEASE AND RETURN HOME.

[Raskolnik]

60. You point out correctly...

that there have been, and always will be, individual instances of refusal to follow illegal orders in the field. I completely understand that. It was more the broad refusal to serve that the other poster suggested that I was attempting to rebut.

It just makes me sick to my stomach to think of those men and women that volunteered to serve so that my lazy ass didn't have to, and then being thrown into a terrible, useless situation like Iraq.

[funkybutt]

24. that word has been used to dehumanize people throughout history

example: the native americans

can you think of any more?

[greendeerslayer]

25. Yes...

Our advesaries in the Philippine War (1899-1902), the Japanese in WW2. Whenever the U.S. fights non-white populace the become "savages."
I've even heard the term used to describe the participants of the L.A. rebellion of the early 90s.

[Raskolnik]

28. Clarification: I'm not applying it to Iraqis...

I'm specifically applying it to the group that would do this type of thing to a helpless captive. If anyone felt otherwise, I apologize for impression.

I agree that if someone were to call an entire ethnic group "savages", it would be innaproriate. Unfortunately, small groups *are* acting in that fashion now.

[psychopomp]

42. Dropping 500-lb bombs in a residential neighborhood

as we did last week in Fallujah is pretty savage behavior, dontcha think? Hmmm?

I understand what you mean, though; the people who can behead, parse and disembowel others with no remorse seem like soulless golemns. However, "savages" is a loaded term, carrying four hundred years of justification for European subjugation of non-Europeans.

Any murder of another human being is an act of inhumanity.

[Raskolnik]

44. Please see post #38

You didn't give me one reason why the people doing this should't be considered savages. You argued that the term has been used innapropriately in the past. Fine. That's a given. It doesn't change the fact that the people who would do something like this are deserving of the label.

If you care to come up with an alternative word, I would welcome suggestions. I am not so set in my ways that I wouldn't consider that I might be wrong on the particular word.

[psychopomp]

46. Please, breathe, reread my post and

discover that I am neither condoning the likely murder of this Marine nor, by comparing our own wanton destruction of human life, denigrating the soldiers involved (referring to your post 38).

As for what to call people who murder, "murderers" is good, perhaps "soulless golems" is better. Ogres? :shrug:

[Raskolnik]

47. We can agree to disagee...

You say po-tah-toh, I say po-tay-toh. Soulless golems...savages...colossol pricks...its tough when no words adequately describe a thing, isn't it?

[funkybutt]

62. no I didn't understand it that way...

i think i understood your point...

[Raskolnik]

26. I don't have any problem labeling a group that...

executes a helpless captive in order to generate propaganda as a savage. I'm not disputing the nature of the war or the legitimacy of capturing enemy soldiers. I'm disputing the brutal, inhuman treatment of a helpless man.

The same goes for anyone on our side that tortures or executes prisoners. Color has nothing to do with it, nor religion. People of all nationalities and creeds can, and unfortunately do, behave savagely.

[DrWeird]

34. The marines never should have been their in the first place.

Fucking savages.

[Trashman]

35. Are you saying that the US Marines are Savages?

Does that include the US Army, Navy, Airforce, and all the US Senators and congresscritters who voted to put them there?

Maybe if the Marines went out and captured Iraqis and beheaded them on TV, or drug them through the streets till they were dead, I might agree.

I am a former Marine. I joined under President Carter. These warriors went there under their CIC orders, just like the military did under FDR,HT,JFK,LBJ,RN,and WJC.

[0rganism]

36. How would you describe the soldiers who tortured and killed prisoners?

The civilian administration, of course, disavows knowledge and/or approval of such conduct in Abu Ghraib, Bucca, et al. They attribute the behavior to "a few bad apples". If this is the case, then I would have to say that the label of "savage" would, indeed, apply to the behavior of some "bad apple" US soldiers.

However, the problem of savagery among our armed forces seems -- as Gen. Taguba put it -- "systemic". I'm of the opinion that the label applies equally to members of the civilian administration and its top brass, from Bush and Rumsfeld through Gens. Karpinski and Sanchez to the soldiers and "civilian" intelligence contractors. The MPs who acted to excruciate and terrify were, IMHO, clearly following a precedent, if not an exact procedure, handed down from one or more sources of authority. As you say, the armed forces were deployed under orders, and those who gave the orders should not be exempt from responsibility for the behavior that naturally results.

Could we perhaps agree that the system itself is prone to savagery, whether or not the label applies to any individual serviceman? Is a beheading qualitatively more savage than, e.g., beating a man to death and gloating over his corpse?

As a side note, I think there is a significant portion of our civilian citizenry who are well-described as "savage", or at least vicious and uncaring. These people will support any action, no matter how destructive, as long as it is perpetrated on people they classify as inferior. Sadly, some of our US senators and congresscritters are in this segment, as is the plurality of voters who elects them.

[Raskolnik]

38. I honestly don't understand the tendancy...

that some seem to be exhibiting when something like this Marine's capture happens. It concerns me that we are unable to condemn utterly unacceptable behavior such as the beheading of a helpless captive because our side has done bad things as well.

Well I say nuts to that. I am perfectly able to condemn the behavior of the groups responsible for the executions without having to list every grievance against our own soldiers. I know that we have done bad things in this war; anyone who's not an idiot knows that. The discussion about our own wrongdoing needs to take place, in public and in the light of day. That does not change the fact that this Marine is facing a horrible end at the hands of a brutal, barbaric group of people.

If your heart can't go out to this Marine without qualifying your feelings about all the other issues involving our armed forces, then I feel sorry for you.

[0rganism]

56. I honestly don't understand the tendency...

...that some seem to be exhibiting when something like this happens, insisting upon ignoring the part our elected leaders and military have played in it. It's almost like suddenly an atrocity committed by terrorist criminals (who signed neither the Geneva Conventions nor The Hague Conventions) excuses whatever the fuck the most violent segments of our society would like to inflict upon Iraqi civilians who had nothing whatsoever to do with this or any other crimes. Would we cheer our military on if they had decided to bomb the city of Memphis in 1968 after the murder of Martin Luther King? Hell no.

For my part, I WAS RESPONDING TO THE ISSUES RAISED BY THE PREVIOUS POST. That's how a thread is supposed to work. I didn't comment on my feelings about the individual marine, but that doesn't mean I have none.

It amazes me that you were unable to read my post and the ones in its immediate vicinity with sufficient comprehension to figure this much out. If your response to my post is typical of your Attitude toward anyone who posts in a manner not to your liking, then I pity you.

[Raskolnik]

59. I'm not asking anyone to ignore anything.

As I said, I think that the issues of prison abuse and any other improper actions by the U.S. in Iraq should be aired in the light of day.

What I disagree with is the knee-jerk reaction that you and several others have shown when it comes to atrocities being committed against our own troops. The response of "well *we've* done horrible things too, why don't you talk about them" is the other side of the coin to "well *they've* done horrible things too, why don't you talk about them" that people use to justify ignoring the torture issue.

Its silly when they do it and its silly when we do it. I can't speak for you, but I am capable of and comfortable with making a judgement that the execution of a helpless prisoner for propaganda is repugnant. I don't feel the need to mince words or turn it into a debate over the actions of others.

[Occulus]

54. And I bet you were told to

disobey illegal orders, weren't you?

Thought so.

[Raskolnik]

39. What's your point?

Do you contend that our soldiers that follow orders without breaking the Geneva Conventions are morally equivalent to the people who kidnap and execute people to use as propaganda?

Because I don't.

[Mace]

19. Sad thing is...

The us never agrees to the terrorists terms, so the hostages will die.

Well unless your Reagan and you trade arms for hostages.

[mom cat]

21. Welcome to DU. Your comment on this is insightful and timely.

[leftchick]

23. ironic isn't it?...

and welcome to DU...

[Just Me]

30. US corps exploited their people & resources; then, bomb them and we expect

,...what? WHAT?!?!?! Forgiveness rather than defense let alone retaliation?

Damn. Talk about double-standards.

If the tables were turned,...if the tables were turned with our resources and people being exploited (which they already are, except by our own leadership), then our homes destroyed, our jobs "disappeared" (which is also already being done, except by our own leadership) and our family physically and emotionally injured and/or destroyed (which is being done by our own leadership, too),....we would be doing the "terrorist" thingy, too.

[lucky777]

32. Beheading is so Mid-June

Seriously, I feel terrible for this soldier, but what do we expect?
They don't have airplanes and tanks, so they do this -- it is entirely understandable. The sad truth is that the US keeps everyone behind checkpoints and barbed wire fences; the minute any US person goes off the protected zone, this is what they can expect.

And we can't have it both ways -- if this is a war, then our soldiers are fair game.

[dArKeR]

50. "We accept destiny with its good and bad,"

Salt Lake City, Utah - A family on Sunday confirmed that their relative is the missing US Marine threatened with beheading in a militant videotape.

US officials in Iraq said Wassef Ali Hassoun had been missing for nearly a week but it was not clear whether he was being held hostage.

"We accept destiny with its good and bad," Hassoun family friend and spokesperson Tarek Nosseir said in a brief statement to reporters. "We pray and plead for his safe release."

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1549105,00.html

I'm sorry. I'm so disgusted I can't keep it back.

I'm willing to fight for Wassef. I'm NOT willing to 'accept destiny'. I NOT willing to say 'America does NOT negociate with terrorists'. We do and Reagan did. Pay these bastards a million dollars. That's what Bush would do for his children. That's what would be done if it were Cheney's, Rumsfeld's, Wolfowit's. Lott's, Delay's, Hastert's, Frist's child. Why should Wassef get less? You dirty feces maggot Republicans! You're all cowards of Satan!

Pay them, What could they do with the money anyway? There's nothing to buy in Iraq!

[Zomby Woof]

51. sorry to say

But the poor soul isn't going to make it. One more senseless casualty of this senseless war.

[dArKeR]

53. Coach taught us to never give up! None of us ever did. This boy could be

home if you all picked up your phones and called the WH, your legislators, your Whore Media outlets. It's that simple! All you have to do is one simple little thing which will take 3 minutes and $2. Don't you owe this boy that much? (You=all of the people I hate right now!) He's this close to life and I'll never give up on him.

I've just had a sort of out-of-body experience and I hope it got him free!

[JCMach1]

57. picture of captive

[MetaTrope]

61. Is the moustache within USMC grooming standards?

Just wondering... Regulations say, "Moustaches will not extend beyond the edges of the mouth."

[Raskolnik]

64. I've read reports...

that soldiers that deal with translation or public relations have been encouraged to grow that big moustache in order to fit in more readily with the Iraqis.

They love their moustaches, you've got to give them that.