In light of the tragic deaths of Private Thomas Lowell Tucker, 25, from Madras, Oregon and Private Kristian Menchaca, 23, from Houston — details have emmerged that there was a massive search and military offensive in South Baghdad. An additional soldier was killed and 7 were injured during this response by the U.S. military to this ambush and abduction — well after the event occurred.
Additionally, before the bodies were discovered, this message was given by the alleged abductors (I believe it was from a website):
“Your brothers in the military wing of the Mujahideen Shura Council kidnapped two American soldiers near Yusufiya,” the group said.
“We will provide you with more details about the incident in the next coming days,” it added.
One question comes to mind. Is it now a foregone conclusion that once Americans are captured, they are expected to be killed immediately and automatically — justifying a military offensive that could put these hostages and other troops towards further unnecessary jeopardy?
Was this “Rambo” style reaction to these abductions the right decision? This area of Baghdad, afterall, was a “hot zone” — as Army Major General Caldwell said on CNN yesterday. Caldwell referred to “tips from Iraqis” leading them to the bodies, but they did not know the location of the abductors. What do you expect the hostage-takers to do? You see an overt massive clamp-down in your area by the military. Do you wait to be caught? No. You kill the hostages and flee.
Others have commented at my cross-post at DKos (to my amazement) that this was intended for “morale boosting” purposes. The reasoning being that these 2 American soldiers were considered dead after the capture — so it was then a “PR” situation for these commanders rather than a “rescue” effort. Have the protocols changed since the first American soldiers were captured in Iraq? Soldiers, if captured, can now look forward to an even quicker death thanks to the military PR campaign? Does this strike anyone as being insane, besides myself? I’m sure Private Thomas Lowell Tucker and Kristian Menchaca’s family will take comfort in knowing that all hope was abandoned in a military stage-act. God, I hope this isn’t true.
The hostage situation continues…
In addition, there are still 4 Russian diplomat hostages being held by this same group. They have been hostages since June 3.
This Mujahideen Shura Council who claim to have abducted the 4 Americans and Russians are now trying to negotiate for the release of Chechnyan prisoners.
The separate statement on the Russians demanded that Moscow withdraw from war-torn Chechnya within 48 hours and release Islamic militants from its prisons or “face the consequences.”
It will be interesting to see how the Russians handle this situation. Will they negotiate (or fail to negotiate) with this group? I doubt they’ll have their guns blazing like the American forces. One can only hope that the Russian diplomats fare better than the young American soldiers.
And what about those detainees that are to be released by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki? Why are we not hearing more in the media about the possibility of using these prisoners for negotiating difficult hostage situations like this? The uncle of one of the dead hostages, Ken MacKenzie, seems to think that this was an option that the U.S. military should be considering.
I know. I know. “We WILL NOT negotiate with hostage-takers!” Well, I’ve got two words in reponse to that statement…
Guantanamo Bay.
—————————-
LINKS:
Al Qaeda group claims to hold Americans, Russians
Group says it took U.S. troops
Iraqi farmer says 7 gunmen abducted two U.S. soldiers