Missing U.S. Soldiers Found Dead

[InfantryRyan001]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. forces on Tuesday recovered the bodies of two American soldiers reported captured by insurgents last week An Iraqi defense ministry official said the men were tortured and "killed in a barbaric way."
U.S. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the bodies were found late Monday by U.S. troops near Youssifiyah, where they went missing on Friday, and recovered early Tuesday. He blamed the delay in retrieving the bodies on explosives found around the area and suggested the bodies were booby-trapped.
Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for killing the soldiers, and said the successor to terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had "slaughtered" them, according to a Web statement that could not be authenticated. The language in the statement suggested the men were beheaded.
Caldwell said the remains were believed to be those of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore., but he said the cause of death was "undeterminable at this point," and DNA tests would be done in the United States to confirm the identities.
He said U.S. troops - part of a search involving some 8,000 American and Iraqi forces - found the bodies late Monday near Youssifiyah, where they disappeared Friday after an attack that left one of their comrades dead.
Troops did not recover the bodies until Tuesday because they had to wait until daylight to cordon off the area for an ordnance team for fear it was booby-trapped, Caldwell said.
The searchers "perceived what they believed to be an unstable condition right there," he said, adding that some roadside bombs were found in the area "and they did have to dismantle some stuff" to get to the bodies.
The area where the bodies were found is in the Sunni Arab region known as the "Triangle of Death" because of frequent ambushes there of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi troops. Caldwell said troops encountered a lot of roadside bombs and other explosives during the three-day search.
The two soldiers disappeared after an insurgent attack at a checkpoint by a Euphrates River canal, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Baghdad. Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was killed. The three men were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky.
The director of the Iraqi defense ministry's operation room, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, said the bodies showed signs of having been tortured. "With great regret, they were killed in a barbaric way," he said.
The claim of responsibility was made in the name of the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of five insurgent groups led by al-Qaida in Iraq. The group posted an Internet statement Monday claiming it was holding the American soldiers captive.
"We give the good news ... to the Islamic nation that we have carried God's verdict by slaughtering the two captured crusaders," said the claim, which appeared on an Islamic militant Web site where insurgent groups regularly post statements and videos.
"With God Almighty's blessing, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer carried out the verdict of the Islamic court" calling for the soldiers' slaying, the statement said.
The statement said the soldiers were "slaughtered," suggesting that al-Muhajer beheaded them. The Arabic word used in the statement, "nahr," is used for the slaughtering of sheep by cutting the throat and has been used in past statements to refer to beheadings.
The U.S. military has identified al-Muhajer as an Egyptian associate of al-Zarqawi also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri.
The killings would be the first acts of violence attributed to al-Muhajer since he was named al-Qaida in Iraq's new leader in a June 12 Web message by the group. Al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike on June 7.
Caldwell said that Iraqi and American troops involved in the search for the missing soldiers killed three suspected insurgents and detained 34 in fighting that wounded seven U.S. servicemen.
Also, just hours before the two soldiers went missing Friday, a U.S. airstrike killed a key al-Qaida in Iraq leader described as the group's "religious emir," he said.
Mansour Suleiman Mansour Khalifi al-Mashhadani, or Sheik Mansour, was killed with two foreign fighters in the same area where the soldiers' bodies were found, the U.S. spokesman said. The three were trying to flee in a vehicle.
Al-Mashhadani was "a key leader of Al Qaida in Iraq, with excellent religious, military and leadership credentials" and tied to the senior leadership, including al-Zarqawi and his alleged replacement, Caldwell said.
U.S. forces captured Mansour in July 2004 because of his ties to the militant groups Ansar al-Islam and Ansar al-Sunna, but the military let him go because he was not deemed an important terror figure at the time.
A witness to the attack Friday told The Associated Press on Sunday that insurgents swarmed the checkpoint, killing the driver of a Humvee before taking two of his comrades captive.
Ahmed Khalaf Falah, a farmer, said three Humvees at the checkpoint came under fire from many directions. Two Humvees went after the assailants but the third was ambushed.
He said seven masked gunmen, one carrying a heavy machine gun, killed the driver and took the two other U.S. soldiers captive. His account could not be verified independently.

[66MP1]

I want to know where the world's outrage is about this. The entire world went ballistic when some prisoner's were photographed with just their underware. Where is the main stream media and all now over this. Two great young American's tortuered and beheaded and nobody is up in arms.

I am just glad that I am not in charge.

[InfantryRyan001]

Originally Posted by 66MP1

I want to know where the world's outrage is about this. The entire world went ballistic when some prisoner's were photographed with just their underware. Where is the main stream media and all now over this. Two great young American's tortuered and beheaded and nobody is up in arms.

I am just glad that I am not in charge.

I'm with you on this one

[Spitfire101]

Yup I fully agree!!!
That's every soldier's and families worst nightmare come true.

[SSGMike.Ivy]

Rest in Peace Pfc. Kristian Menchaca and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker.

Ken I am also with you on this, would have been nice to have President Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld or Rice stand up and say something about the deaths of these Soldiers.

[Covertness]

Time to send the reporters packing and let them know why Sherman said, "War is Hell." I say, time to take the damned gloves off. I'm about sick of this pussy footing around.

[Navy6064]

Originally Posted by Covertness

Time to send the reporters packing and let them know why Sherman said, "War is Hell." I say, time to take the damned gloves off. I'm about sick of this pussy footing around.

me to.

[Field_Sailor]

These stories make me that much more eager to get over there. It also makes Soldiers, the much quicker on the trigger. 3 days of Media black-out will solve so much.

[AmericanGirl]

These lunatics are pure EVIL and their barbaric acts makes abu ghraib look like a fraternity prank. God this makes me sick!

[ClutterbusterNY]

Rest in Peace Pfc. Kristian Menchaca and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker.

A book of condolences is being put together for the Menchaca family by
Mimi, a cyber patriot from Brownsville. When I know the bookmaker for the Tucker family I will post the information. You may send electronic messages of condolence to Mimi at:

mimi @ rgv.rr.com

This is what she wrote and has included an article from her local paper:

Please keep his widow, Christina and mother, Maria Vasquez, in your prayers. I will put together a book for this hero’s mother and his widow. His widow lives in Big Spring,TX - if someone lives close by perhaps they could deliver?
Thanks,
Mimi

Mother holds on to hope for Menchaca’s safe return
By Kevin Sieff
The Brownsville Herald

A few weeks ago, Maria Vasquez received a letter from her son, Army Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, asking for snack food and cleaning wipes. In the same letter, Menchaca wrote that he was now stationed at a checkpoint — the next stop in his tour of duty in Iraq.

On Friday, Vasquez received a call from a sergeant telling her that sometime after being stationed at that checkpoint, her son had gone missing.

“They told me they’re doing everything they can to find him,” Vasquez said.

Some 8,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops, backed by helicopters, warplanes and divers were sent to search for Menchaca and Thomas L. Tucker of Madras, Oregon.

Early Monday, a web posting of an al-Qaida affiliate, Mujahedeen Shura, claimed that the two had been kidnapped, but U.S. officials have not announced whether they consider that message credible.

In Brownsville, Maria Vasquez and her family have all but given up. “We are continuing to pray,” she said. “We still have hope.”

Although Menchaca was born in Houston, he spent most of his formative years in Brownsville, attending Vela Middle School and Porter High School. A year ago, he entered the military, hoping to eventually become a U.S. Customs agent.

“He is a good, noble person,” Vasquez said. But when Menchaca came back to Brownsville in May after several months in Iraq, she noticed a change in her son.

“He was angered easily. He used aggressive language and he was always very anxious. He couldn’t even sleep,” she said.

Despite the pronounced personality changes, Menchaca returned to Iraq after his three-week stay in Brownsville.

Less than a month after that return, the private first class was guarding his checkpoint when gunfire erupted from all directions. As a local farmer, Ahmed Khalaf Falah, told the press, seven masked men killed one soldier — later identified as Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass. — before taking Menchaca and Tucker captive.

The two are now officially listed as “on duty and whereabouts unknown.” All three soldiers were assigned to Fort Campbell, Ky.

While Vasquez and her family are gathering at home and at Iglesia Guadalupe to pray for their missing relative, Menchaca’s wife, Christina, is at the couple’s home in Big Spring, Texas. The couple met through Christina’s brother and were married in September, one month before Kristian Menchaca was first deployed for Iraq.

Menchaca’s abduction comes two years after the Brownsville area received its first report of bad news from Iraq. In April 2003, after weeks of being unaccounted for, the body of Los Fresnos native U.S. Army Spc. Edward John Anguiano, who attended Hanna High School, was recovered.

“It was very hard,” Eli Ramirez, post commander for America’s Last Patrol Post 3 in Edinburg, told The Herald at the time, “because we were hoping to find him alive.”

Despite Anguiano’s fate and the tragic outcomes of other hostage situations in Iraq, Maria Vasquez’s family is still hopeful.

“We must have faith, she said. “We must keep hoping.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.