Insurgent Video Seems to Show U.S. Hostage in Iraq

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050125/wl_nm/iraq_american_dc&cid=574&ncid=1480

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An insurgent video distributed in Iraq (news - web sites) and seen by Reuters appears to show an American citizen being held hostage by militants and pleading for his life as a gun is held to his head.

The 60-second video, seen on Tuesday, shows a man identifying himself as U.S. citizen Roy Hallams sitting against a black background with his legs crossed, anxiously rubbing his hands together as he appeals to the camera.

"I have been arrested by a resistance group in Iraq. I'm asking for help because my life is in danger because it's been proved that I work for American forces," he says on the tape. The authenticity of the video could not immediately be verified.

The U.S. embassy in Iraq said it had no immediate information.

The man, whose thick beard is flecked with white and who appears scared, speaks clearly but nervously on the tape and repeatedly tenses his fists as he is talking. He is dressed in civilian clothes and does not say when or where he was seized.