U.S. seeks missing soldier in tense Iraqi slum

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061027/ts_nm/iraq_dc

U.S. seeks missing soldier in tense Iraqi slum

By Claudia Parsons 54 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces ventured into the Baghdad stronghold of a powerful Shi'ite militia on Friday hunting for a kidnapped U.S. soldier, two days after another raid in the area stoked tensions with the Iraqi government.
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U.S. troops rarely enter the sprawling slum district of Sadr City, a stronghold of the Mehdi Army, a militia loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr that Washington wants the government to disarm amid accusations it operates sectarian death squads.

Under pressure over
Iraq before mid-term elections,
President Bush said this week his support for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki depended on him taking "tough decisions," including curbing militias such as the Mehdi Army.

Witnesses and two officials of the Mehdi Army said there was a strong U.S. troop presence backed by air support in the northeast part of Sadr City. They reported clashes in the area but it was not immediately clear who was involved.

...............

Maliki on Thursday said Iraq's most notorious death squad leader had escaped a major U.S.-led raid in Sadr City which the Americans said killed 10 "enemy fighters."

[hang a left]

1. I can't even imagine what has been done to him.

Makes me sick.

[Cronus Protagonist]

3. Probably just some frat-hazing-like pranks

Broom handle up the butt, drowning and resuscitation, dog biting genitals, people sitting on your chest, things like that.... nothing to worry about really.

/sarcasm

[MacDo]

2. Hope he's

returned safe, but history is against him.

[NorthernSpy]

4. Not "kidnapped", CAPTURED! He's a POW, which entitles him to...

... the protections spelled out in the Geneva Conventions.

Or at least, that's how it used to be.

Before the Conventions got junked.


:(

[Earth_First]

5. Just curious to know...

Isn't the current administration's claim that the present troop level in Iraq is to quell the violence of milita insurgents? NOT that I am advocating that U.S. soliders be put into harms way, but this line doesn't track with the current mantra from the mis-administration:

"U.S. troops rarely enter the sprawling slum district of Sadr City"

If that's the case, what is the purpose of keeping such a force in Iraq if we're not keeping up with what we're being told our soliders are being utilized for?

Bring them home NOW!

[NorthernSpy]

6. good catch...

You're right. Those two statements do seem to contradict each other.