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"The gunmen were accompanied by civilians with identification cards from Iraq's Public Integrity Commission, an anti-corruption watchdog." An update on this story. "U.S., Iraqi troops hunt for Britons; militia blamed," by Mariam Karouny and Ahmed Rasheed for Reuters:
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi soldiers searched Baghdad on Wednesday for five kidnapped Britons who Iraq's foreign minister said had probably been taken by a Shi'ite militia.
Troops raided Baghdad neighborhoods, including the Sadr City stronghold of the Shi'ite Mehdi Army militia, after dozens of gunmen kidnapped a British computer expert Peter Moore and his four bodyguards from a Finance Ministry building on Tuesday.
An Iraqi government official said the kidnappings could be in retaliation for the killing of the top commander of fiery Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia by British-backed Iraqi soldiers in Basra in the south last week.
"It may be the Mehdi Army because the location of the (kidnapping) is in their theatre of operations," Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters.
"Their safety is our top priority ... I don't think they will finish them. They are using them for bargaining, but they have not contacted anybody yet."
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said British officials were working with Iraqi authorities to find out how the Britons were abducted and to secure their swift release.
An Interior Ministry spokesman dismissed suggestions the kidnappers, dressed in police commando camouflage uniforms and driving official vehicles, were a renegade unit from his ministry.
Interior Ministry forces are known to be heavily infiltrated by Shi'ite militias, including the Mehdi Army, and have often been accused of kidnappings and sectarian killings.
But a top official in Sadr's political movement, Abdul Mahdi al-Mutiri, said the scale and organization of Tuesday's operation was beyond the Mehdi Army's capabilities.
A government employee who witnessed the kidnappings also gave new details of the well-planned operation and told how two other Westerners had narrowly escaped being taken by the gunmen at the Finance Ministry building in Palestine Street.
The ministry identified the kidnapped Briton as Peter Moore and said he worked for BearingPoint, a U.S.-based consulting firm. It appealed for his release, saying he had been working in Iraq's national interest.
It said the gunmen were accompanied by civilians with identification cards from Iraq's Public Integrity Commission, an anti-corruption watchdog. The commission denied any involvement.
Posted by Marisol at May 30, 2007 1:25 PM
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I'm confused. I thought the Shia were our friends. Or are these the terrorists who, if we don't fight them over there, will follow us over here?
I'm more than confused. I'm bushwacked.
Posted by: Ynkedoodl2![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 30, 2007 1:34 PM
I suspect Al-Sadr gave the order to the Mehdi Army , who passed the order to the Iraqi police, who captured the apparently undefended infidels....The Iraqi Police has probably turned the infidels over to the Mehdi Army, who have now relocated the infidel prisoners somewhere in Sadr city under the control of Al-Sadr...
....When we had Al-Sadr cornered by the Marines some time back, we should have been allowed to eliminated then....we could have done so easily,,but the Iraqi Government pleaded with Washington and the the order was given to allow Al-SAdr to leave for Al-Sistanis encampment....
I suspect the head honcho is Al-Sistani...
at May 30, 2007 1:35 PM
But I thought that the Brits were already leaving. Or is that why the Shia captured them - they wanted them to stay?
They don't want you in their country, they don't want you out of their country.
In short, they want you dead.
Posted by: Infidel Pride at May 30, 2007 1:41 PM
"if we don't fight them over there, will follow us over here?"
Posted by: Ynkedoodl2
....yes, the Muslims have already set up dozens of militia training camps in the continental US. One day, you will see the carnage as see in Iraq, in US cities....
...Google Islamberg for a look into some of the training camp activies....
...and Al-Qaeda has promised "something special" soon..in the US...
Posted by: exsgtbrown at May 30, 2007 1:48 PM
Sarge,
These militia training camps over here in the US, are they run by Shiites or Sunnis?
Also, how long have these Muslim training camps been here? Did they establish themselves before or after we invaded Iraq in 2003?
Should we fight Turkey too?:
ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey has sent large contingents of reinforcement soldiers, tanks and armored personnel carriers to its border with Iraq as debate heated up over whether to stage a cross-border offensive to hit Kurdish rebel bases.
Posted by: Ynkedoodl2 at May 30, 2007 1:58 PM
Yep. Whenever you have a chance to off a terrorist.. ie. Sadr... you gotta GO FOR IT!!
Is his life worth the lives of eight British servicemen?
NOT in my eyes.
WHy are we listening to the enemy [iraqi guvmint]??
I mean please.. their guvmint is way more corrupt than evn our own.. so you KNOW there are mainly terrorists in there.
Posted by: Allahfanculo at May 30, 2007 2:02 PM
THE training camps are run by both sects and some are run the Louis Farrakhans Nation of Islam.
The training sites have existed even before the 1st Gulf War...
we are at war with Islam, it matters not where Islam is located...no country is at war with the US, but Islam is....
We must fight if attacked....whenever or where ever....
The sooner the rest of the world gets their thumb away from their arse and join the fight against Islam, the sooner there will be peace...until then, expect the worse....
and if that is not enough...Russia and CHina are like two tigers hiding in the bushes waiting for a kill opportunity....no doubt in my mind....
THose who refuse to fight are destined to die quicker than those who fight...
at May 30, 2007 2:20 PM
Military personnel may have no choice about going to Iraq, but civilians have to have a death wish or be entirely insane to go there. What is it about hell on earth that attracts people? Iraq, Iran: what do they expect?
Posted by: Seymour Paine at May 30, 2007 2:29 PM
The bucks. They go there for the bucks.
Posted by: Dsinc at May 30, 2007 3:08 PM
Or to serve their country. Some are too old for military enlistment but believe in a duty to their country & think Iraqi democracy is a noble ideal.
Not saying you have to agree with this assessment, but there are those who do believe this.
Posted by: Miss_Anthrope at May 30, 2007 3:54 PM
I'm pissed!
Posted by: MZ at May 30, 2007 4:30 PM
Han Solo in the first "Star Wars" may have said that he could imagine a lot of money, but I cannot imagine enough money to get me to work for one week on Iraq.
I would rather shovel sh*t in Alabama.
Posted by: Pelayo at May 30, 2007 4:43 PM
"I would rather shovel sh*t in Alabama.
Posted by: Pelayo"
...and as an added bonus, Bama women are better looking, friendlier, know how to hunt and fish, love Lynrd Skynard and are more sexy than babes in burkas who listen to crazed bearded finger pointing Islamic clerics and jealous husbands....
at May 30, 2007 4:51 PM
For heaven's sake, ladies and gentlemen!
Send them a case of IPods so that we can bring the hostages home.
Posted by: Shy Guy at May 30, 2007 4:55 PM
@exsgtbrown
"THose who refuse to fight are destined to die quicker than those who fight..."
Yup, spoken like a true Jihadi!
Posted by: Ynkedoodl2 at May 30, 2007 4:58 PM
@sgt
Methinks you do contradict yourself:
The training sites have existed even before the 1st Gulf War...
(so much for the Jihadis following us here)
============================
and re:
"....When we had Al-Sadr cornered by the Marines some time back, we should have been allowed to eliminated then...."
A better idea would have been to let Saddam do the dirty work.
You see any gratitude from the "liberated" Shia?
Posted by: Ynkedoodl2 at May 30, 2007 5:04 PM
Exsgtbrown, I stole that quote from General Patton's speech to the Third Army and screwed it up. It goes like this:
"You may be thankful that twenty years from now when you are sitting by the fireplace with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what you did in the great World War II, you WON'T have to cough, shift him to the other knee and say, 'Well, your Granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana.'"
Posted by: Pelayo at May 30, 2007 7:43 PM
the kidnapped computer expert, Peter Moore, is known to me and is a very kind and caring person. I hope he is being paid well for being in Iraq but I know that whilst there is main aim will have been to pass on his IT knowledge and skills to help a dysfunctional country get their act together. For those people who have never heard of the concept its called altruism. The current media silence is unnerving and I just hope all stops are being pulled out to find and release him
Posted by: mariboo at June 4, 2007 6:35 AM
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