We started this mess and have thought we should clean it up, but each day I am finding it harder to believe there is a solution. The cost of lives, the wear on our stretched thin and worn out forces, the ever climbing cost-12B, I don't want to even get into it about our economy...I have about had it. I am about ready to let them fight it out, but I don't think any side will ever win. Iran will dominate the Shite side of Iraq and the Saudis will back the sunnis. There will be a stand still until the next iceage. We need a self sustained oil/energy supply within the next 10 years or this shit will gone forever.
Before anyone says they knew what they were getting into when they worked there, yes I KNOW that but this just shows what kind of people were are dealing with. I have said before my wife's nephew just got back from there, and he said that by the time your tour is up you are pretty much asking your self what did I do that for. He started out with 156 soldiers and when he left after 15 months they were down to 83. Most from injuries. He also said if the British were in the lead of this war things would probably be different. His last 2 days they were getting mortared daily. The British were leaving a few days before them and said they were going to give them a going away gift to make sure they would make it home. As soon as the bombs started the British retaliated with what he said was the most fierce and awesome display of fire power he ever saw the whole time he was there. I am glad they helped get him home.
jc
Severed Fingers Reportedly Sent to US
Mar 13, 07:40 AM EST
By RASHA MADKOUR - Associated Press Writer
Severed fingers of five Western hostages were reportedly sent to U.S. government officials, giving the men's relatives hope that they are still alive, a brother of one of the missing men said.
The Austrian weekly magazine News first reported the delivery of the five fingers in Wednesday's edition, citing unidentified authorities working on the case.
Patrick Reuben, a Minneapolis police officer whose twin brother, Paul Reuben, is among the missing, said late Wednesday the FBI told his family members that "the fingers were confirmed to be those of the hostages."
Patrick Reuben told The Associated Press the news of the severed fingers was "shocking," but that the initial word the family got was "much more serious than that. Later on we found that it was fingers that were recovered and that the DNA confirmed it was the hostages."
In a statement Wednesday, the FBI declined to confirm the men had been identified by fingers.
"The FBI has received DNA evidence and is conducting an examination," spokesman Richard Kolko said. "We understand this is a very difficult time for the families and discussing this matter further in the media is not appropriate."
Kolko said the agency continues to investigate the whereabouts of the five men missing since 2006: Reuben, a former St. Louis Park, Minn., police officer; Joshua Munns of Redding, Calif.; John Young of Kansas City; Jonathon Cote of the Buffalo, N.Y. area, and Bert Nussbaumer of Austria.
The men were working for Crescent Security Group, a Kuwait-based private security company. They were kidnapped Nov. 16, 2006, by men in Iraqi police uniforms who ambushed a convoy they were escorting near the southern city of Safwan.
Reuben said his family is "certainly hopeful, but there's nothing definite right now."
The father of Cote said he and other families were visited by the FBI two to three weeks ago, when they were told DNA samples had been identified as those of the hostages. The agents would not say how they had gotten the samples.
When Francis Cote read a news report about the fingers, he contacted the State Department but was given no confirmation or denial.
"They told us the FBI would visit us," Cote said.
Cote received calls Wednesday from Paul Reuben's wife, who was in tears, and Munns's mother. The hostages' families frequently contact each other to share news and compare notes, he said. Cote assured the women that the hostages were still alive.
"It's possible they did sever (the fingers) to show proof of life," Cote said. "I'm sure somebody from our government was asking for proof of life and I guess proof of life was severing a finger versus delivering a video."
Cote said he was frustrated by the government's reticence.
"We have no news, we have activity," has been the extent of officials' comments on the hostages for months, Cote said. "It's very vague."
Police. Col. Rudolf Gollia, a spokesman for the Austrian Interior Ministry, said the report that the severed fingers had been sent to U.S. authorities was being treated as a rumor.
He said U.S. officials in Baghdad forwarded information to the Austrian Embassy in Amman, Jordan, that the Americans described only as "based on fingerprints and DNA profiles."
He said Austrian officials were trying to get more information from U.S. officials and other sources in the Middle East.
---
Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis and Douglass K. Daniel in Washington contributed to this report.
Before anyone says they knew what they were getting into when they worked there, yes I KNOW that but this just shows what kind of people were are dealing with. I have said before my wife's nephew just got back from there, and he said that by the time your tour is up you are pretty much asking your self what did I do that for. He started out with 156 soldiers and when he left after 15 months they were down to 83. Most from injuries. He also said if the British were in the lead of this war things would probably be different. His last 2 days they were getting mortared daily. The British were leaving a few days before them and said they were going to give them a going away gift to make sure they would make it home. As soon as the bombs started the British retaliated with what he said was the most fierce and awesome display of fire power he ever saw the whole time he was there. I am glad they helped get him home.
jc
Severed Fingers Reportedly Sent to US
Mar 13, 07:40 AM EST
By RASHA MADKOUR - Associated Press Writer
Severed fingers of five Western hostages were reportedly sent to U.S. government officials, giving the men's relatives hope that they are still alive, a brother of one of the missing men said.
The Austrian weekly magazine News first reported the delivery of the five fingers in Wednesday's edition, citing unidentified authorities working on the case.
Patrick Reuben, a Minneapolis police officer whose twin brother, Paul Reuben, is among the missing, said late Wednesday the FBI told his family members that "the fingers were confirmed to be those of the hostages."
Patrick Reuben told The Associated Press the news of the severed fingers was "shocking," but that the initial word the family got was "much more serious than that. Later on we found that it was fingers that were recovered and that the DNA confirmed it was the hostages."
In a statement Wednesday, the FBI declined to confirm the men had been identified by fingers.
"The FBI has received DNA evidence and is conducting an examination," spokesman Richard Kolko said. "We understand this is a very difficult time for the families and discussing this matter further in the media is not appropriate."
Kolko said the agency continues to investigate the whereabouts of the five men missing since 2006: Reuben, a former St. Louis Park, Minn., police officer; Joshua Munns of Redding, Calif.; John Young of Kansas City; Jonathon Cote of the Buffalo, N.Y. area, and Bert Nussbaumer of Austria.
The men were working for Crescent Security Group, a Kuwait-based private security company. They were kidnapped Nov. 16, 2006, by men in Iraqi police uniforms who ambushed a convoy they were escorting near the southern city of Safwan.
Reuben said his family is "certainly hopeful, but there's nothing definite right now."
The father of Cote said he and other families were visited by the FBI two to three weeks ago, when they were told DNA samples had been identified as those of the hostages. The agents would not say how they had gotten the samples.
When Francis Cote read a news report about the fingers, he contacted the State Department but was given no confirmation or denial.
"They told us the FBI would visit us," Cote said.
Cote received calls Wednesday from Paul Reuben's wife, who was in tears, and Munns's mother. The hostages' families frequently contact each other to share news and compare notes, he said. Cote assured the women that the hostages were still alive.
"It's possible they did sever (the fingers) to show proof of life," Cote said. "I'm sure somebody from our government was asking for proof of life and I guess proof of life was severing a finger versus delivering a video."
Cote said he was frustrated by the government's reticence.
"We have no news, we have activity," has been the extent of officials' comments on the hostages for months, Cote said. "It's very vague."
Police. Col. Rudolf Gollia, a spokesman for the Austrian Interior Ministry, said the report that the severed fingers had been sent to U.S. authorities was being treated as a rumor.
He said U.S. officials in Baghdad forwarded information to the Austrian Embassy in Amman, Jordan, that the Americans described only as "based on fingerprints and DNA profiles."
He said Austrian officials were trying to get more information from U.S. officials and other sources in the Middle East.
---
Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis and Douglass K. Daniel in Washington contributed to this report.
