Kidnapped reporter rescued by chance in Iraq (not Jill Carroll, though)

[MADem]

-- The day after Christmas, as reporter Phil Sands was driving to an interview in a desolate Baghdad neighborhood, two luxury sedans suddenly blocked the way, forcing Sands' driver to stop.

About 10 men in ski-masks and AK-47 rifles piled out and swarmed around his car. Sands' translator and driver got out. The masked men pushed them to the ground and handcuffed them. When Sands got out of the car, the men pulled his wool hat down onto his eyes, handcuffed him, stuffed him into the trunk of one of the cars, and sped off.

Sands recalled thinking, "I'm dead. From this moment on, I'm dead."

The 28-year-old reporter, whose story has not been known until now, was lucky enough to live and tell the tale. But his kidnapping reflects the perilous existence of many Iraqis and non-Iraqis alike almost three years after the U.S.-led invasion...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/13/MNGKLGMDL219.DTL

[wellst0nev0ter]

1. Good For Him, But Now For Our State Sanctioned Kidnappings. . .

U.S. troops arrested everyone else in the house, including Sands' translator and driver who were also being held there, said Sands.

Sands believes the two men are still in U.S. custody, but their status could not be independently confirmed.

"I don't know what we can do for them except keep badgering people about it," he said.

I hope "supporting the troops" doesn't include this bullshit.

[MADem]

2. That's probably more along the lines of "Supporting Other Gov't

Officials." We know damn well the troops aren't taking these actions of their own initiative or without careful direction and supervision from those oddball guys along the lines of those who drifted in and out of Abu Ghariab, but who never got called to testify at the trials of those asses who abused those detainees.

US custody doesn't always mean US military custody. The poor bastards could be at one of the Monkey's secret facilities, getting squeezed by guys hired by Blackwater, or three letter types.