Americans Missing in Iraq as of June 2010
There are two versions of the same article with slight variations, the first at Army.mil the second at usf-iraq.com.
Liberator II continues effort to find missing
By Sgt. 1st Class Roger Dey, April 20, 2010
US operation aims to find missing
By Sgt. 1st Class Roger Dey, 103rd Public Affairs Detachment, April 21, 2010
Liberator II continues effort to find missing
By Sgt. 1st Class Roger Dey, April 20, 2010
US operation aims to find missing
By Sgt. 1st Class Roger Dey, 103rd Public Affairs Detachment, April 21, 2010
Operation Liberator II, the latest undertaking in the U.S. military's ongoing effort to find and recover the 16 American and Coalition service members and civilians missing here, is underway.I am confused. The article lists an Air Force pilot as the second American military service member missing in Iraq. Air Force Maj. Troy Lee Gilbert is reported to have disappeared after his F-16 crashed in November 2006. But, according to an article at the Air Force website, remains found at the crash site were positively identified with DNA testing back in December 2006. In addition, Gilbert's remains were buried in a ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery, Grave 8520, Section 60. (See Troy L Gilbert at the Arlington website)
"We never have, and we never will stop looking," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. K.C. Chhipwadia, the senior intelligence officer with United States Forces -- Iraq's Personnel Recovery Division.
This current operation began April 15, and continues the work started last summer during Operation Liberator, a two-month-long effort that improved the collection of actionable intelligence relating to missing personnel, said Lt. Col. Kevin Dennehy, director of the USF-I PRD. That operation laid the groundwork for the development of this phase of the search. [...]
Although USF-I is spearheading the operation, a wide spectrum of agencies are involved, Dennehy said, including U.S. Central Command and the U.S. Embassy's Office of Hostage Affairs; as well as the FBI, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Geospatial Agency.
[Ed. note: from the comments section, insurgents took Major Gilbert's body before it could be recovered by American personnel.]
Back to the article:
According to Chhipwadia, 11 of the 16 individuals still missing in Iraq are American citizens, four are South Africans and one is British. Two of the Americans are members of the military who have been missing since 2006.The number 16 is close to the 17 reported missing by the Defense Intelligence Agency in another article earlier this year. But the Iraq Personnel Recovery Division reports it is looking for only 11 Missing Americans of which 2 are military, 9 are civilian. That seems to correspond with:
Kirk von Ackermann (2003)For now, I've added Gilbert to an updated list of Missing Americans above, but still retaining the previous 'unknown' persons on the chart. I just find it unsettling that there aren't cold hard numbers on how many Americans are missing in Iraq.
Timothy E. Bell (2004)
Aban Elias (2004)
Dean Sadek (2004)
Jeffrey Ake (2005)
Maj Troy Lee Gilbert (2006)
Sgt. Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie (2006)
Unknown (2008)
+3 additional persons
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5 comments:
Unfortunately the remains that were found were enough for DNA testing and confirmation. The remaining 95% of his body was stolen by AlQueda. It was confirmed when they made a video of his body in a shallow grave and released that video on 9/11/97. The Air Force continues to search and we pray that they find him and return him to his family.
Troy's sister....Rhonda Jimmerson
Regarding Maj Gilbert: Insurgents took his body before it could be recovered.
Thank you for your comments and the information. That's just so very very sad.
I've included Major Gilbert above to the list of missing Americans as well as to the shorter list in the right hand side bar.
This is a great article. I sent it to Linda, Ahmeds ex-wife before I saw you pick it up. Thanks. in the article it ends by the official claiming. "Although we will be leaving Iraq, we will not be leaving anyone behind." It reminds me of the ambiguity in the DoDs 1300.18 you reported on.
Beleaguerred, Bothered and Bewildered
Thank you for reading my post about the inconsistencies in Casualty Reporting found in DoD 1300.18
Poor reporting standards for missing person reports is something I wish would get some much needed attention. I've written to the DOD and some senators, but beyond chatting twice with one nice man in public affairs - and that took 6 months of emails - I never seem to get beyond an auto response.
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