Fantasy Finale

Lots in the news lately about WikiLeaks.

I'm a big fan of their work as I really do believe that information is a good thing. Democracy dies without transparency and freedom of the press.

While a number of people objected to the release of the Afghanistan war diaries, I found the information about the initial investigation into the disappearance of Pfc Bowe Bergdahl fascinating. It's clear from the early incident reports that Bergdahl's colleagues did whatever they could to find him. I'm not in the field of search and rescue, so maybe the process was flawed, or maybe there were other things they should have done, but it certainly looked crystal clear that the searchers gave it their best shot.

Kudos to them for their efforts.

As a result of WikiLeaks, every once in a while I have this fantasy that someone somewhere stumbles on this blog - reads a post like Evidence - physical and other - and covertly sends the relevant digital audio and satellite files to WikiLeaks. There's new evidence. They catch the bad guys. Justice is served.

But then reality kicks in, and I wonder if anyone would notice - or care. Because, let's face it, the missing in Iraq are out of sight and out of mind to all but their family, friends and a handful of press. And I do mean handful of press as in - 5 people world wide.

Which just makes the fantasy of new evidence so much better than the reality of ongoing indifference.

Americans Missing in Iraq - as of August 9, 2010

Joint Personnel Recovery Agency

The Defense Business Board has advised Secretary Gates that the Department of Defense eliminate Joint Forces Command.

I'm wondering what happens to the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency which is a subordinate of the Joint Forces Command at Fort Belvoir. The idea that it might go over to Special Operations Command doesn't inspire confidence. (See: Lynch, Jessica)

References

Gates to Close JFCOM

By Andrew Tilghman, Army Times, August 11, 2010

The Defense Secretary Closes a Command

By Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic, August 9, 2010

Issa Salomi

There's an interview with Issa Salomi about his kidnapping back in January. He talks about how easily his kidnappers moved through the check points manned by Iraqi personnel. Makes you wonder how vigilant were American personnel or did they just wave cars through?

San Diego man recounts Iraq kidnapping
By Julie Watson, San Diego Union Tribune, August 12, 2010

A U.S. Army contractor kidnapped in Iraq earlier this year described how his captors easily maneuvered past Iraqi checkpoints as he was held bleeding on the floor of their car.

In his first media interview since he was freed safely in March, Issa Salomi told The Associated Press he was handed over in exchange for four militants in Iraqi detention.

Shiite extremist group Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or "the League of the Righteous," claimed responsibility for his kidnapping. The group is believed to be close with Iran, and agreed last year to lay down its arms and join the Iraqi political process. Their current role is unclear.

Data on Kidnappings from the State Department

Updated links and information on March 4, 2012

Continuing to try and find as much information as possible for the status table of Americans Missing in Iraq.

Current bedside reading are the annual Department of State Country Reports on Terrorism. The National Counterterrorism Center typically provides statistical data for the annual reports. It appears that the earliest publicly available data set published on kidnappings of U.S. citizens is 2005.

Bookmarking this index for future reference:

U.S. Department of State

Country Reports on Terrorism

Index of Annual Reports - by year

The most recent Country Reports on Terrorism for 2010 from the Department of State was issued on August 18. There were no reported kidnappings in 2010 - which is surprising because defense contractor Issa T. Salomi was kidnapped on January 23, 2010 and then later released.

Terrorism Deaths, Injuries, Kidnappings of Private U.S. Citizens, 2010
Country Reports on Terrorism 2010

US Department of State
August 18, 2011

TERRORISM KIDNAPPINGS OF PRIVATE U.S. CITIZENS IN 2009

Terrorism Deaths, Injuries, Kidnappings of Private U.S. Citizens, 2009

Country Reports on Terrorism 2009

US Department of State

August 5, 2010

Country	Date of Kidnapping	Number	Location / Date Released or Rescued
Columbia	February 6, 2009	1	Cali, Colombia – April 2009
Columbia	May 25, 2009	1	Bogota, Colombia - May 28, 2009
Kenya	July 17, 2009	1	Luuq, Somalia – October 3, 2009
Pakistan	February 2, 2009	1	Quetta, Pakistan – April 4, 2009

TERRORISM KIDNAPPINGS OF PRIVATE U.S. CITIZENS IN 2008

So far, I have been unable to locate the US State data for 2008. It's listed in the 2008 Index as being in Chapter 7 of the report, but it's just not there.

The annual NCTC report, The 2008 Report on Terrorism of April 30, 2009, contains a pie chart, Chart 14 - US Citizen Terrorism Kidnappings by Country on page 32. It cites 4 kidnappings in Afghanistan and 1 in Panama. No mention of Iraq.

However, one news report about the abduction of Issa T. Salomi in early 2010 cited a previous kidnapping of an American citizen in the summer of 2008. See Officials confirm kidnapping of U.S. contractor in Iraq By Ernesto Londoño and Leila Fadel, Washington Post, February 6, 2010.
TERRORISM KIDNAPPINGS OF PRIVATE U.S. CITIZENS IN 2007

Terrorism Deaths, Injuries, Kidnappings of Private U.S. Citizens
Country Reports on Terrorism 2007

US Department of State

Country	Date of Incident	Number	Location
Afghanistan	September 22	1	Kabul
	Before November 7	1	Kabul
Chad	October 1	1	Bardai
Iraq	January 5	1	Al-Haritha
	January 27	2	Sulaymaniyah
	February 1	1	Baghdad
	March 3	1	Baghdad
	April 25 (approx)	1	Kuwait-Iraq border
	May 25	1	Kuwait-Iraq border
	August 17	1	Al Amarah
Nigeria	January 7	1	Okan Oil Field, Delta State
	May 1	1	Okan Oil Field, Delta State
	May 9	4	Okan Oil Field, Delta State

TERRORISM KIDNAPPINGS OF PRIVATE U.S. CITIZENS IN 2006

Terrorism Deaths, Injuries, Kidnappings of Private U.S. Citizens
Country Reports on Terrorism 2006

US Department of State

Country	Date of Death	Number	Location
Afghanistan	March 30, 2006*	1	Near Gresham, Afghanistan
Iraq	March 30, 2006*	1	Baghdad, Iraq
	July 9, 2006*	1	Baghdad, Iraq
	August 5, 2006*	1	Baghdad, Iraq
	November 16, 2006	4	Aswan, Iraq
Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank	June 10, 2006*	1	Nobles, the West Bank
	August 27, 2006*	1	Gaza City, Gaza
Nigeria	January 30, 2006*	1	Offshore the Niger Delta, Nigeria
	August 23, 2006*	1	Port Harcourt, Nigeria

*Date rescued/released.

TERRORISM KIDNAPPINGS OF PRIVATE U.S. CITIZENS IN 2005
Terrorism Deaths, Injuries, Kidnappings of Private U.S. Citizens
Country Reports on Terrorism 2005

US Department of State

Country	Date of Incident	Number	Location
Iraq	January 12*	1	Unknown
Iraq	April 11	1	Taji
Iraq	May 17	1	Unknown
Iraq	May 22*	1	Unknown
Iraq	August 10*	1	Unknown
Iraq	September 7*	1	Mansour
Iraq	September 27	1	Unknown
Iraq	November 29	1	Baghdad
Iraq	December 2	1	Unknown
Iraq	December 5	1	Baghdad
Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank	October 12*	1	Khan Younis [Gaza]

*Date rescued/released

Tables used as is from the Department of State.

Statistical information within the report comes from the Worldwide Incidents Tracking System (WITS) of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). WITS is searchable and open to the public.

NCTC issues an annual report. The report "contains details about incidents of violence against civilians and non-combatants (including military personnel and assets outside of war-like settings) from publicly available information."

WITS maintains a detailed database of incidents. Methodology and definitions are explained in its most recent report from April. In fact, the report is worth reading just for its detailed description of just what they consider to be an act of terrorism.
National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) Report on Terrorism
Office of the Director of National Intelligence
National Counterterrorism Center, Washington, DC
April 30, 2010

A fascinating side note is that the Department of Defense has a very different definition of terrorism, one that apparently is not universally accepted outside of the DOD.

Americans Missing in Iraq

LAST UPDATED: January 23, 2011

Attached is a chart showing the incident date, name, link to incident report (SIGACT) when available, and status of those Americans known to be missing and/or held hostage in Iraq in table format.

Text of available SIGACT reports are now posted at the Missing Man, SIGACT Reports of Americans Missing in Iraq.

I will continue to update this post as new information comes to light.

REVISIONS

August 9, 2010 - based on National Counterterrorism Center data and statistics included in the annual Country Reports on Terrorism from the US Department of State

October 14, 2010 - addition of the name of Abbas Kareem Naama (Tim Naama) who was kidnapped on the morning of September 27, 2005 in Baghdad, Iraq.

October 23, 2010 - (ongoing) adding links to the initial incident reports as I find them at WikiLeaks Iraq War Logs

December 19, 2010 - corrected date of the abduction of Tom Fox to November 26, 2005. 

January 23, 2011 - in all likelihood, the name 'Bob Hamza' should be included in the chart below but his nationality and the date of his abduction remains unknown. See Bob Hamza - missing

Americans Missing in Iraq - as of January 23, 2011

(Note: reference links in the chart are currently inactive. For active links, see SIGACT Reports of Americans Missing in Iraq.)

	Date	Name - incident report	Status
1	Oct 9, 2003	Kirk von Ackermann	missing	1
2	Apr 9, 2004	Thomas Hamill (see note above)	escaped
3	Apr 9, 2004	Nicholas Evan Berg	deceased
4	Apr 9, 2004	William Bradley	deceased
5	Apr 9, 2004	Pfc Keith Matthew Maupin	deceased
6	Apr 9, 2004	Timothy E Bell	missing	2
7	May 3, 2004	Aban Elias	missing	3
8	Aug 13, 2004	Micah Garen	released
9	Sept 16, 2004	Jack Henlsey	deceased
10	Sept 16, 2004	Olin Eugene Armstrong Jr	deceased
11	Oct 10, 2004	Paul Taggart	released
12	Nov 1, 2004	Roy Hallums	released
13	Nov 2, 2004	Dean Sadek	missing	4
14	Apr 11, 2005	Jeffrey Ake	missing	5
15	May 17, 2005	unknown - incident?	missing	6
16	Aug 2, 2005	Steven Charles Vincent	deceased
17	Sept 27, 2005	Abbas Kareem Naama (Tim)	missing	7
18	Nov 25, 2005	Ronald Alan Schulz	deceased
19	Nov 26, 2005	Thomas William Fox	deceased
20	Dec 2, 2005	unknown	missing	8
21	Jan 7, 2006	Jill Carroll	released
22	Jun 16, 2006	Pfc Kristian Menchaca	deceased
23	Jun 16, 2006	Pfc Thomas Tucker	deceased
24	Oct 23, 2006	Sgt Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie	missing	9
25	Nov 16, 2006	Jonathon Michael Cote	deceased
26	Nov 16, 2006	Paul Christopher Johnson-Reuben	deceased
27	Nov 16, 2006	Joshua Mark Munns	deceased
28	Nov 16, 2006	John Roy Young	deceased
29	Nov 27, 2006	Maj Troy Lee Gilbert (deceased)	missing	10
30	Jan 5, 2007	Ronald J Withrow	deceased
31	Jan 27, 2007	unknown - incident?	missing	11
32	Jan 27, 2007	unknown - incident?	missing	12
33	Feb 1, 2007	unknown Iraqi-American citizen	missing	13
34	Mar 3, 2007	unknown American-Iraqi citizen	missing	14
35	Apr 25, 2007	unknown	missing	15
36	May 12, 2007	Sgt Alex Ramon Jimenez	deceased
37	May 12, 2007	Pfc Byron W Fouty	deceased
38	May 25, 2007	unknown	missing	16
39	Aug 17, 2007	unknown	missing	17
40	summer 2008	unknown	missing	18
41	May 21, 2009	Jim Kitterman	deceased
42	Jan 23, 2010	Issa T Salomi	released

Not included in the chart (at this time) are the troops taken POW (status: missing) during the invasion of March 2003. All were Returned to Military Control:

Spc. Edgar Hernandez
Spc. Joseph Hudson
Spc. Shoshana Johnson
Pfc. Patrick Miller
Sgt. James Riley
Pfc. Jessica Lynch
Chief warrant officer David Williams
Chief warrant officer Ronald Young Jr.

US Navy pilot Capt. Michael Scott Speicher, shot down during Gulf War I, is also not included. Speicher's remains were recovered in August of 2009.

Additions/corrections are welcome, please email me at susie.dow at gmail.com

About the Data

Links to the initial incident reports have been culled from the WikiLeaks Iraq War Logs. Incident reports should more properly be referred to as 'SIGACT,' short for 'Significant Activity' or 'Significant Action.'

• the data is based on news reports which often contradict each other
• an article from April 2010 (US Operation aims to find missing) cites 11 missing Americans
• a February 2010 article cites 17 missing (They search if someone's missing in Iraq) which conflicts with the current count of 18. Think positive, let's assume someone was released.
• an article from October 2008 cites a total of 39 kidnapped Americans of which 22 are known to have been executed (Iraq calmer but copycat kidnappings spread). The chart above was started with 39 kidnapped Americans as a base line.
• the data represents the minimum number of missing Americans. Companies and/or families may deliberately choose not report a hostage or kidnap victim to US government agencies. I was told by one representative of the Department of Labor that they were aware of unreported contractors missing in Iraq.
• not all names of those missing - both past and present - are known and/or publicized for a number of reasons
• Technically, the status of 'released' should more properly be referred to as 'Returned to Military Control' (RMC)

References

Iraq War Logs
Alternative WikiLeaks mirror site
WikiLeaks, October 22, 2010

Data on Kidnappings from the State Department 
Summary of the findings of the reports for 2005 - 2009
August 8, 2010

Terrorism Deaths, Injuries, Kidnappings of Private U.S. Citizens, 2009
Country Reports on Terrorism 2009
US Department of State

Terrorism Deaths, Injuries, Kidnappings of Private U.S. Citizens
Country Reports on Terrorism 2007
US Department of State

Terrorism Deaths, Injuries, Kidnappings of Private U.S. Citizens
Country Reports on Terrorism 2006
US Department of State

Terrorism Deaths, Injuries, Kidnappings of Private U.S. Citizens
Country Reports on Terrorism 2005
US Department of State

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

They search if someone’s missing in Iraq
By Scott Fontaine, The News Tribune, February 8, 2010

Officials confirm kidnapping of U.S. contractor in Iraq
By Ernesto Londoño and Leila Fadel, Washington Post, February 6, 2010

Iraq calmer but copycat kidnappings spread
By Pamela Hess, Associated Press, October 13, 2008