Kidnapped US soldier 'had secret wife'

[ECH1969]

AN American soldier who was kidnapped this week in Baghdad had left his base to visit his secret Iraqi wife, a relative said on condition the family not be identified.

One of the relatives, an Iraqi, told AFP the American had married an Iraqi woman in secret. "The family were against the marriage, it was thought she had bad morals," he said.

The kidnapping has triggered a massive manhunt by thousands of US soldiers, who have set up cordons and checkpoints around Baghdad and have carried out raids and searches at several locations in the city.

During one search of the Shi'ite district of Sadr City, a notorious bastion of the Mahdi Army militia, a battle erupted in which Iraqi government forces and US advisers killed at least ten militants.

http://www.news.com.au/sundayheraldsun/story/0,21985,20665220-5005961,00.html

[tblue]

1. Romeo & Juliet all over again. Will the human race ever learn?

[seriousstan]

2. No. There is no reasoning with the heart.

[zanne]

8. The heart wants what the heart wants. nt

[tomreedtoon]

10. In other words, the heart is a psychopathic killer.

I don't say that lightly, either. A friend of a friend lost his son in a "non combat related incident" in Tikrete. She was wondering what that meant.

I tried to be kind and said "maybe he was in a restaurant that someone blew up, not aiming for him." But I kept thinking "he was desperate, lonely and afraid he was going to die, and he was either getting laid or trying to, and some outraged Iraqui dad or brother killed him. And probably the woman too."

Where, in previous wars, the native population seemed to accept things like rape, or even honorable romances, the Muslim population is far more stern. I don't know how you'd describe it - defensive about property rights, since women are things there...personal offense...whatever. But they're willing to kill where other native populations were not.

So yes, the heart is a killer. Your heart wants to see you slaughtered.

[Spangle]

19. Not just about women being property

In any area where women can not support themselfs, they must marry to LIVE. Generally, only virgans can marry. Other wise it will be assumed she is a 'loose' women and untrustworthy. A family that allows one of their women to be a 'loose' woman, it will be assumed that they allow all their girls to be so. Hence, unmarriagable. So, they come out strong against what they see as 'loose morals.'

By the way.. you might have been being 'kind', but there are other possiblities for 'non combat related incident'.. Which includes suicide. Or a fellow soldier cleaning their gun and blowing his head off. Being sucked into a jets blades, when the jet wasn't going out 'on duty.' Another words, any and all deaths that they can list as 'non combat related", they will do so. To keep the 'combat related' death numbers DOWN. The deaths are left as a mystery, so the family can not do anything. If it was caused by a mistake of a fellow soldier, then the parents might want to sue or harrass the soldier for life. It's easier and cleaner for the military, just not to give any details.

[The Stranger]

21. There is probably another organ at work here, not the heart.

And not the head that sits on top of the shoulders.

[zanne]

22. Just try to be a romantic around here...

So many cynics. (Yeah I know shutup).

[The Stranger]

23. Iraq is a real romantic place right now.

Illegal war launched upon a virtually unarmed populace, shocked and awed, murdered, tortured, thrown into a civil war based on internecine religious conflicts, bombings, hate . . .

Real romantic.

[beam me up scottie]

3. How awful.

We frequently read about American soldiers abusing and killing Iraqis, and here this guy loved one enough to marry her, and this is what happens to him.

[customerserviceguy]

9. I've heard

that this soldier was of Iraqi heritage. Not a big leap for him to marry her, if true.

[xchrom]

4. richard rodriguez has a wonderful editorial

about the arabization of our troops through scenarios just like this -- and here it is.

whether america likes it or not -- we will become more arab as a result of our current conflict.

it's one of those unavoidable side effects.

[ckramer]

5. Just like we came to love Vietnamese via Vietnam war

LOL

[alcibiades_mystery]

25. Were there Vietnamese restaurants in the US before?

Was "didi mao" an expression common enough that Bart Simpson could use it frequently on the Simpsons (OK, the Simpson's didn't exist, but you know what I mean)?

And yes, the US encounter with Asia throughout the mid to late-20th century certainly Asianized US culture to some extent, especially wrt Buddhism and Eastern philosophy.

Sure it did. Just because we haven't put up statues to Ho Chi Minh in our hometowns doesn't mean the country wasn't changed significantly by the experience, and even influenced by Vietnamese culture as a result.

[ckramer]

6. By the way, Iraqi women are beautiful

so I don't blame the soldier who wanted to marry her.

[SoCalDem]

14. All young women are beautiful

especially when you are a young lonely soldier in a foreign land...being exposed to ugliness 24-7.

The sad part is that it may end up getting him killed (may have already) and her too :cry:

[TriMetFan]

26. I agree.

[psychopomp]

7. Some 64 years ago and in another war, another arab country...

...my stepfather did the same thing. A Creole, his dark complexion enabled him to sneak off base in Moroccan clothes to visit with the local woman whom he had married. For reasons unknown to any but himself the marriage ended with his time there. Thank goodness he did not meet the same fate as this modern paramour.

[elfin]

11. Bet they say he is AWOL

and we will never know the truth.

[uncle ray]

12. this story reads like utter bullshit.

it's based on the opinion of one family member of the soldier, a family member who obviously hates the woman he was visiting. what does it matter if he married somebody? the question is, did he have permission to leave the green zone? they don't make that clear, and imply that he snuck out, which i doubt happened. what an ugly smear of a soldier who is the victim, by his own family.

[Garbo 2004]

13. It's been previously reported, citing US military oficials, that he wasn't authorized to leave

the green zone and did so without permission.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15395225/
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/25/iraq.soldier/

[jefferson_dem]

15. NYT: Missing Soldier Said to Be Wed to an Iraqi

Missing Soldier Said to Be Wed to an Iraqi
By MICHAEL LUO and QAIS MIZHER

BAGHDAD, Oct. 29 — The missing American soldier who has been the subject of an intensive manhunt here in the capital since he was kidnapped by gunmen outside the heavily protected Green Zone last week was secretly married to an Iraqi woman and had been visiting her at the time of the abduction, several people who identified themselves as his in-laws said Sunday.

Such a marriage, if confirmed, would not only be highly unusual but also a violation of American military rules and would put the mystery of the missing soldier in an entirely new light.

The American military command has been circumspect in the details of the missing soldier, saying he was an Iraqi-American translator who had left the Green Zone without permission to visit unidentified relatives in Baghdad. Search squads have shown local residents the missing soldier’s picture, but the military has not even released his name.

<SNIP>

The people who said they were the missing soldier’s in-laws identified him as Ahmed Qusai al-Taei, 41. They showed visitors to their Baghdad apartment an enlarged wedding photo of him and the bride, whom they identified as Israa Abdul-Satar, 26, a college student. They also showed the visitors glossy snapshots of the smiling couple in Egypt for their honeymoon.

The couple had married, they said, three months ago. The precise dates of the wedding and honeymoon, and whether the soldier had been on active duty at the time, were not clear.

<SNIP>

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/world/middleeast/30iraqcnd.html?hp&ex=1162184400&en=c5db0b7230852872&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[man4allcats]

16. Let's raise a glass to love and the happy couple.

As a famous Vulcan once said, "Live long and prosper."

[Scout1071]

17. Something doesn't smell right with this one. nt

[hexola]

18. Any statistics on "Ameriraqi" children...??? (nt)

[Igel]

20. Army's not releasing the name of the child of

Umm Omar.

Look up "teknonym"; they're used in part of the Arab world (but only for women; the parallel for men, 'abu' = "father of" tends to use military abstractions or the names of heroes and the pious). "Umm" = "mother of". (To be sure, it could be the name of the guy's oldest brother.)

[alcibiades_mystery]

24. Message: He deserved it

It's a subtle message, but coming across pretty loud and clear over the networks. "The US Army can't be responsible for Iraqi-American miscreants who violate our protocols..." Etc.

As if this is the only guy getting laid over there...:eyes:

In every other war people pretty much assumed that a hefty percentage of soldiers were having plenty of sex with the local populace, purchased or otherwise. Yet you hear nary a word on such matters when it comes to Iraq. My wife said it's because the Iraqis don't do that. Bullshit. Someone's getting laid. You don't do 16 months in country with just Palmela and a Hustler. So, what's going on? And why the absolute blackout. Some enterprising reporter can find a whorehouse in Baghdad, yes?

[Megahurtz]

27. Lol! n/t

[slackmaster]

28. If he needed an Iraqi wife, the Army would have issued him one

:dunce: