US Embassy says several Americans missing in Iraq

[TexasGranny]

US Embassy says several Americans missing in Iraq

 

 

BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. Embassy confirmed Sunday that "several" Americans have gone missing in Iraq, after local media reported that three Americans had been kidnapped in the Iraqi capital.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Scott Bolz said, "We are working in full cooperation with Iraqi authorities to locate the missing Americans."

Bolz did not identify the missing Americans or say what they were doing in Iraq.

 

State Department spokesman John Kirby said that "due to privacy considerations" he had nothing further to add about the missing Americans. "The safety and security of Americans abroad is our highest priority," Kirby said.

 

The comments by U.S. officials came after the Arab news channel, al-Arabiya, citing its own sources, reported that three Americans had been kidnapped by militias in Baghdad.

Iraqi media reports said the Americans went missing in south Baghdad on their way to Baghdad International Airport. A Western security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said Sunday that he had been told that three Americans went missing 24 to 48 hours ago.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility. Kidnappings in Iraq have been carried out by the Islamic State group and Shiite militias as well as criminal gangs demanding ransom payments or disgruntled employees seeking to resolve workplace disputes.

The incident comes after a week that has seen a deterioration of security in and around the Iraqi capital after months of relative calm.

The Islamic State group claimed a number of attacks in Baghdad and neighboring Diyala province last week that killed more than 50 people, including a high profile attack on a mall in the Iraqi capital. The string of IS attacks on civilian targets within areas of Iraqi government control follow battlefield losses, most recently in western Iraq. Last month, Iraqi troops pushed IS fighters out of the center of Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar province in Iraq's Sunni heartland.

In acts of apparent reprisal, armed gangs residents identified as Shiite militias, attacked Sunni owned businesses and mosques in Diyala province just north of Baghdad. After IS was pushed out of the province, security there was left almost entirely in the hands of Shiite militias.

Responding to a call to arms from Shiite clerics in Iraq after the Islamic State group swept across the country's northern and western provinces in the summer of 2014, Shiite militias in Iraq now wield more power than the country's regular security forces and military.

 

 

 

 

[boosterbglee]

[Freedomwish]

Oh dear Lord - please watch over them. 

[djgabrielie1]

Amen

[new york kevin]

May our Special Op Marines rescue them asap. And may everyone come home from that mission. In Jesus's name I pray.

[Lejohnsn1]

Amen!

[yota691]

فقدان 3 أمريكيين في العراق والخارجية الأمريكية تؤكد عملها لاستعادتهم

© AFP 2016 / Paul J. Richards

 

 

01/18/2016 02:34

 

(Updated 04:44 01/18/2016) 

 

 

He confirmed a high-ranking security official in Baghdad, Sunday, the loss of three American contractors in Iraq two days ago.

 

The official said, "the company submitted a report on Sunday, for the disappearance of three of its employees two days ago. They are US contractors, we look at that report," he added, he could not provide more details now.

According to the "CNN", the US State Department confirmed her knowledge of the report and work with the Iraqi authorities to locate and recover the missing.

He said the ministry's spokesman, John Kirby, "We are aware of the reports of the disappearance of American citizens in Iraq, and the safety and security of Americans is our highest priority abroad. Therefore, we are working with the full cooperation of the Iraqi authorities to locate and recover the individuals."

 

[calkid11]

Thank you Texasgranny

[yota691]

 

Highway session which connects the south and east of the capital, Baghdad Imaging (Mahmoud Raouf)

The kidnapping of three Americans south of Baghdad, US and foreign emphasizes coordination with the Iraqi government to find them

 

Author: NN 
Editor: BS 2016/01/17 23:41 Number of Views: 1010 

 

 

Long-Presse / Baghdad

Said a senior security source, on Sunday, that the armed group wearing military uniforms kidnapped three Americans during their movement on a highway south of the capital Baghdad, whilst recognizing the US State Department confirmed the incident and that there is coordination with the Iraqi government to find them.

The source said in an interview with the (long-Presse), said that "an armed group wearing military uniforms and riding cars SUV kidnapped, on Thursday evening, three US citizens and an interpreter during their vehicle on Highway session south of Baghdad, after they stopped their car and took them to an unknown area," noting that "the kidnappers were coming from Baghdad International Airport and heading to the fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad."

The source, who asked not to be named, said that "the security forces deployed on the highway cycle, especially in the section leading to the areas of health and Abu Dshir south of the capital, and began a search operation in search of the kidnapped."

For its part, it announced that the US State Department said in a statement seen (long-Presse), a copy of which three US citizens have lost in the south of the capital Baghdad, underlined "that there is coordination with the Iraqi government to search for them and find them."

And spread in the past few months kidnappings in the capital Baghdad and some provinces by groups wearing military uniforms and, most notably related to the kidnapping of foreigners during 2015, marked by the kidnapping of Turkish workers working in the court of granular Olympic-east of Baghdad, and hunters two countries in displaying Samawah, and those who have not been released Until now.

 

 

[yota691]

Iraqi security forces setting up checkpoints to search for three missing US

 

PM: 03: 16: 18/01/2016

 

 

  

 

Khandan- Iraqi security forces have set up checkpoints on roads in southeastern Baghdad sent helicopters on Monday after assurances about the disappearance of three US citizens. According to media reports that the three Americans kidnapped with an interpreter in the Doura district, but a senior police officer said the authorities were not certain yet of the reason for their disappearance. seen two helicopter Iraqi army helicopters flying over the area with police cars patrolling the streets, according to the agency 'Reuters'. She said the US State Department on Sunday it was working with the Iraqi authorities to locate the missing Americans, but did not confirm that they were kidnapped.

[coorslite21]

Looks as if though the word is out.  The US is now open to prisoner swaps.  Expect to see more of this world wide.  Be careful if you travel over seas!

[umbertino]

Iraq launches intensive search for Americans missing in Baghdad

 

Security forces conduct house-to-house searches in neighbourhood of Dora after three US citizens reportedly kidnapped

 

 

Agencies in Washington

 

Monday 18 January 2016 12.32 GMT

 

 

 

Iraqi security forces have been deployed across the Baghdad neighbourhood from where three Americans were reportedly kidnapped over the weekend, closing streets and conducting house-to-house searches.

 

The US embassy in Iraq confirmed that “several” of its citizens had gone missing, after local media reported that three Americans had been kidnapped in the Iraqi capital.

 

“We are working in full cooperation with Iraqi authorities to locate the missing Americans,” said the embassy spokesman Scott Bolz, who did not identify them or say why they were in Iraq.

 

John Kirby, a state department spokesman, said that for privacy reasons he had nothing further to add about the missing Americans. “The safety and security of Americans abroad is our highest priority,” he said.

 

An Iraqi government intelligence official told the Associated Press that the Americans were kidnapped from their interpreter’s home in the southern Baghdad neighbourhood of Dora. A police officer in the area, however, said the individuals were taken from their car on Saturday when it was stoppedon a highway in south-west Dora while they were driving to Baghdad International airport. Neither of the different accounts could immediately be verified.

 

A western security official said on Sunday he had been told that three Americans went missing 24 to 48 hours earlier.

 

There were no immediate claims of responsibility. Kidnappings in Iraq have been carried out by Islamic State and Shia militias as well as by criminal gangs demanding ransom payments or disgruntled employees seeking to resolve workplace disputes.

 

The incident comes amid a deterioration of security in and around the Iraqi capital after months of relative calm.

 

Isis claimed a number of attacks in Baghdad and neighbouring Diyala province last week that killed more than 50 people, including a high-profile attack on a mall in the Iraqi capital. The group’s attacks on civilian targets within areas of Iraqi government control follow losses by the group on the battlefield, most recently in western Iraq. Last month, Iraqi troops pushed Isis fighters out of the centre of Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar province in Iraq’s Sunni heartland.

 

 

Security forces inspect a car at a checkpoint near Dora, from where three Americans were reportedly kidnapped.

Photograph: Sabah Arar/AFP/Getty Images

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/17/iraq-three-americans-reportedly-missing

[k98nights]

First Published: 2016-01-18

Three Americans missing in Iraq US working with full cooperation of Iraqi authorities to find three Americans reportedly kidnapped in Baghdad. Middle East Online

 

BAGHDAD - US and local authorities are searching for three American citizens who were reportedly kidnapped in Baghdad, officials from the two countries said on Sunday.

Kidnappings are a major problem in Baghdad and other parts of the country and most frequently target Iraqis, but Qatari and Turkish citizens have also been seized in recent months.

"We are aware of reports that American citizens are missing in Iraq," US State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

"We are working with the full cooperation of the Iraqi authorities to locate and recover the individuals," Kirby added, without providing details about their number or the circumstances of their disappearance.

An Iraqi police colonel said on condition of anonymity that three Americans and an Iraqi translator were kidnapped in southern Baghdad, and that Iraqi forces have launched an operation to find them.

The officer said that according to information he had received, the kidnappers were militiamen wearing military uniforms.

"We don't know what their work is," the colonel said of the kidnapped Americans.

Iraq turned to paramilitary forces dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias to help combat the Islamic State jihadist group, which overran large parts of the country in 2014.

These groups, which fall under an umbrella organisation known as the Hashed al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation units, have played a key role in the fight against the jihadists.

But they have also been accused of abuses including summary executions, kidnappings and destruction of property.

 

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=74745

 

[yota691]

A significant conflict of information between the security agencies on the kidnapping of Americans

He wrote: January 19, 2016

There are conflicting reports between the security services concerned, on the kidnapping suffered by American citizens in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Where a security source said, that an armed group wearing military uniforms and take your four-wheel drive cars kidnapped three Americans and a translator as they moved on the highway south of Baghdad session.

Indicating that the kidnappers were coming from Baghdad International Airport and heading to the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad.

While, other security sources said that the kidnapping took place near a checkpoint and by one of the armed groups, but until now did not know the identity of the group that was involved process.

Adding ambiguous situation, the Declaration of Brigadier Saad Maan, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, in a brief statement kidnapped Americans during their stay in the health district of Doura, inside an apartment described Palmhbohh.

[yota691]

Reuters: Iranian-backed Shiite militia that kidnapped the three Americans in Baghdad

He wrote: January 20, 2016

Informed sources confirmed Iran's involvement in the issue of the abduction of three Americans, a few days ago in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Two sources said, as Iraqi intelligence and US government sources told Reuters that the Americans who disappeared in Baghdad has been kidnapped by the Shiite faction supported by Iran.

The American sources confirmed to Reuters that Washington does not have reason to believe Iran's involvement in the kidnapping of three Americans and that she does not believe that its citizens are located in Iran.

Iraqi intelligence sources indicated that the three were kidnapped because they are Americans and not for personal or financial reasons.

 

[ChuckFinley]

Those seeking a Second Citizenship place form a line to get right.

[yota691]

 

 

The US embassy in Iraq

Washington ruled out the involvement of Iran kidnapped Americans in Iraq

 

Author: HAA, NS 
Editor: NS 2016/01/20 16:15 Number of Views: 147 

 

 

Long-Presse / Baghdad

, Confirmed the US State Department, said Wednesday that the United States is working closely with the Iraqi authorities and efforts are being made to obtain information about the fate of the kidnapped Americans in Iraq, while ruling out for Iran to be involved with this issue.

A spokesman for the US State Department John crappy during a press conference, I followed the (long-Presse), "The United States is working closely with the Iraqi authorities only military officials the Americans who are in Iraq and is making efforts to obtain more information on the fate of the three Americans and to determine their whereabouts."

He crappy, that "the US State did not make any contacts with the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on this issue," adding, "The issue confined only in consultation with the Iraqi authorities to collect as much information as possible to resolve this crisis."

He continued crappy, that "there is not any move to expand our contacts on this issue", pointing out, that "there is a Shiite militias active in Iraq, but not all of which is under Iranian influence, but part of them."

The State Department spokesman, that "can not be Iran's relationship with the abduction of the Americans in Iraq."

The Baghdad Operations Command, confirmed on Monday the (18 January 2016) that the three people who hold US citizenship abducted from inside the suspicious flat area session, south of Baghdad, as pointed out that the security forces have taken the necessary measures and began searching for them.

He reported early on Monday, a security source, (January 18, 2016), that the security forces have taken strict measures in the western and southern regions of western Baghdad, especially in Dora district, in search of the Americans who were kidnapped, yesterday, as he emphasized that the measures included the conduct of police patrols inside alleys and main streets and set up mobile checkpoints and intensify inspection in fixed security check points and all outgoing and incoming cars near the abduction site areas, with heavy deployment of the elements of intelligence.

A senior security source said on Sunday, (January 17 2016), that an armed group wearing military uniforms kidnapped three Americans during their movement on a highway south of the capital Baghdad, while the US State Department acknowledged the incident and confirmed the presence of coordination with the Iraqi government to find them.

The US State Department announced on Sunday, (January 17, 2016), that three American citizens have lost in the south of the capital Baghdad, stressing that there is coordination with the Iraqi government to search for them and find them.

And spread in the last few months of kidnappings in the capital Baghdad and some provinces by groups wearing military uniforms and were notably relating to the kidnapping of foreigners during 2015, marked by the kidnapping of Turkish workers working in the court of granular Olympic-east of Baghdad, and fishermen Qataris in displaying Samawah, and those who have not been released Until now.

 

 

[RV4CandyMan]

So tired of this (our) president thinking Iran will all of a sudden decide to play nice and be our friend...... Not gonna happen, EVER!  

[yota691]

Obeidi: three Americans kidnapped by a gang organization

 

Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi-archive

 

 

01/21/2016

Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi told Reuters Thursday, said that the three Americans who disappeared in Iraq recently kidnapped by organized gang. 
He added in an interview with the agency on the sidelines of his visit to Cairo, that this gang carried out "kidnappings and extortion."

The news agency Associated Press, for its part, a senior officer in the Iraqi police and Western security official in Baghdad, did not reveal the identities, they say that is likely to be a group or League of the Righteous Peace Brigades group behind the kidnapping.

The police officer pointed to the inability of any party to do anything in Baghdad's Dora district without the consent of those militias, while the Western security official said that the evaluation of the intelligence services has led to inventory doubts these two groups.

The agency quoted the US Embassy in Baghdad say that several Americans were missing and it was working with the Iraqi authorities to know their place.

Source: Reuters / AP

 

[gymrat76541]

STOP wasting tax dollars on useless, stupid people!

 

The State Department puts out travel warnings on countries it is NOT SAFE to travel too! If you go to Iraq, Syria, Iran, Jordon, North Korea, Russia, Israel etc......you go at your own risk!

 

No prisoner swap, no ransom, no rescue attempt, no deals!

Edited January 22, 2016 by gymrat76541

[yota691]

What about Iran said he stands behind the kidnapping of Americans in Baghdad

Friday 22-01-2016 | 10:38:47

 

 

 

 

 

Police component of the checkpoint - h d

Twilight News / denied a source in the Iranian Foreign Ministry, what it calls "Reuters", that the factions loyal to Iran was behind the kidnapping of three Americans in Iraq.

The source said, according to Iranian media, "what appeared in the media about American sources on Iran and parking behind the kidnapping of three Americans in Iraq completely untrue."

It was announced that Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi, on Thursday, that the three Americans who disappeared in Iraq, last week, were abducted by "organized gang carried out the kidnapping and extortion."

The three Americans were kidnapped and including two Iraqi and Algerian origin, last Friday, of a private home in the southeastern Baghdad district of Doura in the first operation of its kind targeting Americans in Iraq since the withdrawal of US troops.

This reported sources in the US administration that the US intelligence agencies investigating the kidnapping of three Americans focused their investigations on three Islamist militant groups have close ties to Iran, a "League of the Righteous" and "Hezbollah Brigades" and the organization "Badr".

Three Americans and works in a small company is not to be named so far are acting in favor of the company, "General Dynamics" under a contract with the US Army.

 The US government did not know yet whether any of the three groups involved in the kidnappings. The sources said that despite the link groups strongly with Iran, the United States does not believe that Tehran's participation in the kidnapping or that the three men are being held in Iran.

[new york kevin]

The US government did not know yet whether any of the three groups involved in the kidnappings. The sources said that despite the link groups strongly with Iran, the United States does not believe that Tehran's participation in the kidnapping or that the three men are being held in Iran.

Read more: http://dinarvets.com/forums/index.php?/topic/214536-us-embassy-says-several-americans-missing-in-iraq/page-2#ixzz3y2qZN7LZ

 

Of course the United States sees no participation of Iraq in the kidnappings, thats what wearing Obama's rose colored glasses will get you everytime. They just do not want to fubar the Iran deal until Hilliary is in the thick of battling the Republican nominee. And/or until after Obama leaves office. Don't want to repeat that embarrassing Iran thing like just before Carter left office. 

Edited January 23, 2016 by new york kevin

[SocalDinar]

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/01/27/administration-pleads-for-irans-help-with-americans-kidnapped-in-iraq/

AP Photo

The Associated Press

by John Hayward27 Jan 20160

There are still three American citizens missing in Iraq, and the most likely culprits are Iran-backed Shiite militia. They were snatched from a private residence in Baghdad by gunmen on January 16, and there has been little progress in finding them, beyond Iraqi intelligence guessing they ended up in the Shiite precincts of Sadr City, where numerous other kidnap victims have resurfaced.

The Administration adamantly refuses to link Iran to the crime, and is now pleading for their help with recovering the missing Americans. The Wall Street Journal describes the crisis as a “fresh test of the Obama Administration’s relationship with Iran.”

“U.S. officials said they are specifically looking at three Iraqi militias for their possible role in the kidnappings: Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, or the League of the Righteous, Kata’ib Hezbollah, and the Badr Corps,” the Journal reports. “All of them, the Pentagon has long believed, receive training, arms and funding from Iran’s elite military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”

Secretary of State John Kerry “raised the issue” of the kidnapping with Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Kerry said he asked Zarif if “Iran knew any way to provide help or there were some ways they could have an impact on getting the right kind of outcome… I asked him to give us that input.”

Thus far, the Iranians appear unmoved by this commanding example of global leadership.

The WSJ notes that some U.S. intelligence officials offer a “skeptical view of Iran’s willingness to play a role in gaining the Americans’ freedom,” noting that close ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps – including active collaboration in the kidnapping and murder of five American soldiers in 2007 – make it unlikely the militias would grab Americans without Tehran’s approval, or that Tehran couldn’t easily secure their release if it had.

The Journal quotes former CIA official Scott Modell arguing that these kidnappings should “come as no surprise to those who have been closely monitoring the messaging of Shia militia groups backed by Iran.”

“No group has been more vocal in its threats to U.S. forces in Iraq than Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, and none more steadfast in its loyalty to IRGC hardliners,” Modell added.

Some of the skeptics discussed by the WSJ thought Iran was generally interested in misbehaving to demonstrate its dominance over the Obama Administration, while others speculated the abductions could be part of the long-running struggle for power in Tehran between “moderates” and “hard-liners.” Either way, longtime Iran-watchers agreed that they almost always grab more hostages after letting their prisoners go.

It is noted that the alpha hard-liner, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, went out of his way to congratulate Iranian troops for their war-crime treatment of captive American sailors, on the eve of Barack Obama’s final State of the Union Address. The hard-liners also came very close to kidnapping the family of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, while in the process of releasing him from his long, blatantly illegal captivity.

Obama apologists often claim he is embarked upon a long-term strategy to empower the “moderates” in Iran. The Wall Street Journal notes that the moderate reformers were disqualified from the upcoming February elections by the Ayatollah’s clerics. Along with the latest round of kidnappings, and Iranian gestures of disrespect for the nuclear deal, that seems like compelling evidence that the moderate-boosting strategy isn’t working very well.

[RV4CandyMan]

Thanks SocalDinar.

[yota691]

01/28/2016 (00:01 pm)   -   the number of readings: 208   -  number (3559)

 

 

The Washington Post: The kidnappers Americans counter-terrorism experts are training device

 translation: Ahmed Alaa 
 

President Barack Obama, which carried out nuclear agreement and the process of exchange of prisoners between the Americans and the Iranians, wants us to believe that Iran also stressed, almost a year ago for the radio "NPR", that Tehran is on its way to becoming a "very successful regional power" and adhere to "international standards and international rules ". 
in January of the year 2007.20 it was Iraqi gunmen dressed in military uniforms and driving vehicles the "GMC" I went from the local government headquarters in Karbala in an attempt **** them to kidnap American soldiers. Following the incident, one US soldier was killed in a gun battle, was killed four strikers during the chase by the United States forces. 
Later that year, she Coalition Forces captured two leaders of a militant group backed by Iran called the "League of the Righteous" , two brothers Qais al-Khazali and Laith Khazali, who revealed the interrogation they relate directly Corps Iranian Jerusalem, and were responsible for the kidnapping of American soldiers. 
Hezbollah, which is closely linked with Iran's Qods Force, was one of its members, Ali Daqduq, who was arrested in time earlier, showing its association with the attack on the American soldiers, despite attempts Daqduq to demonstrate that he is deaf and mute. 
Two years after the Karbala attack, and in 2009, the release of Laith al-Khazali, was launched as part of a prisoner swap with the Shiite armed groups, the Iranian-backed process, to hand over these groups five kidnapped Britons killed four of them later. As Qais al-Khazali was released in 2010, and later released Daqduq in 2012. 
Today Brotherhood Khazali, trying to restore these old tricks on the abductions have become stronger after more than at any time Amady.vi 16 January this month was kidnapped by an armed group traveling in cars all-wheel drive and wearing military uniforms, three American in Baghdad, two of them are working-trained units to combat terrorism, and the units of the special elite in Iraq have the bulk of the fighting against militants operations Daash as well as their role in the liberation of the city of Ramadi recently, not to mention it's not infiltrated by Shiite armed groups. 
various media, shows that the Americans were taken to Sadr City, a stronghold of the Shiite, and League of the Righteous are the most involvement and responsibility in their transfer, possibly in coordination with other armed group, backed by Iran, known as Saraya peace. 
The Movement League of the Righteous, fully armed group belonging to the Iranian Quds Corps. It is not clear whether the kidnapping of three Americans came with the support and the support of Iran. However, the Obama administration is doing everything in its power to obfuscate on this topic. According to the news in the Reuters agency, which quoted officials as the United States's remarks, the "Washington does not have any reason to believe that Tehran was involved in the kidnapping, unlikely to be the three kidnappers in Iran as well." 
And why Iran needs to bring the abducted into its territory? Are not they already controls Iraq ?, what type of evidence available from US officials that confirm Iran's involvement in this incident? 
A news report says, that the US administration know is responsible for the kidnapping but did not want mentioned publicly. 
"CBS News" station revealed report, officials in Washington hope the Iranian government to put pressure on one of the Shiite armed groups in Iraq to release the abductees. While a source in the US State Department confirmed by saying, "There is a fear that one of these armed groups may not abide by what you say Iran" .uchir previous reports, that the United States had warned the exposure of Americans have been kidnapped in Iraq, but ignored that Iran tell rein and its agents in Iraq. 
United States became dependent on Iran not only in the implementation of the nuclear agreement the terms of which form the core of Obama's foreign policy, but also come to rely on Iranian-backed armed groups in Iraq to fight the militants Daash. At a time when the United States insists that the armed groups should stay away from the front lines in the restoration under the control of the organization areas battles, especially gray.
On this course, the United States will have a few possibilities in trying to rescue three hostages. Even if developed intelligence information on their whereabouts, its presence to try to rescue the abductees would put US forces in direct conflict with Iran's proxies in Iraq, and this is what displays the safety of all Americans at risk.