Threatening More US Soldiers with Torture and Death

World Net Daily has a report up today questioning if the brutal torture and murder of Pvt. Menchaca and Pvt. Tucker were retaliation for the rape and murder of Abeer Qassim Hamza. According to World Net Daily...

"We knew about this crime but the mujahideen brought revenge when they kidnapped two American soldiers in Ysusufiyah", said Saba Shukr, a Sunni sheikh at al-Aziz mosque in Mahmoudiyah. "They are still waiting to kidnap and kill another eight soldiers, as the price of the death of the girl should be the death of 10 Americans. I am sure about this. The mujahideen promised revenge."

Any one that has followed my reports on the Mahmoudiyah incident, already knows that one "eyewitness" claimed to have collaborated with terrorists to retaliate against the murders
(see Supposed Eyewitness Admits to Collaboration With Terrorists). I wrote at the time that since this story did not even come to light until after the soldiers' murder, it was nothing more than twisting things around to make Americans look like the bad guys. You know that justification thing the terrorists always claim when murdering and beheading people...

Not to mention this opening paragraph from Robert H. Reid's "US Abuse of Iraqis - Real or Perceived - Fuels Insurgency"...

"No sooner had US authorities filed rape and murder charges against ex-soldier Steven D. Green than an account of the incident appeared on an Islamist Website in the name of an insurgent groups, the Mujahedeen Army. It promised "harsh punishment" for the alleged crime."

But the WND story brings even more murkiness to an already murky situation. Here are some inconsistencies...

Abu Hazem, a neighbor of the family, claims that he and others went to a cousin of the family and this cousin called for a secret "eye for an eye". This is the FIRST article to mention Abu Hazem. Just like in the Haditha story, an incident that happened several months ago suddenly appears on the radar screen and numerous "eyewitnesses" pop up out of the woodwork.

This is also the first time a cousin of the family is mentioned. We have read reports about the uncle, Ahmed Taha, but no mention of a cousin. Does this cousin have a name? Also the cousin's statement to Hazem - "WE will take revenge on the Americans the quiet way" - seems to imply that this cousin is involved with the Mujahadeen since they are the ones in charge of retaliation.

WND also reports that Capt. Ehsan Abdul Rahman "said that he had told Abeer's cousin there should be a proper investigaiton but he did not want media attention." But according to one of the intial reports from the AP, "Capt. Ihsan Abdul-Rahman, a local police official, told the AP that officials received a report on March 13, 2006 about the alleged incident. But the Capt. did not relay the report to American forces."

The big question now that threats of further murders of American soldiers are being issued, is when are we going to take the Iraqis cited in WND's column into custody? Just like the eyewitness is my earlier cited post, collaborating with terrorists is a crime. The far left likes to lament "how much is an Iraqi life?" when reports of civilian casualties are broadcast. Well - how much is the life of two American soldiers? How much is the life of the 8 other soldiers threatened by Saba Shukr in the WND article? I wait impatiently for reports of that investigation.