American, two Iraqis abducted
BAGHDAD, Iraq – A U.S. civilian and two Iraqi translators were kidnapped Friday near the southern city of Basra, Iraqi police officials said.
Police Col. Kareem Azaidi in Basra said witnesses saw gunmen in a civilian car, a pickup and two police vehicles cut off the abductees’ car and snatch them from the vehicle.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor declined to identify the abductees.
“We’re aware of reports that an American citizen was kidnapped,” said Fintor. “And we’re looking into them.”
The abductions came a day after video footage of four kidnapped Americans and an Austrian emerged.
The five men in the video said they were contractors for Crescent Security Group, a Kuwait-based firm, abducted near Basra in November. The men identified themselves as John R. Young, 44, of Kansas City, Mo.; Jon Cote, of Buffalo, N.Y.; Josh Munns, 23, of Redding, Calif.; Paul Johnson Reuben, of Buffalo, Minn.; and Bert Nussbaumer, of Austria.
“I’m well; my friends are well; we’ve been treated well,” said Young.
Reuben said the video was recorded Dec. 22.
Meanwhile, in the first Friday prayers since Saddam Hussein was hanged, Shiite clerics called the dictator’s death a “breakthrough” and condemned those who opposed the widely viewed recording of the execution.
“The execution of Saddam is a turning point not only in the history of the Iraqi people, but in the whole area,” said Shiite cleric Siyyid Sadr Adin Qubanchi in the holy city of Najaf. “We foresee a new breakthrough in the region and this explains the anger of some Arab countries … Libya, Algeria and Yemen – all these governments are tyrannical, too.”
Many Sunni Arabs throughout the Middle East complained about the way Saddam was executed. A camera phone recorded members of the al-Mahdi Army, a Shiite militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, taunting and jeering Saddam.
But Qubanchi accused those critics of hypocrisy.
“When Saudi Arabia shot dead in the streets 400 Iranian Shiite pilgrims after they held a demonstration, no one protested,” Qubanchi said. “But today those who pretend to grieve over Saddam are really grieving only because they fear the wind of change will move people in their countries.”
At Baghdad’s Buratha mosque, Jaladin Saghir, a Shiite cleric and parliament member, said that whatever Saddam experienced paled in comparison to the atrocities he committed.
“Executing Saddam on the first day of Eid made the Baathists and Sunnis angry,” Saghir said, referring to the Islamic holiday. “That is all pretense. Saddam used to execute leaders and prominent figures anytime he liked – even during Eid.”
Harith Obaidi, a prominent Sunni Arab cleric and parliament member, did not mention Saddam’s execution and instead focused on religious matters.
Many sermons emphasized the failure of the government to provide security and services.
At least 18 bodies were discovered Friday in Baghdad, some with torture wounds and fatal gunshots to the head.
Mortar rounds killed at least 10 other Iraqis in Baghdad, and at least five people, including a policeman, were shot to death.
Police officials said 30 gunmen in six cars drove 18 Shiite families out of their western Baghdad homes.