Americans Missing in Iraq as of August 2010

Submitted by susie dow on August 7, 2010 - 14:20


Cross posted at the Missing Man

There are currently 7 American men publicly known to be missing in Iraq. Those men are:

Kirk von Ackermann
Timothy E. Bell
Aban Abdel Malek Mahmoud Elias (also Aban Elias)
Radim Sadeq Mohammed Sadeq (also Dean Sadek)
Jeffrey Ake
Spc. Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie (also Ahmed K. Altaie)
Maj. Troy L. Gilbert (deceased)

Based on news reports, as many as an additional 10 Americans may also be missing. Attached below is a chart showing the incident date, name and status of those Americans known to be missing and/or held hostage in Iraq in table format.

About the Data

The data is based on news reports which often contradict each other.

An article from October 2008 cites a total of 39 kidnapped Americans of which 22 known are known to have been executed (Iraq calmer but copycat kidnappings spread). The following chart was created by using 39 kidnapped Americans as its base line. However, of those 39, it's unclear if any of the POW's briefly held during the war in March 2003 should be included in the 39.

A February 2010 article cites 17 missing - unfortunately, it's unclear if that number includes foreign hostages (They search if someone's missing in Iraq).

An article from April 2010 (US Operation aims to find missing) cites 11 missing Americans.

The data below 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).

Last but not least, most of these missing Americans have rights that should be under protection by a law that very very few are aware of, the Missing Persons Act.

REVISED - August 9, 2005 based on data provided by the National Counterterrorism Center to the US State Department for its annual Country Reports on Terrorism which was issued August 5. Reports include data on kidnappings. (source material available at the Missing Man)

Americans Missing in Iraq - as of August 9, 2010

Date Name Status
1 Oct 9, 2003 Kirk von Ackermann missing 1
2 Apr 9, 2004 Thomas Hamill 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 missing 6
16 Aug 2, 2005 Steven Charles Vincent deceased
17 Sept 27, 2005 unknown missing 7
18 Nov 27, 2005 Thomas William Fox deceased
19 Dec 2, 2005 unknown missing 8
20 Dec 6, 2005 Ronald Alan Schulz deceased
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 missing 11
32 Jan 27, 2007 unknown missing 12
33 Feb 1, 2007 unknown missing 13
34 Mar 3, 2007 unknown 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.

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

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

References

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

About the Author

Susie Dow is the author of several articles at ePluribus Media, Missing Contractor: US Military Mechanics may Hold the Keys in addition to One Missing, One Dead: An Iraq Contractor in the Fog of War, and Iraq, Contingency Contracting & the Defense Base Act: I-III. Dow is the Editor of the weblog, The Missing Man, which follows articles on Kirk von Ackermann and his colleague Ryan Manelick. She is a volunteer researcher and editor at ePluribus Media.

Iraq, missing, defense base act, Kirk von Ackermann, contingency contracting, military contractors, Ryan Manelick
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susie dow

August 9, 2010 - 05:09

Up until now, I was unaware that these annual reports include charts show kidnappings by country with date of incident in an Appendix. The latest report came out on Thursday. I've filled in as much new information as possible.

One odd finding. The report for 2008 is missing the page with the data. It should be in a section titled, Terrorism Deaths, Injuries, Kidnappings of Private U.S. Citizens. But it's just not there.

U.S. Department of State
Country Reports on Terrorism
Index of Annual Reports - by year

luaptifer

August 9, 2010 - 08:59

among possible sources? Or can you tell that it was never there in the first place?

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"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government in a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country." - Thomas Jefferson

luaptifer

August 9, 2010 - 09:44

I found that it's listed in the TOC as supposed to immediately follow the statistical annex. I found, as you have, that it's in neither of the html or the pdf forms.

site:state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/ "Terrorism Deaths, Injuries, Kidnappings of Private U.S. Citizens".

Maybe archive.org?

Not yet => http://web.archive.org/web/200*sr_1nr_1000/state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/

I've got to re-explore what's new and different in online tools these days.  I'd guess that the indicated supplement never made into the full report but if, instead, it was pulled after the fact then there should be some cached evidence, somewhere.  Where?

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"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government in a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country." - Thomas Jefferson

susie dow

August 9, 2010 - 13:00

 

So far, I have been unable to locate the US State data for 2008. As you found, it's listed as included in the 2008 Index - 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. 

On the other hand, the NCTC Report doesn't include military personnel or victims of a crime unrelated to terrorism. So it's possible whoever was taken hostage in 2008 did not qualify for inclusion in the statistics. I checked WITS - the searchable database of incidents - but there too, nothing is listed for Iraq for 2008. Search criteria = Date range: 03/01/2003 to 08/08/2010 Country: Iraq Victim: Western (American)