September 21, 2004
MSNBC News Services
Photo: Masked men stand behind a man identified as American construction contractor Eugene Armstrong, moments before he was beheaded in Iraq, in this image from video made available on an Islamic website, Monday Sept. 20, 2004. The militant group led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the slaying and said another hostage, either another American or a Briton held by the group will be killed in 24 hours unless all Muslim women prisoners are released from U.S. military jails in Iraq. (AP Photo)
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Relatives and colleagues of two Western construction contractors who were snatched from their homes in Iraq pleaded for their release Tuesday, a day after a third colleague held hostage was beheaded by his kidnappers.
"On behalf of myself and the workers of the company, the colleagues of the kidnapped engineers, we call on you, believing in God and his mercy, to release them," a man who identified himself only as an Iraqi engineer working in Baghdad for Emirates-based General Supplies and Commercial Services said in a call to The Associated Press in Dubai.
The militant group lead by al-Qaida ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi posted a gruesome video on a Web site Monday showing the decapitation of a man identified as American civil engineer Eugene Armstrong and said a second hostage — either American Jack Hensley or Briton Kenneth Bigley — would be killed in 24 hours.
In Washington, a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Armstrong’s body had been recovered, but the official would provide no details.
Appeal to Blair
The family of the British hostage made a desperate appeal to Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday to meet kidnappers' demands and save his life.
"I ask Tony Blair personally to consider the amount of bloodshed already suffered," Bigley’s son Craig said in a statement broadcast on BBC News 24 television. "Only you can save him now."
"Please meet the demands and release my father -- two women for two men."
In the video of Armstrong's murder, the hostage-takers said they had killed him because U.S. authorities had failed to free women prisoners in Iraqi jails.
The U.S. is holding two women scientists, accused of working on ex-president Saddam Hussein's banned weapons programs, in a special prison for high-profile detainees.
They gave another 24 hours for the U.S.-led coalition to release women prisoners, or the other two hostages would be killed.
A spokeswoman for Blair's Downing Street office said she had nothing to add to remarks made by the prime minister at the weekend. "Obviously we understand how the family must feel, but we have nothing further to say at the moment," she told Reuters.
Blair has remained tight-lipped throughout the capture of Bigley and the two Americans, saying only that the government was "doing everything we can" to save them.
Armstrong's body found
The grisly beheading was the latest killing in a particularly violent month in Iraq, with more than 300 people dead in insurgent attacks and U.S. military strikes over the past seven days. Earlier Monday, gunmen in Baghdad assassinated two clerics from a powerful Sunni Muslim group that has served as a mediator to release hostages.
The video of the beheading of the man said to be Armstrong, whose age was not known, surfaced soon after the expiration of a 48-hour deadline set earlier by the militant group for the beheading of the three civil engineers. The men were abducted Thursday from their home in a wealthy Baghdad neighborhood.
A militant whose voice resembled al-Zarqawi read a statement in the video saying the next hostage would be killed in 24 hours unless all Muslim women prisoners are released from U.S. military jails.
“You, sister, rejoice. God’s soldiers are coming to get you out of your chains and restore your purity by returning you to your mother and father,” he said before grabbing the hostage, seated at his feet, and cutting his throat.
Sept. 20: Jack Hensley, one of the men taken hostage Thursday, is seen in this photo with his wife and daughter. His brother Ty Hensley talks with "Today" show anchor Katie Couric.
The 9-minute tape, posted on a Web site used by Islamic militants, showed a man seated on the floor, blindfolded and wearing an orange jumpsuit — similar to the orange uniform worn by prisoners at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — with his hands bound behind his back. Five militants dressed in black stood behind him, four of them armed with assault rifles, with a black Tawhid and Jihad banner on the wall.
The militant in the center read out a statement, as the hostage rocked back and forth and side to side where he sat. After finishing, the militant pulled a knife and cut his throat until the head was severed.
The victim gasped loudly as blood poured from his neck. His killer held up the head at one point, and placed it on top of the body
“The fate of the first infidel was cutting off the head before your eyes and ears. You have a 24-hour opportunity. Abide by our demand in full and release all the Muslim women, otherwise the head of the other will follow this one,” the speaker said.
Tawhid and Jihad — Arabic for “Monotheism and Holy War” — has claimed responsibility for killing at least six hostages, including Armstrong and another American, Nicholas Berg, who was abducted in April. The group has also said it is behind a number of bombings and gun attacks.
Bush called 'a dog'
The militant on the video called President Bush “a dog” and addressed him, saying, “Now, you have people who love death just like you love life. Killing for the sake of God is their best wish, getting to your soldiers and allies are their happiest moments, and cutting the heads of the criminal infidels is implementing the orders of our lord.”
Armstrong grew up in Hillsdale, Mich., but left the area around 1990. His brother, Frank, still lives there. Armstrong’s work in construction took him around the world; he lived in Thailand with his wife before going to Iraq.
The other American hostage, Jack Hensley, 48, made his home in Marietta, Ga., with his wife Patty and their 13-year-old daughter. Kidnapped with the Americans was Briton Kenneth Bigley, 62. All three worked for Gulf Services Co. of the United Arab Emirates.
In a statement released after the video was posted, Armstrong’s family said: “This is what we did not want to hear. We are praying for Jack Hensley and Kenneth Bigley and their families.”
At least 55 American civilians have died in Iraq since President Bush declared major combat complete on May 1, 2003.
Tune in to MSNBC for discussions on this question throughout the day and to hear some of your e-mails on air.
In addition to Armstrong and Berg, at least two other Americans have been beheaded since Bush launched the war on terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks. Paul M. Johnson Jr., a 49-year-old engineer, was decapitated by militants in Saudi Arabia in June. Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was killed in Pakistan in 2002.
U.S. Army Spc. Keith M. Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, is officially listed by the military as missing. Maupin disappeared in Iraq on April 9 after an attack on a fuel convoy. Arab television reported June 29 that he was killed but did not broadcast a video it said showed his shooting death. U.S. military could not confirm that a man shown being shot in videotape was Maupin.
Also missing from that convoy attack are contract truckers William Bradley and Timothy Bell, both Americans.
Armstrong’s slaying came on the heels of the beheading — apparently by a group of Sunni insurgents — of three Kurdish militiamen taken hostage in the north.
More than 130 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq, some for lucrative ransoms, and at least 26 of them have been executed. At least five other Westerners are currently being held hostage here, including an Iraqi-American man, two female Italian aid workers and two French reporters.
On Monday, kidnappers released a group of 18 abducted Iraqi National Guard members after renegade Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for their release, an al-Sadr aide Nail al-Kabi told The Associated Press.
Insurgents have used kidnappings and bombings as their signature weapons in a 17-month campaign to undermined the interim government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and force the U.S. and its allies out of Iraq.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6015597/