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Subscribe to RSSThe U.S. military has identified the remains of the last American service member unaccounted for in Iraq, the Associated Press has reported.
Staff. Sgt. Ahmed Kousay al-Taie was an Army interpreter from Ann Arbor, Mich. He was born in Iraq and moved to the U.S. as a teenager. He joined the Army Reserve in December 2004.
The military’s mortuary in Dover, Del. positively identified part of his remains. Army officials provided no details about how his remains were discovered.
In 2006, al-Taie left Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone by motorcycle to visit his wife, an Iraqi he had married the year before. At his relative’s house, three cars pulled up. Hostage-takers handcuffed al-Taie, then 41, and forced him into one of the cars, Mag. Gen William Caldwell said in a statement in 2006. One of the kidnappers took his cell phone.
Officials in Iraq offered up to $50,000 for information that would lead to al-Taie, according to an Army press release.
Caldwell said troops had conducted 51 search operations based on 328 tips. Those raids resulted in 35 suspects, many of whom were detained and offered valuable information, Caldwell said.
"We have fairly good information that tells us where we think he could still be held and who perhaps may have him," Caldwell said in 2008. Three soldiers were killed and six wounded during those search operations.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Rest in peace Staff. Sgt. Ahmed Kousay al-Taie. Thank you for your service to your adopted country, it was and is appreciated. May your wife and family find some peace in being able to give you a proper burial.
Another wasted life. Bring our troops home. RIP
Who are you to judge whether that man's, or any man's, life was wasted? Did you ever stop to think that maybe he felt he was doing something worh giving his life for?
People can convince themselves they are doing something noble and worth while all they want. However the reality of it is all we got from the Iraq war was yet another unstable country in the Middle East, and 4,500 flag draped coffins. If someone considers that worth giving their life for, then thats a real shame.
" If someone considers that worth giving their life for, then thats a real shame."
I want to be in the crowd of firemen who watch your house burn.
I will never understand how people have the audacity to label lives as "wasted"
Please inform me what you do that is of such value. What constitutes as a life worth living anyway?
When you murder innocent people, you waste your life.
They didn't do anything to us. They have a right to fight back when someone invades their country, just as we would if someone invaded ours.
Oh wait. Someone did. Saudi Arabia.
and theirs!
Dracula,
Im confused are you a Coward or just a Jerk?
I guess people are just confused these days. Just think if the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor today. We'd probably respond by bombing Brazil.
dracula-3948362
Wonder where you're from dracula? Tokyo Rose of 2012 perhaps?
...or maybe just another person that has isolationist views of the world? Either way, you are way wrong!
I suppose the end of the Iraqi war will have no MIA's then, like our government said that the Vietnam war didnt when we left Vietnam. We shall see in the next decade what the families of those who served there say or dont say ... but for now, like then, the government now says there are no MIAs left.
Do we really believe the official statement now, like back then? Should we?
I think it's a lie. They will tell you want they want to tell you.
Not defending or condemning Dracula, but I think the "Wasted Life" statement is in regards to the fact this guy went AWOL and was taken. Looking at the different stories on this subject, it is apparent, to me at least, that he was setup. Military personnel, both in uniform and civilians, are constantly told to NOT leave the safety of the secure garrison area under any circumstances unless on official business. While my condolences go out to the family, the military was generous in that they promoted this guy twice while gone and sent his paycheck to the family. They have the right to NOT do so since in reality the guy was AWOL with no rights to pay and benefits. I know, many of you are going to defend him because he was going to see his Iraqi wife. Tough squat, if the guy had caught a plane to visit his wife in Michigan or wherever would that have been any different? He joined the guard because he was proud to be part of the United States and the American Military. He volunteered to do as told when told. He disobeyed those orders, bottom line. And to those who say he gave his life for his country, not he did not! He gave his life to go AWOL to see his Iraqi wife! "Stupid is as stupid does." - Forest Gump
I may have missed another article on this story, so where does it say he was AWOL? Was he AWOL, or did he simply leave the Green Zone against advice? There's a big difference. Did he state he had no intention of returning? I don't see that either. If he did, however, go AWOL, was it CERTAIN He had planned not to return? Another good question: Why was his wife not investigated then allowed to move INSIDE the Green Zone, hence eliminating his feeling he needed to leave? And WHY do you keep harping on her being an Iraqi? Does this automatically make her the enemy? If so, does that mean you think every Muslim in the U.S. helped execute the 9/11 attacks? If reports say he was AWOL I find that hard to believe considering how hard it was to exit or enter security check point. My nephew was stationed there and told me of all the hoops he had to jump through to do anything more than look through a checkpoint. Perhaps someone is covering their own arse for letting him go?
For those who call his life wasted let's get something straight. This was a man BORN in Iraq. He left as a teenager so he must have remembered how bad it was living under Sadam. He may have had his OWN reasons for volunteering for this war, such as freeing family left behind from a genocidal maniac. NOT ONE of the men or women who died there "wasted their lives". THEIR reasons for being there were there own, and they weren't there just to follow orders. Many of these people volunteered post 9/11 and knew our government had multiple, and not all together popular, reasons for committing our troops to war. They volunteered KNOWING this, but still felt taking one of the biggest sponsors of world wide terrorism out of circulation was worth risking their lives. I served at Ground Zero (it WAS NOT an "inside job"), I knew why Bush was sending troops in (and did not agree with all his reasons), and I STILL WOULD HAVE RETURNED to the Marine Corps is my health had allowed it.
Let's not confuse the INDIVIDUALS reasons with our GOVERNMENTS reasons. Every soldier WANTED to make a difference. I thank God they've all come home.
Todd, what branch did you serve with?
well...I'm not entirely sure that if this guy was allowed an R&R trip/leave that he would have been able to visit his wife anyways. It would be like someone in the states saying they'd like to spend thier leave in Iraq...unlikely. At any rate...not a good move on his part. As for whoever said why didn't they move his wife to the base?....Then everyone else would want to know why they couldn't have there wife there with them (if their wife were so inclined). Yes it's tragic, however, it was due in part to a bad decision on his part. I may have made the same decision in his shoes.
My condolences to his family and friends ;-(
Props to an Arab-American who gave his life for adopted country, even as a fringe minority keeps ranting that Arabs cannot be trusted. German Americans fought for America in WW1 and 2. Italians fought for America in WW2. Japanese fought in Africa and Europe even as their families were interned. Chinese-Americans fought in Korea. I think that every last American has been accounted for in Iraq. No more men left behind. All troops accounted for.
My father was a German Canadian ww2 vet. My parents endured some very blatant racism after the war due to their German accents. My mother told me of being spit on because of her accent when she worked as a chambermaid in a hotel.
Sorry to hear that leroy brown. Germans are still given a hard time today.
P.s. every time I see your handle, I have to listen to the song. Thanks for that :p
@winsettz, you're giving props to a guy who went AWOL. Had he NOT gone AWOL, he would probably be back home right now working on a VISA to get his Iraqi wife through imigration, although since he went AWOL in 2006, she would probably already be here. He screwed a lot of people, his family here, family in Iraq, his Iraqi wife (wonder what she's doing these days?) and most importantly the three dead soldiers who did their duty (and their families). Give props to those deserving, not those who commit cowardly selfish acts like this guy did.
Nowhere does it say he went AWOL, stop trying to start a flame war.
And let's not forget the three killed and six wounded trying to find him, hats off to all.
Home at last. Admire any country that looks for its lost soldiers, finds them and lays them to rest. No matter who they are or where they are from. To the once's lost, looking for their mate....RIP...the lost one has been found thanks to you and your sacrifice. Blessings to all famiies from across the Pacific...
Thank you Staff Sergeant. Rip!
Why would you thank this Staff Sergeant? Thank him for what? He went AWOL, caused the death of three GOOD soldiers, and got several other GOOD soldiers wounded!!! While I am all for thanking soldiers of all branches for honorable and faithful service, regardless of race, creed, color, origin, etc. I do NOT thank a bad soldier for going AWOL and causing the death or wounding of good soldiers. Again, my condolences go the family of this guy, his actions do not diminish their loss. However, my heartfelt condolences and sympathy go to the families of those lost trying to retrieve an AWOL soldier.
Hey, uh, Todd? PLEASE shut up. We were TOLD he went AWOL, just like we were TOLD Iraq had WMDs. And the government ALWAYS tells the truth. Do you have ANY IDEA how hard it was to leave the Zone in '06? Someone LET him go, then when he was taken covered their own butt. I don't buy it for a minute. The man enlisted (VOLUNTEERED) at a time Iraqi-Americans WERE NOT the most popular people around then was killed BY HIS FORMER FELLOW COUNTRYMEN for serving US while helping trying to free THEM. While you did...what? Sit around and talk about how 9/11 was an inside job? How the CIA killed Kennedy? Give it a bloody REST will you?
My opinion as a veteran of 3 combat deployments differs, and is pretty harsh. SPC al-Taie (he was promoted twice while Missing In Action or MIA) went Absent Without Leave (AWOL) from his unit in a war zone, got captured and killed by the enemy. There is nothing admirable or of sacrifice about that, and indeed there was instead a focus on himself and what HE wanted; if he had just been captured and was just released his actions would warrant a court-martial. Far more damning to him, is the fact that his selfish actions resulted in the deaths of 3 other Soldiers, and the wounding of 6 others. That is an unforgivable sin to a Soldier. I have sympathy for his family, but none for him.
I completely agree. I was on FOB Loyalty when he first went missing. It was hard to look back on that search with good feelings once all the facts about his disappearance came out. Many young, brave Soldiers risked their lives looking for him and as the story states 3 were killed and 6 wounded. I lost enough friends in Iraq but losing them while looking for this AWOL Soldier borders on the unforgivable.
Mike, I agree with you as well, I was on FOB Shield at the time, and my unit got tasked out to operate TCP's 24 hrs / day for about 10 days. My company lay exposed in central Baghdad all day/night, we had one shot, saved by her IBA but at any time could have had half of my plt taken out with a single suicide bomber. This guy was a real piece of s***, not any kind of hero. He ABANDONED his unit in wartime, to go home, possibly with no intentions of returning. He should have been court-martialed, possibly shot (by us). These people on here comenting and trying to make him a hero have no idea what happens over there and have zero credability, they are trying desperately to make a hero of a muslim on our side, and this is all they could come up with; if only they knew.
This Vietnam vet agrees with the Iraq vets that posted. He went awol and caused not only his death, but the deaths of three other soldiers. There's no excuse for his stupidity!
I agree Mike. I remember reading about this incident at the time. When you're in the military,
you belong to the military. If you disobey regulations, you put yourself and sadly, others at
risk. Don't shed any tears for him, only the ones who were killed looking fom him.
Just by reading the article, I knew some very important facts were left out. A veteran myself, "You just don't leave the Green Zone and go visit distant relatives!" Give me a break, duh! I understand the story was about the Last remains being ID'd....Being the Last was appropriate, but we didn't need to know!
Distant relatives?? He left to visit his wife!
Yes, wife..at relatives house! and SO? that doesn't change the fact "you don't Just leave the Green Zone" even if you were going to see your wife! We soldiers didn't get to leave base and go see our spouses! I'd like to know the part of the story of when and where he married....I bet he just didn't leave the Green Zone and go downtown Bagdad to find a wife! AWOL is a crime!
It doesn't matter. In my 2 tours one simply cannot leave the base on their own volition. You either leave the FOB with a group for a mission related purpose or your don't leave at all. How this guy was able to get off base by himself (for whatever purpose, relatives or no relatives) without raising any red flags mystifies me.
I wish I had read this string before my previous posts, I could have just said "AMEN BROTHER!" and been done. Ok, not likely that I would leave it at that. But you gentlemen or correct, he was AWOL, bottom line, his selfish actions caused three lives. His family was paid while he was AWOL, with two promotions. They will probably receive benefits for his death. Wrong yes, harsh yes, but reality can suck at times. @Spectacularj!, it was easy for him to leave the wire, he was an Iraqi born male, in civilian clothing (I assume local national clothing). Who would have questioned him? To all the other posters on here, Iraqi, Afghanistan, Vietnam, wherever you served, thank you all for doing what you did honorably. I am retired Army, my son is currently on his way to Afghan for his 5th tour with 3rd Grp. He makes me proud with everything he does. As do all the great Americans who say "I do" and put on the uniform. Thanks to you all!
Todd, while I do not fully agree with you my wife and I will add your boy to our prayers...may his tour be safe and his homecoming soon.
Semper Fi from a former jarhead.
Mission accomplished --- now?
RIP
Felt some sympathy for him until I realized he was AWOL them no more for him,Just the folks that were KIA or WIA hunting for him
Why are people always assuming the worst? The article does not say he went AWOL. Who knows? Maybe he had some R&R time and went to spend it with his family that happens to live in Iraq. Maybe he was part of a clandestine mission and got caught and thats why the article is not releasing more information on the subject. My condolences to him, his family, and the rest of the unnamed soilders.
Read the earlier comments (Mike-1602516). They know more than the person that wrote the article.
Phenomenal::: You are assuming things, too. Your post is too full of the MABYEs. You must not know war. If you are fighting a war, you don't just leave your post to go for some nookie or whatever unless you have leave time which has to be authorized. He pulled a stupid thing and got himself shot. What is worse, he was the one who caused the deaths of others of our guys. MAYBE if he had stayed where he was supposed to be he would not have been shot and our other guys would not have been put in harms way. And all because of an itch that needed scratching.
He is not an honorable soldier and I hope he isn't buried at Arlington, which is the last resting place for heroes. Give him back to those camel jockeys that killed him and our boys. That is one GI who doesn't deserve an honorable burial.
Previous articles and official documents state he went AWOL. The fact he left the GREEN ZONE to visit his wife in civilian attire is a clue for anyone that has ever served. You DO NOT leave the GREEN ZONE for any reason other than official business. And NO ONE does official business alone in the military. Quit looking for excuses to make this bone head a hero. He was AWOL. The punishment for going AWOL in a war zone is Court Martial or worse. Enough said.
Phenom, if you research previous articles on this it IS claimed he went AWOL, but as someone above agrees with me, how he got off a base locked up tighter than a crabs butt at high tide IS a mystery.
May he rest in peace - even if he made a big mistake going AWOL in a war zone...
Rest in Peace? I hope he rests with the three that died trying to rescue his butt and they beat him stupid for eternity. Oops, already showed he is/was stupid, but they can still beat him.
Allot of speculation here about his actions, but he joined to served and deserves to be honored for it. If he violated regulations and it caused others to be killed searching for him, then he deserves to have that dishonor as well. I am just please to see the army committed to bringing all of the troops home this time, even if it is just remains and even if he did violate regulations. I'll give the government credit for this, the rest of the war, ahhhhh... not so much.
I place my trust in those that were there, not some reporter that wants to slant the story. If as they allege this guy went AWOL, he let down those in his unit and was a direct cause of the deaths and wounded of those who were sent to take him back.
Retired IMEF Corpsman, here. I, personally, could not Rest in Peace....if 3 got killed finding my remains. I didn't and still don't understand the principle of men dying to retrieve dead bodies.
Our enemies know this is important to us and use it whenever possible. Loss of a comrade is a bitch, compounding it is criminal.
I think it time we rethink our position on losing soldiers to retrieve a lump of flesh.
I know my opinion won't be popular.
As for any soldier I would still have to say RIP but I am disgusted at him as a soldier for leaving his brothers and sisters behind to visit relatives......especially in a war zone! I would have to agree with Mike and his buddies that reposted after him; you just don't do that. There is absolutely no forgiveness in the cowardness of a soldier. I have never served personally but I am the daughter of a Navy Vet and the wife of an Army vet today; if I ever heard of one of my husbands unit soldiers abandoning them I would be furious. Prayers to his family and thankful they ID'd who it was so we can account for all our soldiers over there but no forgiveness to the stupidity of this soldier. He joined to serve the US and that's what he should have done; if he didn't want to be in than he shouldn't have joined!
In his case, I would say RIP meaning Rest in Pieces. Condolences to his family, even tho they were the cause of the loss of our guys.
I also have never served personally, but as the daughter of TWO vets, the widow of a vet, the mother of a vet, the mother-in-law of a vet and the grandmother of one on active duty I am really disgusted with this camel jockey's actions.
Don't bury him with our heroes. Send him home to that sandbox on the other side of the pond. Sure we will have to pay to ship him home, but I hope that his wife does not get any V A benefits. She does not deserve it-- that is probably the only reason she married him and the only way she could get benefits was to have him KIA.
All of you are assuming facts not yet in evidence! You are not the judge and jury, let the whole truth come out before you point fingers, and disrespect this soldier. Remember "Judge not lest ye be judged"? To those of you who have never served, you are speaking out of ignorance, "Camel Jockey"?! I'll bet you let the N word slip a time or two don't you, maybe spic, or kike? What I believe is those of you who should know better should be defending this soldier until it is determined what happened. Those of you who have no clue what it is like to have one of your own missing need to just be quiet and let the professionals take care of things. Why is it we take to name calling and villification of the person who is no longer here to defend themselves. Leave the family alone, would you attack an American widow with the same venomous diatribe? Susie it is my belief that you are a hard hearted racist who needs to spend more time in church praying for your soul than on the computer spewing your idiotic thoughts. Just sayin
@Lori, if You have/had served you would know that going AWOL is the worst cowardice a soldier can commit. This guy went AWOL in 2006, this is just one of several articles about him, hopefully the last. In previous articles it was stated he went AWOL. This article states he went outside the Green Zone without permission in a war zone - AWOL. We lost good troops and several others were wounded because of this one idiots selfish act of cowardice going AWOL. Do some research yourself before condemning others. Read some of the previous posts from good troops who were there and had to go on these search missions. What Susie said is fact, the wife is NOT entitled to benefits, the guy was AWOL. He gave up all rights to pay and benefits when he stepped, or in this case, rode outside the gate. The military, in what is more than a generous gesture, kept sending the guys pay and allowd the family the use of his benefits, while he was "missing" as is the policy. Now that he is dead, and officially was AWOL, his actions caused the family to lose any pay and benefits. If he were still alive they would lose them as he would be in Leavenworth waiting on court martial and firing squad. Back off, follow your own advice and do some research. Don't wait for these liberal fools of the media to tell you what to think and do. I will concede your point on the name calling without calling anyone else racist. The only name calling I will do here is to call those who gave their lives looking for this clown heroes and to call this clown both a clown and a selfish punk bastard.
@Susie-2759697, Mass respect to you ma'am. While you may not have personnaly served as you say, you most definately know what it means to serve. Sounds like you have a great family, my best to you and yours.
Went to college in Staff. Sgt. Kousay al-Taie's hometown. Welcome home Staff Sergeant, rest well.
How the He-double-ll dose anybody get promoted twice while AWOL. Not anything like the Army I served in.
Hope the 3 who died trying to finde him rest in peace.
Rest in peace, Sargeant - you may have gone AWOL but you paid the ultimate price for it. And rest in peace to the brave soldiers who died while trying to find you.
to all white-maile judo-christian hoarder-killers!
die, soon!
cowards!
get ready to "visit with your white-skinned god -jesus"
you heartless, worthless pathetic killers!
war-mongering scum of the us of terror!
get ready to suffer like most of you fat-asses can't even imagine!
He's got the "fat-asses" part right, at least. ARMY PT ain't what it used to be.
All you pathtic order-takers,
How is that depleted uranium munitions you handled, fired, sat on top of, breathed in, and ate "treating you" anyway.
You stupid dogs dio not even know when your command is killin you.
Slowly.
Have ant 10 legged "space alien" babies yet?
You Will!!!!!!!!!!
You monsters are far worse than Nazi's ever were.
The radiation you have spread with impunity over large parts of the world will cause the us of Terror to be views by history as a "Demonic country infected by the killer-cult formerly known as "chris-Scum-Dum"!