Probe looks at soldiers’ last mission

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Two U.S. soldiers, missing for three days since their abduction in an insurgent stronghold south of Baghdad, were found dead, a military spokesman said Tuesday, and a top U.S. commander ordered an investigation into why the men were isolated from a larger force in such a dangerous part of Iraq.

The remains of the soldiers – Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore. – were recovered near a power plant in the town of Youssifiyah, where they had been operating a vehicle checkpoint that came under attack Friday, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said in a briefing for reporters. A third soldier, Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., died in the initial assault.

“Coalition forces have in fact recovered what we believe to be the remains of our two soldiers,” said Caldwell. “Our heartfelt prayers go out to both the families and friends of our two soldiers.”

Caldwell declined to describe the condition of the soldiers’ bodies, saying it would be “inappropriate until I know what the families were told.” He said it was clear the soldiers had died of wounds suffered in captivity, rather than at the site of the attack on the checkpoint, but that the cause of death could not be immediately determined.

According to residents of Youssifiyah and a relative of one of the victims, the soldiers were beheaded. An Iraqi official said they had been brutally tortured before their death, but provided no further details.

The bodies will be flown to Kuwait and then to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for full autopsies and DNA testing to ensure they were identified correctly, the military said in a statement.

As 8,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops scoured the region, a tip from a local resident led them to the soldiers’ bodies after dark Monday night. Because the informant warned that the bodies were booby-trapped, they were not removed until after dawn, the military said.

“We went ahead and established a cordon around the area to protect it so it would be undisturbed at daylight this morning and brought the necessary assets like explosive ordnances,” Caldwell said. “They did have to dismantle some stuff to get to them.”

One U.S. soldier was killed and 12 wounded during the three-day search across a vast area south of Baghdad, while two insurgents were killed and 78 detained, the military said.

The killings of the two privates raised questions about why such low-ranking troops were left alone, backed by a single armored Humvee, in a region Caldwell described Thursday as “an insurgent hotbed” and the most dangerous place in Iraq for U.S. forces after Baghdad and Ramadi. Even in safer areas, U.S. troops generally travel in convoys to provide support in case insurgents attack or a vehicle breaks down.

Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, has ordered an investigation into procedures used that night. “They are looking at the entire situation,” Caldwell said.

To the consternation of U.S. officials, who are careful to withhold casualty details until the soldiers’ families can be notified, the deaths were first reported by an Iraqi defense official. Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed said in a news conference Tuesday they had been tortured and killed “in a barbaric way.”

The Mujahedeen Shura Council, a collection of several insurgent groups including al-Qaida in Iraq, claimed in an Internet statement to have “slaughtered” the two soldiers, suggesting they were beheaded. The group, which had vowed revenge on U.S. forces following the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi this month, had on Monday claimed to have abducted the two privates.

Asked Tuesday if the Internet statements were credible, Caldwell responded: “Absolutely not,” and added that based on “preliminary analysis” there was “no reason to believe” the group’s claims.

In telephone interviews, two Youssifiyah residents, Muyasar Ghalib al-Qaraghuli, 19, and a tribal leader who gave his name only as Abu Salam, described a gruesome scene in which insurgents beheaded and dismembered the soldiers after dragging their bodies behind pickup trucks.

“It’s something that we are against,” Qaraghuli said. “But what could we do? It happened.”

Those accounts could not be independently confirmed, though U.S. and Iraqi officials acknowledged privately that the killings had been particularly brutal.

Menchaca’s uncle, Mario Vasquez, said military officials told him early Tuesday morning that the two soldiers had been beheaded, according to a report on the Web site of the Houston Chronicle.

The two soldiers were the first to be classified as “duty status and whereabouts unknown,” since Sgt. Keith “Matt” Maupin, who was missing after an attack on his convoy in April 2004. He appeared in a video made by insurgents, who later released another video purporting to show his execution. The military called the footage inconclusive.

Eleven American civilians, most of them contractors, are also considered to be missing in the country, Caldwell said.

Also Tuesday, U.S. military officials said they had killed a senior member of al-Qaida in Iraq during an airstrike on Friday in the same area where the two Army privates were missing.

Mansur Sulayman Mansur Khalif al-Mashadani, an Iraqi known as Sheik Mansur, was a “key leader” of al-Qaida in Iraq with “excellent religious, military and leadership credentials within that organization,” said Caldwell. Al-Mashadani, in his mid-30s, had studied religion in Jordan before rising to be the religious emir for all of al-Qaida in Iraq, Caldwell said.

“We do think his death will significantly continue to impact on the ability of this organization to regenerate and reorganize itself,” Caldwell said.

After tracking al-Mashadani, U.S. forces moved to capture him, prompting al-Mashadani and two other people to flee in a vehicle, which was destroyed by a U.S. airstrike, said Caldwell.

Al-Mashadani had been captured by U.S. forces in July 2004 and released in the fall of that year, Caldwell said, because he was not considered “a threat to Iraqi citizens or coalition forces.” Al-Mashadani joined al-Qaida after his release, he said.