One US Army Reservist Still Missing in Iraq

Iraqi-born Ahmed Kousay Altaie reportedly kidnapped in 2006
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 29, 2011 3:58 PM CST
One US Army Reservist Still Missing in Iraq
A 2006 photo of Ahmed Kousay Altaie and his wife, Israa Abdul-Satar.   (AP Photo/File)

The end of the war in Iraq prompts the Army Times to note that one—and only one—American serviceman remains missing despite a five-year search. Ahmed Kousay Altaie was reportedly kidnapped in 2006, and the Pentagon says his case will remain open until he is found. Altaie's case has a few unusual wrinkles: He was actually born in Iraq but fled to the US with his family in the 1970s to Dearborn, Michigan. He joined the Reserves in 2004 and shipped out to his native country in 2005.

At some point, he violated Army rules and married an Iraqi woman during his deployment. One night in October 2006, he snuck out in civilian clothes to visit her and was seized by gunmen. He hasn't been seen since. The Defense Prisoner of War and Missing Personnel Office considers him "missing-captured." (More Iraq war stories.)

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