Iraqi group says it captured American

By NADA BAKRI

c.2010 New York Times News Service

BAGHDAD — An Iraqi militant group said it had abducted an American contractor, a day after the U.S. military reported that a contractor had been missing since Jan. 23. It would be the first reported kidnapping of an American in a year in Iraq.

The militant group posted a video to back up its claim, although the man in the video does not give his name.

The Department of Defense identified the missing man as Issa T. Salomi, 60, of El Cajon, Calif. In a statement Friday, the military said he worked as a contractor for American forces and was last seen on Jan. 23 in Baghdad. Search efforts were under way, the statement said.

There was no way to immediately confirm the authenticity of the video or that the man pictured was Salomi.

The apparent abduction raised fresh fears that despite an improvement in security in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, foreigners working here are still vulnerable to kidnapping.

In the video, the captured man, wearing what appeared to be an American military uniform, identified the abductors as the League of Righteous, a Shiite Muslim militant group, and said they were treating him “kindly.” He said his kidnappers were demanding the release of other militants from jail and the prosecution of former Blackwater security guards accused in a shooting that left 17 Iraqis dead in 2007.

“The second demand is to bring the proper justice and the proper punishment to those members of Blackwater company that have committed unjustifiable crimes against innocent Iraqi civilians,” the man said in a transcript of the video posted on a Web site used by Iraqi insurgent groups. The man in the video said his captors were demanding “proper compensation to the families that have been involved in great suffering because of this incident.”

Blackwater, now called Xe Services, has reached a settlement with at least some of the families affected by the shooting.

American investigators had concluded that the former guards, who were providing protection for American diplomats, fired indiscriminately on unarmed civilians in an unprovoked and unjustified attack. The guards contend that they were ambushed by insurgents and fired in self-defense.

In December, in a decision that was a blow to the Justice Department and unleashed anger and disbelief in Iraq, a federal judge threw out the indictments of five guards, citing misuse of their statements in violation of their constitutional rights.

Vice President Joe Biden said last month during a visit to Baghdad that the U.S. government would appeal the court ruling. But the judge’s scathing and detailed decision was expected to make any appeal difficult.

The captured man also said that the group was demanding the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. The Obama administration plans to withdraw all but 50,000 combat troops by August and the rest by the end of next year.

Salomi’s family issued a statement on Saturday through the FBI in San Diego, saying they hoped for his safety and fast release, but they did not appeal to his kidnappers.

“We are confident that everything is being done by the most capable people here and abroad to bring Issa home safely, and we all are anxiously awaiting his safe return,” the statement said, according to The Associated Press.

The League of Righteous claimed on its Web site that the man was an American officer and said his abduction came in response to the U.S. military’s arrest of its members. The same group is believed to have kidnapped a British computer consultant, Peter Moore, and four of his bodyguards during a May 2007 raid on the Finance Ministry, where Moore worked.

Moore was freed last December. His release coincided with the transfer of the group’s leader, Laith Khazali, from American to Iraqi custody. Khazali was released last month and is now believed to be in Iran.

Three of Moore’s bodyguards died during captivity and their remains were returned to their families last year. The fate of the fourth remains unclear.