Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie

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Specialist Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie (pronounced: AH'-meht KOO'-say ahl tah-YEE')(b. ca. 1965) is a Iraqi American United States Army linguist soldier, who was kidnapped on October 23, 2006 in Baghdad.

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[edit] Early life

Al-Taayie is from Ann Arbor, Michigan and his parents are Kousay and Nawal al-Taayie.

[edit] Military service

On October 23, 2006, Al-Taayie was visting the Karrada Shiite neighborhood in central Baghdad, Iraq to see his wife Israa Abdul-Satar's (student at al-Mustansariyah University) family. He was kidnapped along with his cousin by armed men and taken into a waiting vehicles outside. His cousin was freed later that evening but Ahmed remained in the kidnappers possession.

Al-Taayie had violated military rules to marry an Iraqi woman. The rules state that military regulations forbid soldiers from marrying citizens of a country where American forces are engaged in combat. On November 2, 2006, Major General William B. Caldwell stated that Ahmed and his wife were married in February 2005 but he didn't arrive in Baghdad until November 2005.

On November 2, 2006, a ransom demand for Al-Taayie was relayed to his uncle Entifad Qanbar, a former spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress and recently an official in the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. Qanbar made contact with an intermediary trusted by the kidnappers. In a secret location in Baghdad, the mediator met with members of the group who showed Qanbar a grainy video on a cell phone screen of a man they claimed was al-Taayie, beaten up and bloody and demanded $250,000 from the soldier's family to secure his release.

Qanbar stated that he wouldn't talk about a price until he had seen for himself some proof that Al-Taayie was still breathing. Qanbar suggested they have his nephew describe the inside of his home in Ann Arbor or that the kidnappers photograph the soldier holding a current newspaper by Saturday, Nov. 4, at 12:00pm.

The U.S. government said Saturday, November 11 that it was offering a US $50,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of Al-Taayie.[1]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ (November 11 2006) "U.S. offers US$50,000 (€38,868) for information leading to recovery of U.S. soldier missing in Baghdad". Associated Press.

[edit] See also

  • SSG Matt Maupin - He was captured by Iraqi insurgents on April 9, 2004 while serving in the Iraq War.
  • Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun - He served in the United States Marine Corps and was allegedly seized on June 19, 2004. It was later determined to be a hoax and Wassef fled to Lebanon.

[edit] External links

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