| Ahmed Kousay Altaie | |
|---|---|
then-Specialist Ahmed Kousay Altaie, United States Army |
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| Born | July 22, 1965 |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 2004 - |
| Rank | Staff Sergeant (Promoted in absence) |
| Unit | Provincial Reconstruction Team Baghdad |
| Battles/wars | Iraq War |
Staff Sergeant Ahmed Kousay Altaie (born July 22, 1965) is an Iraqi American United States Army linguist soldier, who was captured on October 23, 2006 in Baghdad.
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At the age of nine he emigrated with his family from Iraq to the United Kingdom and received his primary and high school education.[1] He then attended a technical school and earned his degree. Altaie is from Ann Arbor, Michigan and his parents are Kousay and Nawal Altaie. He was married to Linda Racey, but they later divorced and remained friends.[2] He later married an Iraqi woman, Israa Abdul-Satar.
Altaie enlisted in the United States Army Reserve in December 2004. He was mobilized in August 2005 and deployed to Iraq in November 2005.[3]
On October 23, 2006, Altaie was in the Karrada neighborhood in central Baghdad, Iraq to visit the family of his wife, Israa Abdul-Satar, a student at al-Mustansiriya University. He was kidnapped along with his brother-in-law by armed men and forced into a waiting vehicles outside. His wife's brother was freed that evening but Altaie was not.
It was first reported that Altaie had violated military rules by marrying an Iraqi woman, as soldiers are generally forbidden from marrying citizens of a country where American forces are occupying. However, on November 2, 2006, Major General William B. Caldwell stated that Altaie 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 Altaie 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 Altaie, 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 Altaie 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, November 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 Altaie.[4]
On February 14, 2007, a proof of life video of Ahmed was posted on a militant Shiite website. A previously unknown group called the "Ahel al-Beit Brigades" claimed responsibility for Altaie's abduction. The eight second video showed Altaie reading from a paper but no audio was heard. He appeared thin but in good health. His uncle identified him as the man in the video. Altaie has not been seen or heard from since. In February 2010, A Shiite militia group called Asaib al-Haq claimed that they received Altaie's body from his captors.[5][6]
Altaie is the only American serviceman still missing in Iraq. He was captured when he was the rank of Specialist and has since been promoted to Staff Sergeant.[7]
There is also a Facebook support page created by U.S. Army Retired Captain James Văn Thạch that connects supporters calling for the freedom of Altaie, which has over 6,000 members.[8]