Imprisoned American soldier looks scared

20-year old Keit Mopin (Batavia, Ohaio), soldier of military reserve platoon 724, was taken prisoner by Iraqi combatants when they attacked the column of trucks he was guarding near Baghdad.
Last week foreigners were taken hostages in Iraq every day. Later some of them were set free with apologies, there is no information on the others. At night of April 16 the US military faced another problem: several TV Channels broadcast the images of the imprisoned American soldier. This is the first case of US soldier being imprisoned after so-called “active phase” of Iraqi war ended. 

The cassette with the images of the US prisoner was passed to the US Embassy in Qatar by Al-Jazeera reporters. American diplomats sent the cassette to Baghdad, to the US Central Command in Iraq. At the same time, the images were broadcast by Qatar TV Channels.

Keit Mpoin was among the people whose faces were covered with kerchiefs. One of the combatants said that they were ready to exchange Moрin to one of the prisoners detained by the occupying forces. Until this moment the American will be treated “as the Islamic religion requests.

In turn, Mopin said that he had come to Iraq “against his will”. “I came to liberate Iraq, but against my will because I wanted to stay at home with my child”. The American prisoner looks healthy, but very scared.

Currently one American soldier and 7 civilians are imprisoned by Iraqis. In recent days, totally 21 foreigner was imprisoned by combatants, but many of them were released later. The USA even called the countries which are not in the coalition, to deploy their troops in Iraq to create new forces “for providing stability”.

Fedor Vinter