Radio news reports at 520 AM, Eastern Time, state that one of the three GIs missing since the observation post south of Baghdad in Mahmudiya was over run on May 12th has been found, floating in the Tigris River. He was shot in the chest and head.

US forces have been conducting intensive house-to-house searches for the missing soldiers since the 12th.

The news is disheartening, although not unexpected, since this was the fate of GIs captured last year.

In the aftermath of the latest captures the Guardian reported,

In a Web posting, the Islamic State of Iraq, an insurgent alliance that includes al-Qaida, demanded that the Americans stop the search because it will ``lead to nothing but exhaustion.''

``Your soldiers are in our hands. If you want their safety, do not search for them,'' the statement said.

It also suggested that the weekend ambush was in revenge for the rape-murder of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi by American soldiers in the area last year. Five soldiers have been charged in the case, and three have pleaded guilty.

``You should remember what you have done to our sister Abeer in the same very area,'' the statement said. ``In the war against you, sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.''

The message went on mock the ``invincible'' image of the U.S. soldier.

At the time Professor Juan Cole noted pessimistically,

The deployment of 4,000 US troops to search for 3 captured GIs, however honorable and necessary, underscores the increasing futility of the US military presence in Iraq. If they were truly doing essential counter-insurgency, then there shouldn't be a spare 4,000 troops for a search mission. The guerrillas are not resting on their mortar shells, after all. And, that the main mission of the 4,000 should be to find their captured colleagues is tragic. The guerrillas can tie down an entire brigade or two any time they like by grabbing some exposed GIs? What kind of a military mission does that imply? As for the idea apparently prevalent among some US military personnel that the good people of the Triangle of Death will like the Americans more if only they see them searching through their underthings in their dresser drawers looking for bomb parts, surely you jest.

In the same column of that date, Professor Cole notes that the US military has blocked access to his webpage.

A sensible man should not be surprised.