On May 12th, three GIs from the 10th Mountain Division were taken captive near Mahmoudiya.

After three soldiers were captured near Mahmoudiya, there was a massive effort to recover their bodies. Michael Kamber of the NY Times accompanied one patrol from the 10th Mtn Division.

Crooks and Liars has archived a five minute oral report here, with accompanying photos.

One soldier was subsequently found dead in the Euphrates River.

The 10th cycled home within the last month without avenging their lost buddies. Now it appears one of the resisters who overran the outpost may have been captured.

BAGHDAD — A raid by 2nd Cavalry (Stryker) Regiment soldiers netted an alleged al-Qaida in Iraq operative who soldiers said was linked to the May 12 abduction of three 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division soldiers.

The three were taken in an attack that killed four other U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi soldier. The body of one of the missing soldiers, Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr., was discovered in the Euphrates River in late May but the Army is still searching for the other two soldiers — Pvt. Byron Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich., and Spc. Alex Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass.

Dragoons from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment’s Company E, 2nd Squadron, raided several houses in Baghdad’s Hadar neighborhood early Monday morning after a tip that Abu Raquyyah was in one of them.

OK, he’s alleged, and US jails in Iraq are full of “alleged” “al Qaeda” members, but maybe they had some accurate information, for a change. GJWD to the Dragoons.

Raquyyah is linked to an al-Qaida in Iraq cell believed responsible for the soldiers’ abduction, according to Maj. Christopher Davis, 2nd Squadron operations officer.

Company E soldiers moved by moonlight to a group of houses, only a short walk from their base at Combat Outpost Blackfoot, then smashed their way into several buildings, clearing rooms as they went.

Raquyyah was unarmed and surrendered without a fight when soldiers entered the house he shared with a woman and four children.

Company E 1st Sgt. Eric Geressy said informants provided the tip that Raquyyah recently moved into the area from the town of Yusafiyah, near where the soldiers were abducted.

Geressy said that, according to the informants, Raquyyah — also allegedly responsible for bomb attacks on coalition forces — held several meetings with other insurgents in Hadar in an effort to re-establish al-Qaida there.

Two or three years from now Abu Raquyyah might actually be brought to trial, just in case the information was right, and the interrogations he goes through don’t kill him. Hopefully we’ll find out what happened to the missing soldiers. Or maybe we’ll find out that he was innocent, and was reported to settle a personal feud. Apparently that happens a lot in Iraq.

Not the best possible resolution for the 10th Mountain troops, but maybe it will make them sleep easier until they cycle back to the sandbox in 2 years.

The Stars and Stripes article details an unsuccessful search for the missing soldiers’ bodies based upon a tip from a relative who said her brother was involved in the killings.

On Nov. 16, soldiers detained another man suspected in the soldiers’ abductions.

Ibrahim Abid Aboud al-Janabi was detained after his sister, who says her family imprisoned and tortured her, told soldiers that al-Janabi mutilated and buried the two soldiers’ remains in a sand pit a quarter of a mile from their home near Owesat, southwest of Baghdad.

Troops have dug for remains and used search dogs and imaging equipment, but no official word has been released on their results.