Baghdad, Iraq – The U.S. military confirmed today that a kidnapped soldier was an Iraq-American man who was married to an Iraqi woman.
Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell identified him as Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, a 41-year-old reserve soldier.
The military spokesman said there was “an ongoing dialogue” in a bid to win the soldier’s release, but he would not say with whom or at what level.
Al-Taayie was visiting his Iraqi wife when he was handcuffed and taken away by gunmen during a visit to the woman’s family, Caldwell said.
The soldier’s name had been widely published after a woman claiming to be his mother-in-law told the story of the interpreter’s secret marriage three months ago and his abduction on Oct. 23.
Caldwell, however, said that the soldier and his wife were married in February 2005 and he didn’t arrive in Baghdad until November 2005.
“So he has every right, of course, as an American soldier to marry whomever he wants. … At the time he was abducted, his wife was in country here, in Baghdad,” he said.
Caldwell said the United States believed the soldier was still in the custody of his abductors and that there was “an ongoing dialogue” to win his release. He did not elaborate.
