News-Info-Alerts

Re: 2 MIA Soldiers Found KIA

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: June 29, 2003

"Missing U.S. Soldiers Found Dead North of Baghdad

By EDMUND L. ANDREWS The New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq (news - web sites), June 28 — The bodies of two American soldiers missing since Wednesday have been discovered, a senior Army officer said today.

The two soldiers and their Humvee had disappeared near the town of Balad, 25 miles north of Baghdad. Military officials conducted an intensive search by air and ground for the men, and one official said searchers located the missing vehicle about 6 p.m. on Friday.


The military refused to give any details about how they died or how they might have been abducted.


The two soldiers are Sgt. 1st Class Gladimir Philippe, 37, of Linden, N.J., and Pfc. Kevin Ott, 27, of Columbus, Ohio..


In Roselle, N.J., Reneese Philippe, the father of Sergeant Philippe, said this morning, "people say the war is over. But the war is not over."


The area in which the two men disappeared is near an arc of cities that have been strongholds of conservative Sunni Muslims, including many former military officers and others who benefited from the government of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).


Today's announcement left a host of questions unanswered. One is how two heavily armed soldiers and their armored military vehicle could have been taken without the report of a struggle or of gunfire.


A Pentagon (news - web sites) official said the bodies had been recovered about 15 miles north of Baghdad and the Humvee about 35 miles north of the capital.


Army criminal investigators have been assigned to determine what happened at the scene. He said four Iraqis have been detained for questioning, but whether as witnesses or suspects was not made clear.
The two soldiers worked as sentries in a large cordoned-off zone where the Americans have tried to destroy armaments of the former government. They would have had radios for contact with fellow sentries nearby. It is an area where reinforcements could have come quickly if a call for help had been made. The exact scene, whether urban or rural, has not been described.


Sergeant Philippe and Private Ott did not answer a radio check at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the Pentagon. A patrol started to search for them later that morning.
The two deaths are the latest confirmed in a lengthening series of attacks that have left at least a half-dozen American soldiers dead and many more wounded in just the last week. Six British soldiers also died this week in Iraq.


Pentagon officials say that the losses do not undermine American military operations in Iraq.


Speaking last weekend, President Bush (news - web sites) addressed the threat to American soldiers, saying that "dangerous pockets of the old regime remain loyal to it, and they, along with their terrorist allies, are behind deadly attacks designed to kill and intimidate coalition forces and innocent Iraqis."


He said, "our military is acting decisively against these threats."
Since May 1, when President Bush declared the main military action over in Iraq, at least 61 American troops have died, 23 of them in attacks.


Hoping to strike back at what looks like an organized campaign of guerrilla warfare, American military commanders are greatly expanding the number of systematic house-by-house searches throughout Baghdad and much of central Iraq.


The Army has carried out dozens of raids on individual neighborhoods, some of them involving 500 soldiers, and there are signs that much larger sweeps may occur in the days ahead.


About 146,000 American troops are occupying Iraq. Of these, about 28,000 are assigned to maintain security, according to President Bush.


Sergeant Philippe's father said his son joined the Army in the 1980's, and traveled to Haiti with President Clinton (news - web sites), served in the first gulf war (news - web sites) and went to Bosnia. "He loved being in the military," the elder Mr. Philippe said. "He got to go to a lot of places. That was one of the things he liked most."


Sergeant Philippe, who was 37, had a 10-year-old son and a former wife, both living in Germany, Mr. Philippe said.

Copyright © 2003 The New York Times Company"