Iraqi Al Qaeda Releaes Video Showing Abuse of US Soldiers' Bodies

The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here.

A video has been released by Iraqi Al Qaeda on the Internet that apparently shows the mutilation of the bodies of 2 US soldiers, Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, and Pfc. Thomas Tucker. Both men vanished on June 16 after an attack on a checkpoint in Karagol, near Jurf As Sakhr, south of Baghdad. Their badly mutilated bodies were found in Jurf as Sakhr 3 days later.

A video of their badly mutilated bodies on a bridge over a canal, apparently in Jurf as Sakhr, was released around the time of the incident. Warning: it is pretty nasty stuff.

One man, apparently Tucker, has been beheaded. The head is sitting a ways away from the body is a displayed by Arabs in sandals who walk among the bodies during the videos.

Tucker has also apparently had his genitals removed and most of the internal organs in his chest are missing, apparently as part of an operation to remove his heart. Menchaca's body is much less mutilated, but it appears that maybe his tongue has been removed, and possibly also his nose. The video is shot on a bridge over a canal, apparently in Jurf as Sakhr.

This blog has a thorough write-up of the entire episode in two previous posts - Map of the Triangle of Death and New Details of How Tucker and Menchaca Were Killed. The description in the latter post is one of the most thorough descriptions on the net of the details of the men's killings and the subsequent outrages upon their bodies.

The posts also have some nice photos of the area in question, one of the most detailed maps on the Internet of the Triangle of Death where the whole mess went down and a theory on the exact building in Jurf As Sakhr where I think much of the mutilations took place.

The articles also discuss the widely varying accounts of the attack itself in an attempt to reconcile what really happened.

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