Photo By Staff Sgt. Brandon Pomrenke | 10-year-old Muthana Khalaf Misha'an, who was rescued from his kidnappers through...... read more read more
RAMADI, Iraq — As Iraqi security forces continue to bring down terrorist and insurgent networks, the availability of funding and safe havens are becoming more difficult for these illegal organizations to find, which may often lead to drastic measures.
"The insurgents' finance here has been cut off by the government." explained Col. Sa'ad Muhammed Hamoud, commander of the Al Anbar Iraqi Special Weapons and Tactics. "That's why they now go and kidnap people [for ransom]; to get their finances,"
To fund their operations, many groups who finance terrorism and insurgency have resorted to kidnapping innocent Iraqis from their homes.
"We have a feeling that the kidnappers asking for ransom [payments] are insurgents," said Sa'ad. "They take ransom to support insurgent operations."
In the case of the Sept. 15 kidnapping of 10-year-old Muthana Khalaf Misha'an, the kidnappers were smart, he said.
According to Sa'ad, they referred to one of the kidnappers as "The Ghost", due to the fact that he constantly moved from one location to another.
"Because he kept moving, we came up with a new plan and coordinated with the father and had him ask to talk to his son," Sa'ad said. "We were planning for every [possibility]."
Sa'ad played a brief portion of one of the recorded phone conversations between Muthana and his parents.
During the conversation, Muthana, frightened during his experience, pleaded with his father to rescue him. The boy cried out, "Dad, they want to sell me [to someone in Baghdad]. Dad, please help me. They are going to kill me!"
It was later determined by the ISF that during the conversation, one of the kidnappers used a second phone to talk to Muthana. While the boy and his parents were talking, the kidnapper held the speaker of one phone to another phone, which displaced the actual location of the kidnapper.
As ISF raids took place at various locations, the kidnappers constantly relocated in a tireless effort not to be found.
According to Muthana, they had taken him into the desert and left him alone at one point.
Muthana's father, Khalaf Misha'an, worked with Sa'ad and the ISWAT to buy more time to get the money to pay his son's ransom. During this time, the kidnappers came together in one location.
Security forces were then able to locate two of the kidnappers. The following day, two men, who were brothers, were arrested and taken into custody. While the arrest was took place, Muthana was able to place another phone call to his father and tell him where he was. Misha'an then called Sa'ad, who realized that he was not far from the boy's location.
Fearing capture, the remaining kidnappers had put Muthana in the trunk of a vehicle and drove him around in circles to confuse him before dropping him off in a neighborhood nearby. When they dropped him off, Muthana was able to find a concerned citizen who let him use the phone to call his father.
After his rescue and the arrests of the suspects, three individuals came forward and informed the authorities of the kidnappers' locations. These witnesses had previously been kidnapped by what ISF believe is the same group of individuals.
Following payment of ransom, these victims had been released, said Sa'ad.
When the ISF looked into the stories of the newly revealed kidnap victims, it was discovered that the kidnappers held ties to the insurgents and the ransom payments were to be used for supporting criminal and terrorist activity.
The diligence and joint efforts by the ISF helped this operation lead to the successful release of Muthana and the arrest of his captors.
"I was very happy [about the rescue]," said Sa'ad. "We had been tasked to the operation by the governor and the Provincial Chief of Police. We didn't even celebrate Eid [the three-day celebration marking the end of Ramadan] because we were working so hard to find him."
Misha'an was also a previous kidnap victim.
When he worked as the communications chief throughout Al Anbar in Aug.2004, men with ties to the insurgency began working within his company. When he refused to work for and participate with these men, he was taken from outside his work and held captive, said Misha'an.
"I asked them why they had kidnapped me, [and] they said "because you never helped us with finance," he explained. "I knew then they were from an Al Qaida group. They kept me for seven days until my brother was able to collect the money and pay the ransom.
At that time, there was no government and no power. Either they would behead the hostage, or the hostage paid the ransom."
"When they kidnapped my son, they used the same tone, Misha'an continued. "When I met Col. Sa'ad, I trusted myself and it gave me courage."
Sa'ad and ISWAT personnel involved kept Misha'an informed of the progress being made regularly. They even asked for his help in talking to the kidnappers.
"The kidnapper knew he was being watched, but I was telling him the most important thing to me was my son," Misha'an said. "I was on the phone with them for 10 days. Each minute felt like one year of my life. I was thinking even if I could afford the ransom, he could get away with it and he will do it again and again to other people."
Cooperating with the ISWAT allowed the ISF more time to find the kidnappers and arrest those responsible. The fact that Khalaf was willing to work with the security forces may be an example of the progress made in recent years. Although some supply and finance chains may have been severed, there is still work to be done to find other willing kidnappers. As fewer options became available for financiers of terrorism, trained criminals may continue to help them.
"Those kidnappers are well trained. They have experience," said Misha'an. "This kidnapping is worse than death. I knew if I paid and other people paid, all this money is going to buy explosives for IEDs or [vehicle-borne] IEDs."
The courage of those who came forward to witness against the kidnappers may help authorities keep them detained. Their testimonies may be used in court to prosecute them according to Iraq's Rule of Law and keep neighborhoods safe.
"In this case, we saw a lot of citizens' support, which gave us a lot of power and courage to continue," said Sa'ad. "By detaining those individuals, it gave courage to some [of those] people to come and [speak out], and there are more on the way."
For Muthana and his family, ISWAT units and security forces from Al Anbar came to the rescue and not only helped save a young boy, but were able to arrest some of the men responsible.
"Getting back Muthana in our arms [is when] our lives started again," said Misha'an.
| Date Taken: | 10.08.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 10.08.2009 09:27 |
| Story ID: | 39824 |
| Location: | RAMADI, IQ |
| Web Views: | 512 |
| Downloads: | 447 |
This work, Al Anbar ISWAT rescues boy, disrupts kidnapping organization, by SSG Brandon Pomrenke, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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