Deputy speaker of Iraq’s National Assembly,
Qusay al-Souhail,
with Randy Michaels, an American that Washington claims was
a civilian. Michaels was apparently abducted last year by
the
Promised Day Brigade, a militia loyal to America’s
old nemesis
Moqtada al-Sadr. The group claims Michaels was a U.S. soldier
captured in 2011, and that the U.S. is too ashamed to admit it.
Sotal
Iraq, Iraq
Promised Day Brigade Asserts Released
Captive Was U.S. Soldier
“U.S. Embassy claims that he is not a
soldier are a desperate attempt to cover up the epic failure of U.S. occupation
forces in Iraq, and Washington’s reluctance to disclose the dimensions of that
loss to the American people. It wishes to avoid inciting further bitterness
over the defeat that befell it at the hands of the great nation of Iraq.”
Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr: One of America's greatest adversaries during the recently-ended occupation. al-Sadr decided that releasing an American hostage would be a good way to improve the public image of Islam, which he apparently considers tarnished by recent history.
BAGHDAD: The Promised Day Brigade, the armed wing of the Sadrist movement, said on Friday that the man cleric Moqtada
al-Sadr ordered released held the rank of
corporal in the U.S. military, and was not a civilian, as was claimed by the U.S. Embassy in
Bagdad after his release. His name is Randi Michaels.
In a statement
issued today, which was obtained by the Al-Sumaria
News, the Promised Day Brigade denied the assertions of the American
Embassy in Baghdad that, “the prisoner, who was released last week by members of
the Islamic resistance in Iraq, was an American civilian who had come to Iraq
for private business.” His release came about after Muqtada
al-Sadr ordered his release as a humane gesture and a
reflection of the genuine religious faith pursued by the resistance.
The
statement said the Embassy’s claim was “a desperate attempt to cover up the
epic failure of U.S. occupation forces in Iraq, and Washington’s reluctance to disclose
the dimensions of that loss to the American people. It wishes to avoid inciting
further bitterness over the defeat that befell it at the hands of the great nation
of Iraq.”
The statement
stressed that the Brigade, “has shown the ID card of the American soldier, Corporal
Randy Michael Hultz, who was ordered released by our
resistance leader. This has been done to invalidate the falsehoods of the liars,
who are trying desperately to poison the honey of the Brigade’s humane gesture
before the world.”
Posted by Worldmeets.US
The Sadrist movement, led by Muqtada al-Sadr, announced on March 17 that The Promised Day Brigade, a
militia associated with the movement, would release an American soldier it had
held prisoner since 2011.
In 2004 in an
engagement called “The Battle of
Najaf,” Muqtada al-Sadr’s
movement clashed with the Iraqi government and the U.S. Army. In the spring of
2008, in central Bagdad and cities north of the city, the Sadrists
fought another battle against Iraqi security forces that is known as “The
Charge of the Knights.” That battle led to the demobilisation of movement’s Mahdi Army
and its abandonment of an armed wing.
Over recent
years, the Promised Day Brigade, whose members formed part of the Mahdi Army, has claimed responsibility for bombarding U.S. military
bases with mortar shells and Katyusha
rockets. The group asserts that the attacks resulted in many deaths and injuries
to U.S. soldiers.
The United
States concluded its official presence in Iraq on December 31, 2011, nine years
after its 2003 military invasion, and the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein, which was a decision made by former U.S. President George W. Bush.
