The numbers are grim and they reflect an even grimmer reality: For anyone wearing a U.S. uniform, being captured in Iraq may be a fate worse than death.
The stark reality is that the enemy takes no prisoners, only hostages.
More than 2,500 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq and another 10,000 seriously injured, but only three have been captured by the enemy since the conflict shifted from toppling Saddam Hussein's regime in the spring of 2003 to battling a brutal insurgency.
The mutilated remains of two of those turned up yesterday. The third, Army Sergeant Keith Maupin, remains officially listed as "missing" more than two years after he was seized, this despite a grainy video that Islamic extremists say shows his execution by a shot to the back of the head.
In the earliest stages of the war, other U.S. soldiers were captured, including the now-famous instance of Private Jessica Lynch and several others driving a supply convoy that took a wrong turn. She was eventually rescued from an Iraqi hospital by special forces. A pair of Apache helicopter pilots were similarly rescued.
Now, avoiding capture at almost any cost is seared into the overarching U.S. strategy in Iraq, as well as the street smarts of individual soldiers.
Torture and beheadings, often despite anguished, videotaped pleadings for mercy, of civilian captives has only elevated the already high priorities placed on force protection and a fierce determination to avoid capture at all costs.
Sgt. Maupin, a reservist, was captured April 9, 2004, close to Baghdad International Airport. A week later, gun-toting Islamic insurgents released a videotape showing him looking distraught. Two months later another videotape, purportedly of his execution, was released, but U.S. officials say it is inconclusive.
Since then scores of raids have failed to find him. So, too, have countless efforts to track down reports of his burial site.
"We cannot recognize the call to duty or mention heroes without taking a moment to remember the only American soldier who remains missing in Iraq," Lieutenant-General James Helmly, commander of the reserves, said this spring.
A doctrine of force protection, including never leaving units too small and too vulnerable -- so that they are able to take casualties and still avoid capture -- pervades all U.S. military activities in Iraq.
It apparently broke down last Friday, although the details remain cloudy.
Three Humvees and about a dozen soldiers reportedly were maintaining a checkpoint near a canal close to the Euphrates River. According to unconfirmed reports, the checkpoint came under attack from several directions, and two of the Humvees and all but three soldiers counter-attacked at the location of some of the incoming fire.
That left only three soldiers at the checkpoint. They were overwhelmed by gunmen, according to a farmer who said he witnessed the battle.
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Propaganda pawns
Although forbidden by the rules of war, captured troops are often used for propaganda purposes:
Serb soldiers in 1999 chained Canadian peacekeeper Patrick Rechner to a lightning rod at an ammunition bunker in the Bosnian city of Pale, warning that he'd be among the first to die if NATO didn't stop air strikes.
His image appeared several times on television during the 24 days he was held.
U.S. Black Hawk pilot Michael Durant was among captured UN soldiers held as human shields in 1993 by Somali warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid.
Videotape showed the pilot bloodied and dishevelled. He was released after 11 days.
North Korea captured the spy ship USS Pueblo in international waters in 1968, killing one crew member and holding 82 others.
The seaman were filmed and photographed in staged settings to suggest they were being well treated and had decided to defect.
The men, however, often gave the camera "the finger" and once used sign language to spell out "snowjob."
They were released 11 months after their capture once the U.S. acknowledged they had been spying, apologized and gave an assurance they would not engage in espionage in the future.
The admission, apology and assurance were retracted as soon as the crewmen were freed.
U.S. pilot John McCain, now a senator, was shot down and captured by the North Vietnamese in 1967.
As the son of the Pacific Command admiral, he was paid particular attention and was tortured into reading an anti-American propaganda message.
He was released in 1973.
Staff
