Bodies of missing US soldiers found in Iraq

The 2 missing soldiers we’ve been looking for in Iraq have been found, unfortunately dead. Initial reports indicate that they were tortured and “killed in a barbaric way.”

The bodies of two U.S. soldiers who were reported missing have been recovered, and an Iraqi official said Tuesday the men were “killed in a barbaric way.”

At a press conference in Baghdad, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell confirmed that the remains, found late Monday by U.S. troops, were believed to be those of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore.

Caldwell said the cause of death was “undeterminable” and that DNA tests would be conducted to verify the identities.

The two disappeared after an attack Friday at a traffic checkpoint outside the city of Youssifiyah, just south of Baghdad. Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was killed in the attack. The three men were assigned to the 502nd Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky.

The director of the Iraqi defense ministry’s operation room, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, said the bodies showed signs of having been tortured. “They were killed in a barbaric way,” he said.

My thoughts and prayers go to the families of these men.