2nd missing U.S. serviceman found dead in Afghanistan

[bemildred]

Source: LA Times

Reporting from Camp Mike Spann, Afghanistan — The second of two American servicemen who disappeared last week in a Taliban-infested area south of the Afghan capital has been confirmed dead as well, a U.S. military official and Afghan authorities said Thursday.

The body of Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove was recovered and his family notified, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Newlove and his companion, Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin McNeley, were ambushed by Taliban fighters in Lowgar province on Friday. The Taliban initially said they had killed one of the men in a firefight and captured the other.

McNeley's body was recovered Sunday, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said earlier, and provincial spokesman Din Mohammed Darwesh said Newlove's remains were found Wednesday. It was not immediately known whether he had died of wounds suffered in the firefight or was killed by the insurgents while in their captivity.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-serviceman-dead-20100730,0,2284533.story

[secondwind]

1. I was afraid of this. my heart goes out to his family....... :-(

[Robb]

2. Damn.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hRk4PFSLQ7zte9IE6BxWpm2Ao9QQ">AFP has some grim details:

....The body was pulled out of the Logar River in Baraki Barak district by farmers at around 1:30 pm (0900 GMT) on Wednesday, district chief Mohammad Rahim Amin told AFP.

(snip)

Amin said that soon after farmers pulled the body from the swollen river, Taliban fighters took it to a nearby wheat field and surrounded it with landmines.

The body was later recovered by a NATO helicopter, which hovered over the mined site, Amin said. Military personnel descended by winch to lift the body into the helicopter, he said.....

RIP, Sailor. :(

[bemildred]

3. Damn indeed.

A long way from the sea, too.

[daleo]

6. That's a telling detail

It sort of sums things up - "Military personnel descended by winch to lift the body into the helicopter".

Some future Oliver Stone is bound to use that imagery, when this war is made into a movie.

[saigon68]

4. Another useless death for NOTHING

Well at least Karzai's clan has this years heroin production secured

[Lindablue]

5. Today, Karl Rove called Obama's handling of the Afgahnistan war "impressive"

13th paragraph.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703940904575395152474791466.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_BelowLEFTSecond

Rove: "Mr. Obama has acted impressively so far on Afghanistan. He changed strategy based on facts on the ground, increased our troops by tens of thousands, and picked exactly the right man to lead our military into battle."