IRAQ: Authorities Identify Remains Of Two American Contractors

The FBI identified one of the two men as John R. Young, 44, of Lee's
Summit, Mo. Young was the team leader of a private security convoy
ambushed in southern Iraq on Nov. 16, 2006. Five guards -- four
Americans and an Austrian -- were seized in that attack.




The second man was identified as Ronald J. Withrow, 40, of Roaring
Springs, Tex. Withrow was abducted Jan. 5, 2007, but reportedly had
been held with the five other men, who worked for Crescent Security
Group, which is based in Kuwait. Withrow worked for JPI Worldwide,
based in Las Vegas.




The abductions threw new light on the lawlessness and corruption in
Iraq's booming and scarcely regulated private security services. The
case took a macabre turn last month when severed fingers of five of
the six missing men were delivered to U.S. authorities in Baghdad.
Only Young's finger was not among them.




The fate of the remaining hostages is unknown. Sources familiar with
the investigation said that U.S. authorities had recovered three
unidentified bodies and were in the process of recovering one more.
The bodies were found near the southern city of Basra, not far from
where the convoy attack took place, the sources said.




Mark Munns, whose son Josh, 25 and a Marine veteran, worked for
Crescent, said he had become extremely pessimistic. "I know 99.99
percent that my son is dead," he said in a phone interview from
his home near Redding, Calif.




The FBI expressed its condolences and said the investigation was
continuing but did not mention the other hostages. "This is an
open investigation, and the FBI, working with our partners in the
Hostage Working Group in Iraq, will continue to aggressively
investigate every available lead in order to identify, apprehend, and
bring to justice those responsible for this heinous criminal act,"
the bureau said in a statement.




Young's mother, Sharon DeBrabander, said FBI agents delivered the news
Sunday night at her home near Kansas City. She said she was stunned,
in part because Young's finger had not been included in the grisly
package sent to U.S. authorities in February.




"I never dreamed it was John because they hadn't found his
finger," she said. "It just knocked me for a loop. I looked
at them like, 'What are you guys doing here?' It was 8 o'clock on
Easter night."




In some ways, DeBrabander said, the news was a relief. "I felt
like a weight was lifted a little bit," she said in a phone
interview. "Sixteen months is a long time to wonder where your
kid is. Of course I wanted it to turn out differently, but I felt
grateful that at least I'd be getting him back." DeBrabander said
the FBI had not provided information about when her son was killed or
how he was located.




Patrick Reuben, a Minneapolis police officer whose twin brother Paul
was Crescent's medic before his capture, said he expected to receive
additional information about the other hostages this week.




Francis Cote, whose 25-year-old son Jonathon, a former U.S. Army
paratrooper, is also missing, said he had called DeBrabander to offer
his condolences. "Our hearts go out to the two families that have
lost their loved ones," said Cote, a computer technician from
Getzville, N.Y. "We have become close friends during this whole
thing."




Cote added, "We are anxious to find out more news."




The other hostage is Burt Nussbaumer, 26 and a native of Austria.




Private security firms expanded rapidly in Iraq because of chronic
troop shortages and the insurgency. The Pentagon estimates that at
least 20,000 hired guns operate in Iraq, but other estimates place the
number at nearly 50,000 or higher. Crescent operated out of a Kuwait
City villa and sent convoys into Iraq almost daily.

On the day of the ambush, Crescent sent out seven guards to protect a
convoy of 37 tractor-trailers and failed to register the mission with
a ground-control center in Baghdad's Green Zone. Among other things,
the command center helps mobilize an emergency response by the
military in case of attack.




About 40 assailants -- some wearing business suits, others in Iraqi
police uniforms and masks -- descended on the convoy after it stopped
at a fake checkpoint.

Attempts to reach the
company's managing partner, Franco Picco, by telephone were
unsuccessful.