My Jessica Lynch reference is vindicated

Recently I reported on the rescue of four kidnapped Egyptians in Iraq by American forces and commented: I hate to say this, but after all that's gone on for the past two-plus years, I wanted to preface this with: assuming this isn't a Jessica Lynch story.

Well...

There were contradictory versions of the men's release.

Swaif said that on Monday evening "they let us go in the street and after around 10 minutes we came across security forces who took us to the Egyptian embassy." He declined to say whether the forces were American or Iraqi.

Orascom chairman Naguib Sawairis told CNN that two of the four had been freed by US and Iraqi forces in a joint operation while the other two had escaped. He said one kidnapper was arrested.

"The kidnappers put them in the trunk of the car and they (the two) managed to break through this car and run away. They were shot at but they managed to come to our offices," Sawairis said.

[...]

The kidnappers of four Egyptian engineers held captive for 36 hours in Iraq, suspected them of working for the US forces, one of the freed men said.

[...]

The engineers were taken to a house where the kidnappers asked just one question: "Who do you work for?"

"We answered that we work for Orascom, building communication towers, and they said that they would make inquiries about our relations with the Americans. They treated us well," said Swaif.

[...]

"All four of us are going to have a holiday in Egypt, and we will then come back to Iraq to continue our work," said Swaif. His colleague nodded his agreement.
  Aljazeera article

I just don't know what to tell you.

Further Aljazeera reports this morning on current conditions in Iraq....

A leading fundraiser for an Islamic charity with alleged links to the Palestinian resistance group Hamas is to be deported from the US.

An immigration judge ruled on Tuesday that Abd al-Jabbar Hamdan, 44, should have known that his work for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development provided support to the group.

"Our laws prohibit aliens who are living here as our guests to use this country as a base to advocate terrorism or raise money for terrorist causes," said John Salter, Los Angeles chief counsel for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
  article

So how come he isn't going to Guantanamo?

The judge did not name the country where Hamdan would be deported to.

Oooh.

The suspected leader of an outlawed group in Kuwait has died while in police custody, according to news agencies in Kuwait.

[...]

A Kuwaiti journalist speaking to Aljazeera.net said al-Inizi was arrested on 31 January and was suspected of being a ring leader of a group known as The lions of the Island.

The group is said to have planned attacks on US convoys heading for Iraq, and is blamed for a number of shootouts in the country. They are also said to be critical of the governments' support of the US in the region.

[...]

Another alleged ring leader, his younger brother and so-called "right-hand man", Nasir al-Inizi, was among several others killed in what Kuwaiti security forces say was a security operation.

Al-Inizi was arrested with seven others after a nine hour shootout which left five people dead including a policeman. Seven people were arrested thereafter.

[...]

Amir Khalaif al-Inizi had reportedly died of a heart attack at the military hospital late on Tuesday evening, according to Kuwaiti news agencies. He was aged 29.

[...]

It has also been reported by state news agencies that he complained of breathing problems while being interrogated earlier on Tuesday.
  article

It is hard to breathe with a bag over your head and someone kneeling on your chest.

An Iraqi official has been captured and a journalist for a US-funded Arab television station killed in attacks that also saw four Iraqi police officers killed.
  article

A string of attacks including one at an army recruitment centre in Baghdad have left at least 30 people dead across Iraq.

The most serious of the attacks on Tuesday was a blast that targeted a queue of soldiers and recruits at a Baghdad army base, killing 15.

[...]

Elsewhere in the capital, unknown assailants ambushed the car of Mithal al-Alusi, a politician who favours normalising ties with Israel.

The politician survived, but two of his sons were killed together with a bodyguard.
Fourteen other people were reported killed in the north and south of Baghdad.

Four Iraqis were killed by bombs in Salah al-Din province and armed group Ansar al-Sunna said in an internet statement that it had killed an Iraqi it accused of working for US forces.

The bodies of two other people who worked on US bases were found near Tikrit – ousted leader Saddam Hussein's hometown.

At Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, two members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party were shot dead, while Iraqi soldiers killed two civilians who did not stop at a checkpoint near Baiji.

Croatia also said one of its truck drivers working in Iraq had been killed after his convoy carrying supplies for US troops was hit by a rocket.

Further south, two Iraqi men were shot dead apparently for voting in the elections and a woman council worker was seized in Mahmudiyah, police said.
  article