U.S. Marines suspended assistance and reconstruction projects in a suburb of the restive city of Fallujah on Sunday, after an interpreter working for the Marines was abducted. Three masked men seized the interpreter, Hassan Abdul-Hadi, when he went to a restaurant to buy tea for his comrades, Iraqi officer Ziad Abed said. A Marine quick response team cordoned the restaurant in Karma, about 40 miles west of the capital Baghdad, said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. A house-to-house search failed to find the translator.
Byrne demanded Abdul-Hadi’s safe return in a meeting of local officials Sunday. "Hassan is a father of small children, he is not a member of the military but a civilian who is helping bridge the communication gap here," Byrne told the elders. All assistance and rebuilding projects will be "suspended indefinitely until Hassan is found," Byrne said. He urged the elders to "use their influence" to get the interpreter back. "Those who kidnapped Hassan represent the worst of this society," Byrne told the elders. "I need you to find him." |