Keith Maupin, R.I.P.

From Associated Press:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Militants shot an American soldier held hostage in the back of the head saying the killing was because of U.S. government policy in Iraq, Al-Jazeera television said Tuesday, hours after Washington transferred sovereignty in Iraq to an interim government.

The Arab-language station reported that the slain soldier was Spc. Keith M. Maupin, but the U.S. military said it could not immediately confirm whether a man shown being shot in a murky videotape was indeed Maupin, who was taken hostage after an April 9 attack outside Baghdad.

The report did not say when Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, was killed.


Reports on this depressing subject have been strange. The military continues its line that we can't be sure it was, in fact, Maupin, but the media continues reporting that he is definitely dead. Either way, this is a sad turn of events, and I wish his family the best. He died serving his country, and they should be proud of that. As for his cowardly murderers, may they reap the reward they so justly deserve.