NunoftheAbove

Update:  11/20/08

The Iraqi thought to be responsible for Staff Sgt. Maupin’s abduction and murder of an Army reservist from Ohio and other deadly attacks over several years was killed in an American raid in Baghdad, the U.S. military said Thursday.

U.S. forces acting on a tip carried out the raid Nov. 11 in Baghdad’s Mansour neighborhood, killing Hajji Hammadi and another armed insurgent, the military statement.

His father, Keith Maupin, said he got a call from the Pentagon on Wednesday telling him that Hammadi had been killed.

“They told me they killed him on Veterans Day,” Maupin said. “Ain’t that appropriate.”

He said the Army knew that Hammadi was in the videotape.

“They told me he was the tall guy standing behind Matt,” Maupin said. “He was the only tall guy there.”

“The removal of Hajji Hammadi from the AQI (Al Qaeda in Iraq) network is yet another significant blow to the terrorist organization,” Brig. Gen. David Perkins said.

Source

Matt Maupin was captured April 9, 2004 when the convoy he was in was attacked by Iraqi insurgents in Baghdad. Later video showed Matt being held by his captors and later another blurred video indicated that he had been executed. His body, however, was not recovered until recently.

He is only one of 4,000 but the tragedy was extended for three years as his family and friends waited for the final closure to come. That happened Sunday when an Army general came to the Maupin’s home to deliver the news that his body had been located and would be coming home.

The Glen Este High School graduate was the only U.S. military member still listed as missing-captured in Iraq. Military officials identified the remains through DNA, Keith Maupin said. He said he wasn’t told where the remains had been found.

Read Michelle Maulkins’ blog here

The Maupin family adopted a saying during their vigil waiting for the final news to come about their loved one.

Odo Nnyew Fie Kwan Frame (”Love Never Loses Its Way Home”), a West African proverb, is used in Iraq among the troops to describe the search for Staff Sergeant Maupin. The Maupin family also used the phrase as a cornerstone for their hope that Matt would one day return home.

Condolences can be left for the Maupin family at the Yellow Ribbon Website.

The tragedy of Matt’s death will only be multiplied if his sacrifice is lost to the politicians who would use the war in Iraq as a tool to advance their own agendas.

Originally published March 31, 2008