Body is of last missing G.I. from Iraq War

The U.S. military announced Sunday that it has recovered the remains of the last American service member who was unaccounted for in Iraq, an Army interpreter seized by gunmen after sneaking off base to visit his Iraqi wife in Baghdad during the height of the insurgency.

The remains of Staff Sgt. Ahmed al-Taie, who was 41 when militiamen seized him on Oct. 23, 2006, were positively identified at the military's mortuary in Dover, Del., the Army said in a statement released Sunday. Army officials said they had no further details about the circumstances surrounding his death or the discovery of his remains.

Al-Taie's brother, Hathal Al-Taie, of Ann Arbor, Mich., told The Associated Press the military officer who visited the family's home said the remains are still in Dover, but that he didn't know the circumstances surrounding the death.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad did not respond to a request for comment late Sunday.

Family members say Ahmed al-Taie was eager to help his native Iraq rebuild after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and ouster of Saddam Hussein. He met his wife during a trip to Iraq shortly after Saddam fell, while he was still a civilian, and in December 2004 he joined an Army Reserve program for native speakers of Arabic. He was deployed to Iraq in November 2005 and was assigned to a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Baghdad until he was kidnapped the following year.