Free the Captives: Witness Against Illegal Detention and Torture

There was no news on Friday, January 27 of Tom Fox and the other three CPT peaceworkers, now held captive in Iraq.for more than two months.

from Aljazeera:German hostages plead for help

Two German hostages held in Iraq have appealed to their government to help secure their release, in a video aired by Aljazeera.

The two German engineers, who disappeared in northern Iraq on Tuesday, were shown on their knees in front of four kidnappers on the video shown by the television station on Friday. [...]

At least five foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq this month, including two Kenyan communications engineers missing after an ambush in Baghdad on 18 January.

from the Associated Press:Murtha Says Iraq Is Now a 'Civil War'

U.S. troops will leave Iraq by the end of the year due to political pressure in a Congressional election year, Rep. John Murtha predicted.

Murtha, a decorated Vietnam veteran from Johnstown, created a firestorm in November when he called for troops to be pulled out of Iraq. On Thursday, he told editors and reporters from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that the war in Iraq is a civil war and the U.S. should disengage.

"Our troops are the target," Murtha told the newspaper. "We're not fighting terrorism in Iraq. We're fighting a civil war in Iraq. We've got to give them an incentive. We fought our Civil War. Let them fight their civil war." [...]

He wants U.S. troops to be redeployed to Kuwait and areas around Iraq. He predicted there will be fewer than 100,000 troops by midsummer and that the pullout by the end of the year.

"We're not cutting and running. We're giving the Iraqis incentive to take over," he said.