Official: U.S. tried twice to rescue hostages
CNN.com
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- CNN has learned the United States tried twice to rescue the two Americans and one British citizen held hostage in Iraq by the Abu Musab al Zarqawi network, according to a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the attempts.
The attempts involved the deployment of U.S. military as well as other government personnel on two separate occasions to two locations in Baghdad based on intelligence that had been gathered, the official told CNN.
Both times, the source said, the missions came up with what the source called "dry holes." There was evidence at both locations that people had been there, but the locations were empty when the U.S. teams arrived, according to the U.S. official.
"A lot of people had a lot of sleepless nights trying to find them," the official told CNN.
It's not clear whether the hostages were moved or whether the intelligence was faulty and the hostages were never there.
Americans Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley, along with the British hostage Ken Bigley were kidnapped Sept. 16 from their home in Baghdad.
The first rescue attempt came when all three men were still alive, according to the source. The second attempt, the source said, came after Armstrong was killed about Sept. 20. All three hostages were eventually beheaded.
According to the official, no U.S. personnel were wounded or killed in either mission.
The U.S. military does not discuss specific details of rescue missions or the intelligence that led the missions to be undertaken. But U.S. special forces train constantly for rescue missions, and the United States has said it always searches for hostages and tries to do everything possible to rescue them.