moderate libertarian
03-18-2012, 09:23 AM
Militants Free American No One Knew Was Missing
By JACK HEALY
Published: March 17, 2012
BAGHDAD — An American man who said he had been kidnapped nine months ago by Iraqi militants was handed over to United States officials in Baghdad on Saturday night in a bizarre and murky series of events that caught diplomats here by surprise.
Speaking at a news conference in Baghdad, the camouflage-clad American, identified as Rand Hultz, said he was a former soldier who had returned to Iraq as a civilian contractor before being kidnapped last June by a Shiite paramilitary group loyal to the anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr. He said he had been shuffled from house to house around Baghdad before his release on Saturday.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/03/18/world/iraq/iraq-articleInline.jpg
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/world/middleeast/sadrists-in-iraq-free-american-who-says-he-was-kidnapped.html
Google search showed he had a linkedin page. How is that an American ex soldier was kidnapped by an Iraqi militia nine months ago and no one knew he was missing?
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/rand-hultz/5/605/454
He is also cited in this NPR report about "security progress" in Iraq:
Security Progress in Baghdad Draws Entrepreneurs
by Eric Westervelt
May 1, 2008
A small but growing number of what might be called adventure capitalists are going to Baghdad. The American entrepreneurs are defying ongoing insurgent attacks, the country's dysfunctional government ministries and the skeptics.
WESTERVELT: Guys such as Rand Hultz do. A former U.S. Army Sergeant, Hultz reenlisted in the Army after 9/11 and fought in Iraq in 2004. He's now back as a civilian project manager for a veteran-owned $25 million hedge fund called the Iraq Fund. Hultz shows us around some of the properties his company's bought in central Baghdad.
Mr. RAND HULTZ (Project Manager, The Iraq Fund): There's 20 rooms in this building that we control. There's 34 in the building across the street, and then in the…
WESTERVELT: The former soldier is something of a high end fixer for U.S. and Arab-Gulf investors who want eyes and feet on the ground inside Iraq, just not their own eyes and feet. In addition to the Iraq Fund, Hultz is a lobbyist, business developer and manager for four other companies. For Hultz, that means a tricky balance, working with senior Iraqi government and business officials all while trying to keep a low profile and doing what you must in a county who's banking system is in tatters. If that means moving half a million dollars cash on the ground in a shoulder bag, so be it.
Mr. HULTZ: Unarmed with two people in an assault vehicle, downtown Baghdad -and I've done that on several occasions - a half million dollars, about 18, 19 pounds, anything more than that in a small bag gets a little bit difficult to manage if you have to leave the vehicle and go on foot.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90090656
By JACK HEALY
Published: March 17, 2012
BAGHDAD — An American man who said he had been kidnapped nine months ago by Iraqi militants was handed over to United States officials in Baghdad on Saturday night in a bizarre and murky series of events that caught diplomats here by surprise.
Speaking at a news conference in Baghdad, the camouflage-clad American, identified as Rand Hultz, said he was a former soldier who had returned to Iraq as a civilian contractor before being kidnapped last June by a Shiite paramilitary group loyal to the anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr. He said he had been shuffled from house to house around Baghdad before his release on Saturday.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/03/18/world/iraq/iraq-articleInline.jpg
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/world/middleeast/sadrists-in-iraq-free-american-who-says-he-was-kidnapped.html
Google search showed he had a linkedin page. How is that an American ex soldier was kidnapped by an Iraqi militia nine months ago and no one knew he was missing?
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/rand-hultz/5/605/454
He is also cited in this NPR report about "security progress" in Iraq:
Security Progress in Baghdad Draws Entrepreneurs
by Eric Westervelt
May 1, 2008
A small but growing number of what might be called adventure capitalists are going to Baghdad. The American entrepreneurs are defying ongoing insurgent attacks, the country's dysfunctional government ministries and the skeptics.
WESTERVELT: Guys such as Rand Hultz do. A former U.S. Army Sergeant, Hultz reenlisted in the Army after 9/11 and fought in Iraq in 2004. He's now back as a civilian project manager for a veteran-owned $25 million hedge fund called the Iraq Fund. Hultz shows us around some of the properties his company's bought in central Baghdad.
Mr. RAND HULTZ (Project Manager, The Iraq Fund): There's 20 rooms in this building that we control. There's 34 in the building across the street, and then in the…
WESTERVELT: The former soldier is something of a high end fixer for U.S. and Arab-Gulf investors who want eyes and feet on the ground inside Iraq, just not their own eyes and feet. In addition to the Iraq Fund, Hultz is a lobbyist, business developer and manager for four other companies. For Hultz, that means a tricky balance, working with senior Iraqi government and business officials all while trying to keep a low profile and doing what you must in a county who's banking system is in tatters. If that means moving half a million dollars cash on the ground in a shoulder bag, so be it.
Mr. HULTZ: Unarmed with two people in an assault vehicle, downtown Baghdad -and I've done that on several occasions - a half million dollars, about 18, 19 pounds, anything more than that in a small bag gets a little bit difficult to manage if you have to leave the vehicle and go on foot.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90090656