Body Recovered In Iraq Is That Of Kidnapped Contractor Cote
BUFFALO, N.Y. - A body recovered in Iraq was identified Wednesday as that of Jonathon Cote, an Army veteran who was working as a contractor when he was kidnapped with four others more than a year ago.
“Mr. Cote’s remains are in the United States and will be returned to his family,” said a statement by FBI agent Richard Kolko in Washington.
Cote’s father said on his blog that his 25-year-old son’s body was positively identified at Dover Air Force Base after being recovered Saturday, but that the family had not received autopsy results.
On the Web site, Francis Cote asked reporters to refrain from calling to allow the family “to grieve in peace.” He scheduled a news conference for Thursday.
Jonathon Cote, of the Buffalo suburb of Getzville, was working for Crescent Security Group when he was kidnapped with three other Americans and an Austrian on Nov. 16, 2006. In all, six contractors were kidnapped in two separate incidents over a two-month span.
Their case received attention in March when the severed fingers of five of the men were sent to the U.S. military in Iraq.
The FBI earlier identified the remains of CSG employees Paul Johnson- Reuben of Minneapolis; Joshua Munns of Redding, Calif.; John Roy Young of Kansas City, Mo.; Bert Nussbaumer of Austria; and Ronald Withrow of Roaring Springs, Texas, who was working for JPI Worldwide and abducted on Jan. 5, 2007.
After the bodies of the others were recovered, Francis Cote said he held out hope that his son had escaped his captors and was in hiding.
Cote and the other Crescent employees spoke briefly and appeared uninjured in a video believed to have been recorded in December 2006 and delivered to The Associated Press in Iraq in early January 2007.
Cote, who was dressed in civilian clothes and sitting down, said on the video: “I can’t be released until the prisoners from the American jails and the British jails are released.”
The men were abducted when suspected militiamen in Iraqi police uniforms ambushed a convoy of trucks they were escorting on a highway near the southern border city of Safwan.
Cote graduated from high school in 2001 and served in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division.
Associated Press
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Ever since this crackdown on Mookie’s apostate army, we’ve recovered the remains of 7 Americans and one Austrian. And the Iraqis freed another. It’s the Satanist Sadr cult doing this shit. When are we going to just crush these pukes?
Prayers for the family of this great American.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:42 pmSweet Jesus, what a fine-looking young fellow. A terrible thing, tragic.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:44 pmGod Bless his family. I hope they know that we grieve along with them.
I … just … fucking hate this—
I can’t say it any other way. Sorry.
I am so sorry, Cote Family … and all the families of the other contractors who were victims of these evil bastards.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I was reading a story about the real meaning of Honor just before I read this, it’s appropriate.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:26 pmhttp://www.roadtothemiddleclass.com/blog1522_the_real_meaning_of_honor.html
Agree with you drillanwr.
from above:
On the Web site, Francis Cote asked reporters to refrain from calling to allow the family “to grieve in peace.” He scheduled a news conference for Thursday
Do they need to do that? Go through some news conference for whom? If themselves to publicly give testimony to the greatness of their son, then fine. But not to satisfy the media dogs.
We are a blessed nation to have Jonathon Cote as one of our sons.
Rest well soldier.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:43 pmI went to grade school in getzville. Dont know the family. I’m happy they get to have a proper funeral.
Times like these make me think that right or wrong, sometimes we have to pick a side and fight, if we dont , we allow ourselves to be degraded or killed by those who have their own vision of “freedom”.
Live free or die.
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:50 pmWhy is Sadr still breathing?
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:04 pm