Kristian Menchaca

Kristian Menchaca (May 29, 1983 – June 19, 2006), was a United States Army soldier during the Iraq War, who was captured, tortured, executed, and his corpse mutilated by al-Qaeda in Iraq members. Fellow soldier Thomas Lowell Tucker, who was captured alongside Menchaca, was beheaded.

Early life and education
Menchaca was born in Houston, Texas on May 29, 1983, into a Mexican-American family, and grew up in Brownsville, Texas and San Marcos, Texas. As a young man, Menchaca was described as being "quiet" and "gentle"; he enjoyed playing basketball with his relatives, spending time with his family, and Tex-Mex cuisine. He was described as family-oriented, and liked to spend time with immediate family in Texas, as well as his extended family in Matamoros, Mexico. As a high school dropout, Menchaca earned his GED and worked at a gas station in Houston, Texas. Fed up with his mundane job, Menchaca informed his family on Christmas Day, December 2004, that he was planning on enlisting as a soldier in the U.S. Army. His family was hesitant at first, as Menchaca's brother had previously served in the U.S. Armed Forces and was unsatisfied with his choice of career. However, Menchaca insisted, and his family eventually accepted his decision.

Career
Uncle Mario, don't worry. I'm going to come back as a hero. Menchaca scored highly on the ASVAB test, and thus, was given the option of forgoing service in the infantry. However, Menchaca declined and insisted on becoming an infantryman. In March 2005, Menchaca enlisted in the U.S. Army as an infantryman, with the intention of becoming a U.S. Border Patrol agent someday. Assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, Menchaca married Christina Menchaca of Big Springs, Texas in September 2005, without informing his family; one month before deploying to Iraq in October 2005. Before deploying to Iraq, Menchaca told his uncle, Mario Menchaca, "Uncle Mario, don't worry. I'm going to come back as a hero."

Menchaca deployed to Iraq, and returned home for a brief stay in early May 2006. His family noticed changes in his lifestyle, noting that he was "nervous" and "jittery", suffered from insomnia, and took up chain smoking, despite having never smoken before. Being matter-of-fact, Menchaca informed his family of the hardships he had to endure as a soldier in wartime, sleeping in vacant buildings without running water, plumbing, or electricity, and about how he and his fellow soldiers shared batteries to run electrical equipment. Menchaca spent time with his relatives, his mother, his brother, his cousins, aunts and uncles.

He enjoys being in the military; that's basically what he wants to do.

Menchaca returned to Iraq in mid-2006. During his time in Iraq, he told his family that although life as a U.S. Army soldier in Iraq was difficult, that he was still happy and satisfied with his career choice. Through phone calls, Menchaca told his family that there had been an attack on his unit during the night and that he'd barely made it out with his life. Menchaca told them that he several other soldiers had lost their clothes and belongings, which had burned in a fire, leaving Menchaca only with his uniform. Through phone calls, Menchaca also told his family that he had been knocked unconscious after a car bomb detonated, which worried his relatives. During this time, Menchaca asked his family to send him care packages, in the form of clothes, wet wipes, soap, and Oreo cookies, which he was especially fond of.

Ambush and death
On the evening of June 16, 2006, Menchaca and two other U.S. Army soldiers, Specialist David J. "Babs" Babineau, age 25, and Private First Class Thomas Lowell Tucker, also age 25, were in the town of Youssifiyah, in an area dubbed the Triangle of Death. Manning a Humvee by themselves, the three soldiers were guarding the bridge to prevent Iraqi insurgents from planting any landmines. The soldiers would stand guard duty at thirty-six hours at a time with just one Humvee, with no barriers on the road to slow down enemy access to them or to provide any early warning.

At approximately 7:49 p.m., nearby soldiers from Menchaca's platoon, deployed at two locations approximately three quarters of a mile away, heard gunshots and moved to investigate. When a quick reaction force arrived at the trio's Humvee approximately twenty-five minutes later, they found Babineau dead, and Menchaca and Tucker missing; they were captured and taken away by the Mujahideen Shura Council. According to a subsequent investigation, nearby Iraqi security forces were aware of the attack, but did not move to aid the soldiers. An investigation also claimed that the Iraqi insurgents who took part in the ambush may have rehearsed the attack two days prior.

In ensuing American search efforts, residents in the area were offered USD$100,000 for any information leading to the recovery of the soldiers; some locals reported seeing Menchaca and Tucker being taken away from the scene by Iraqi insurgents. One U.S. Army soldier was killed and eight were wounded during the ensuing search operations.

On June 20, 2006, U.S. military sources reported that the bodies believed to be Tucker and Menchaca were found near a power plant in Youssifiyah. The corpses of the two American soldiers were found mutilated and booby-trapped, with improvised explosive devices planted on the road leading to them. A senior Iraqi military official, Major General Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, told the British news agency Reuters that the men were tortured and killed in a "barbaric" way.

Relatives of Menchaca reported they had been notified that his body had been found. Menchaca's body was returned home to the United States the same month for DNA testing, as his body had been so badly mutilated that DNA testing was the only way of positively identifying him. Menchaca's funeral was held in his hometown of Brownsville, Texas on June 28, 2006; it was attended by his wife, Christina Menchaca, along with his friends, colleagues, and family.

Family
Mario Vasquez, Menchaca's uncle, stated that he and the family heard about his nephew's death by watching television, when Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed announced the finding in a statement early Tuesday, June 20, 2006. Ken MacKenzie, another uncle, stated that "The U.S. government did not have a plan in place, my nephew has paid for it with his life. The government should have offered a $100 million reward and offered to exchange mujahideen detainees for the soldiers' lives. It seized enough money from Saddam Hussein to afford it."

Iraqi judicial proceedings
In October 2008, an Iraqi judge sentenced Ibrahim Karim Muhammed Salih al-Qaraghuli to death for the abduction, torture, and murder of Menchaca and Tucker. An expert witness stated that al-Qaraghuli's fingerprints matched photographs of bloody prints found on the front panel of the truck from which the two men were dragged. Two other men were acquitted and released due to a lack of evidence.

Mujahedeen Shura Council
The Mujahedeen Shura Council, a group linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq said in their statement: "We announce the good news to our Islamic nation that God's will was executed and the two crusader animals we had in captivity were slaughtered"..."And God has given our Emir, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, the good fortune of carrying out the legitimate court's command in person." Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, when asked about the claim by the Shura Council that it was holding the soldiers, said they have no independent confirmation of that report.

Insurgent video footage
On July 10, 2006, a video showing the dead bodies of Menchaca and Tucker was posted on an Islamic extremist website, purportedly by al-Qaeda in Iraq. Although the video does not show the actual ambush or executions, it shows the two corpses laid out on a road and being taunted by the alleged captors, who present the severed head of Tucker to the camera as a war trophy, and stomp on the head of Menchaca. The Mujahideen Shura Council later claimed the killings to be in revenge for the rape and murder of Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi on March 12, 2006.

On September 23, 2006, a second mutilation video of the two soldiers was broadcasted on the internet. It shows Tucker and Menchaca being dragged through streets and their bodies being set on fire. Tucker's head is kicked by an insurgent.