Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
ABC; CNN; NBC
March 31, 2008
World News With Charles Gibson (ABC), 6:30 PM
CHARLES GIBSON: We have one other very sad story from Iraq tonight. The Pentagon revealed that the remains of a U.S. soldier named Keith Matthew Maupin have been found. Officials notified his family in Ohio. This is a family that has waited for years to learn for sure Sgt. Maupin’s fate.
Here’s ABC’s Jonathan Karl.
JONATHAN KARL: The news is so fresh, the signs are still everywhere.
CAROLYN MAUPIN [Mother of Matt Maupin]: It hurts. It hurts after you go through four years – almost four years of hope and then this is what happens. It’s like a letdown to me.
KARL: Matt Maupin had enlisted over his parents’ objections in the Army’s Reserve not long after September 11th. He had been in Iraq just over a month when he went on his final mission – April 9th 2004, Good Friday.
SGT. KEITH MATTHEW MAUPIN: My name is Keith Matthew Maupin.
KARL: For a while, this was the only clue. A month later, another video claimed to show his execution, but the search went on and the family kept hoping.
CAROLYN MAUPIN: I really believe Matt is alive out there somewhere and I’m going to keep praying him home.
KARL: His father vowed he wouldn’t shave until Matt came home.
KEITH MAUPIN [Father of Matt Maupin]: It’s been two years and they haven’t found hide nor hair. I would like to know exactly what they’re doing to find Matt and how they’re generating leads instead of sitting in this room waiting for the phone to ring.
KARL: While they waited, the Maupins started the Yellow Ribbon Support Center, sending thousands of care packages to troops in Iraq, each with a picture of their son and a note: “Please help us find him.”
Back home, Matt Maupin’s friends declared Batavia, Ohio, the Yellow Ribbon capital of the world. Now, the ribbons will come down, but Matt Maupin’s parents say their work is not done.
KEITH MAUPIN: We still have another mission, and our first one was to bring Matt home and our second was to support the troops and that’s what we’re going to do.
KARL: Jonathan Karl, ABC News, Washington.
CNN Newsroom, 1:00 PM
BRIANNA KEILAR: For a family in Ohio, four years of hope turned to anguish. Remains found in Iraq positively identified as those of Staff Sergeant Keith Mathew Maupin.
CNN's Barbara Starr has been following Maupin's ordeal since the day he was captured.
And Barbara, this is just a heartbreaking ending but also an end to some uncertainty.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGONCORRESPONDENT: Well, it is, Brianna. You know, I actually met the Maupin parents a couple of years ago, and it was so sad because their biggest challenge, one of their biggest challenges, was just not knowing what had happened to their son. They were absolutely grief stricken at the time. And they continue to be now, of course, as they have received the final word from the U.S. Army over the weekend that their son, Staff Sergeant Keith Matthew Maupin, did die in captivity in Iraq. He had been captured back in 2004.
Now a candlelight vigil being held at his home in Ohio. And his parents finally speaking out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CAROLYN MAUPIN: It hurts. It hurts, after you go through four years -- almost four years -- of hope and then this is what happens. It's like a letdown to me. So I'm trying to get through that right now.
KEITH MAUPIN: As parents, we are deeply saddened and still letting it sink in. As Americans, we are proud of the continued efforts made by our military and, in particular, the Army to return Matt home to us. (END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: He had been captured when his convoy came under ambush attack south of Baghdad back in April of 2004. There had been a very brief video of him shown being held by insurgents. And then several months later, another video showing someone being shot. It had been thought to be Maupin. There was never any confirmation of that.
It was last week in Iraq when they discovered some remains and, Brianna, some cloth from a U.S. military uniform that led them to their immediate suspicions it might be the remains of Staff Sergeant Maupin, because the uniform cloth, you see it actually here in this video. This is from a uniform that was in the military at that time, but it was a few months later that they changed uniforms.
So when they saw these remains with this old piece of cloth, if you will, that raised immediate suspicions. The remains identified in the United States last week and his family finally notified -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Yes, and such a sad story. And of course, our thoughts and prayers with the Maupin family. Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon, thank you.
Today (NBC),7:00 AM
ANN CURRY: There is tragic news for the family of a US soldier captured almost four years ago in Iraq. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski's at the Pentagon for us this morning.
Jim, good morning.
JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: Good morning, Ann. He was the longest-missing US service member of the war. Now the US military has positively identified the remains of Sergeant Matt Maupin, discovered last week in Iraq. In Batavia, Ohio, where Maupin's parents held out hope their missing son would some day return alive, his mother, Carolyn, took the news hard.
CAROLYN MAUPIN: It hurts, it hurts. After you go through four years, almost four years of hope, and then this is what happens, it's like a letdown to me.
MIKLASZEWSKI: Maupin was a 20-year-old private first class in April 2004 when his fuel convoy was ambushed west of Baghdad and he was captured. A video released a week later showed Maupin sitting on a floor surrounded by six hooded gunmen. Then after two months, a second, grainy video claimed to show Maupin being shot execution style, but since he could not be identified, the Army listed Maupin as missing-captured until now.
The Army never gave up the search, and Maupin's father, Keith, never gave up hope.
KEITH MAUPIN: The warrior's ethos, `Never leave a fallen comrade behind,' and that's what they did. And I'm grateful for that.
MIKLASZEWSKI: And in their sorrow, grateful for the return of their son.
While missing those four years, the Army promoted Maupin twice from private first class to sergeant. Sadly, today, Ann, there are three other families still waiting word of their loved ones missing in Iraq, two soldiers who were captured during combat operations in Yusufiyah nearly a year ago and one soldier believed kidnapped in Baghdad.
CURRY: All right, Jim Miklaszewski this morning. Jim, thanks for that report.
March 31, 2008
World News With Charles Gibson (ABC), 6:30 PM
CHARLES GIBSON: We have one other very sad story from Iraq tonight. The Pentagon revealed that the remains of a U.S. soldier named Keith Matthew Maupin have been found. Officials notified his family in Ohio. This is a family that has waited for years to learn for sure Sgt. Maupin’s fate.
Here’s ABC’s Jonathan Karl.
JONATHAN KARL: The news is so fresh, the signs are still everywhere.
CAROLYN MAUPIN [Mother of Matt Maupin]: It hurts. It hurts after you go through four years – almost four years of hope and then this is what happens. It’s like a letdown to me.
KARL: Matt Maupin had enlisted over his parents’ objections in the Army’s Reserve not long after September 11th. He had been in Iraq just over a month when he went on his final mission – April 9th 2004, Good Friday.
SGT. KEITH MATTHEW MAUPIN: My name is Keith Matthew Maupin.
KARL: For a while, this was the only clue. A month later, another video claimed to show his execution, but the search went on and the family kept hoping.
CAROLYN MAUPIN: I really believe Matt is alive out there somewhere and I’m going to keep praying him home.
KARL: His father vowed he wouldn’t shave until Matt came home.
KEITH MAUPIN [Father of Matt Maupin]: It’s been two years and they haven’t found hide nor hair. I would like to know exactly what they’re doing to find Matt and how they’re generating leads instead of sitting in this room waiting for the phone to ring.
KARL: While they waited, the Maupins started the Yellow Ribbon Support Center, sending thousands of care packages to troops in Iraq, each with a picture of their son and a note: “Please help us find him.”
Back home, Matt Maupin’s friends declared Batavia, Ohio, the Yellow Ribbon capital of the world. Now, the ribbons will come down, but Matt Maupin’s parents say their work is not done.
KEITH MAUPIN: We still have another mission, and our first one was to bring Matt home and our second was to support the troops and that’s what we’re going to do.
KARL: Jonathan Karl, ABC News, Washington.
CNN Newsroom, 1:00 PM
BRIANNA KEILAR: For a family in Ohio, four years of hope turned to anguish. Remains found in Iraq positively identified as those of Staff Sergeant Keith Mathew Maupin.
CNN's Barbara Starr has been following Maupin's ordeal since the day he was captured.
And Barbara, this is just a heartbreaking ending but also an end to some uncertainty.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGONCORRESPONDENT: Well, it is, Brianna. You know, I actually met the Maupin parents a couple of years ago, and it was so sad because their biggest challenge, one of their biggest challenges, was just not knowing what had happened to their son. They were absolutely grief stricken at the time. And they continue to be now, of course, as they have received the final word from the U.S. Army over the weekend that their son, Staff Sergeant Keith Matthew Maupin, did die in captivity in Iraq. He had been captured back in 2004.
Now a candlelight vigil being held at his home in Ohio. And his parents finally speaking out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CAROLYN MAUPIN: It hurts. It hurts, after you go through four years -- almost four years -- of hope and then this is what happens. It's like a letdown to me. So I'm trying to get through that right now.
KEITH MAUPIN: As parents, we are deeply saddened and still letting it sink in. As Americans, we are proud of the continued efforts made by our military and, in particular, the Army to return Matt home to us. (END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: He had been captured when his convoy came under ambush attack south of Baghdad back in April of 2004. There had been a very brief video of him shown being held by insurgents. And then several months later, another video showing someone being shot. It had been thought to be Maupin. There was never any confirmation of that.
It was last week in Iraq when they discovered some remains and, Brianna, some cloth from a U.S. military uniform that led them to their immediate suspicions it might be the remains of Staff Sergeant Maupin, because the uniform cloth, you see it actually here in this video. This is from a uniform that was in the military at that time, but it was a few months later that they changed uniforms.
So when they saw these remains with this old piece of cloth, if you will, that raised immediate suspicions. The remains identified in the United States last week and his family finally notified -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Yes, and such a sad story. And of course, our thoughts and prayers with the Maupin family. Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon, thank you.
Today (NBC),7:00 AM
ANN CURRY: There is tragic news for the family of a US soldier captured almost four years ago in Iraq. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski's at the Pentagon for us this morning.
Jim, good morning.
JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: Good morning, Ann. He was the longest-missing US service member of the war. Now the US military has positively identified the remains of Sergeant Matt Maupin, discovered last week in Iraq. In Batavia, Ohio, where Maupin's parents held out hope their missing son would some day return alive, his mother, Carolyn, took the news hard.
CAROLYN MAUPIN: It hurts, it hurts. After you go through four years, almost four years of hope, and then this is what happens, it's like a letdown to me.
MIKLASZEWSKI: Maupin was a 20-year-old private first class in April 2004 when his fuel convoy was ambushed west of Baghdad and he was captured. A video released a week later showed Maupin sitting on a floor surrounded by six hooded gunmen. Then after two months, a second, grainy video claimed to show Maupin being shot execution style, but since he could not be identified, the Army listed Maupin as missing-captured until now.
The Army never gave up the search, and Maupin's father, Keith, never gave up hope.
KEITH MAUPIN: The warrior's ethos, `Never leave a fallen comrade behind,' and that's what they did. And I'm grateful for that.
MIKLASZEWSKI: And in their sorrow, grateful for the return of their son.
While missing those four years, the Army promoted Maupin twice from private first class to sergeant. Sadly, today, Ann, there are three other families still waiting word of their loved ones missing in Iraq, two soldiers who were captured during combat operations in Yusufiyah nearly a year ago and one soldier believed kidnapped in Baghdad.
CURRY: All right, Jim Miklaszewski this morning. Jim, thanks for that report.