[Team Sergeant]

A good place to start is with the Iraqi government. Then he might try the US State Department, it their job to conduct business with foreign nations on behalf of the United States.

I would also inform your friend that he needs to realize that this is exactly how terrorists conduct business transactions "all over the world" and to pay them any ransom not only encourages this type of activity but also expands their worldwide ring of terror.

If your friend speaks Arabic he may want to join the fight with the US military and put a real hurt on those that perpetrate these acts of terror against his family.

Or, of course, he can sit back safe in the knowledge that as a citizen of the United States he will be protected by the United States and its military and just complain about his homeland and its degraded moral state while others fight and die attempting to free the Iraqi people from internal Oppression.

I know how your friend must feel, I also have family in Iraq, they are all the members of the United States military.

Once the country of Iraq is stable and every US Soldier, Sailor, Marine, Airman and Coast Guard, and all the other coalition forces risking their lives on a daily basis have returned home I promise to personally look into your friend’s problem.

De Oppresso Liber,

Team Sergeant