Kidnapped Contractor's Mom Pleads for Son's Return
Nov. 18, 2006 — -- The family of a man kidnapped in Iraq has received only minimal information, the man's mother told "Good Morning America Weekend Edition" on Saturday morning.
Paul Reuben, a 39-year-old security contractor, was part of a detail escorting a convoy near the city of Safwan on the Iraq-Kuwait border Thursday. Men dressed as Iraqi police stopped the group at a phony checkpoint and kidnapped Reuben along with four other contractors.
"The only information we have received so far is his twin brother Patrick … had received call from the State Department," said Paul Reuben's mother, Johnnie Mae Reuben.
Currently, American and British troops are searching for the five security contractors. The area in which the kidnappings took place was turned over by coalition forces to the Iraqis in September.
Reuben always wanted to help people, which is why he worked in such a dangerous area, his mother said.
"Paul was one … to help people wherever -- when he was a police officer," she said. "He graduated [from an accelerated EMT course] and he wanted to go over there and be of assistance in that way to help."
Before the kidnapping, Reuben was concerned for his safety, his mother said.
"I think within the last few weeks and maybe within the past two to three months he did express concern that there was more danger that was present," she said. "The battles were more heated, at least what he heard about."
Reuben asked kidnappers for the return of her son.
"I would ask whoever has my son to look at me as a mother and remember that we all have … or had a mother … [and remember] that no matter what the situation is that we're always connected," she said. "Please return my son back to me."
Reuben's birthday is the day after Thanksgiving and his mother said she is hoping the family will be reunited at that time.
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