<font color=brown>Some good news for a change!<font color=black>
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Halliburton Truck Driver Hamill Escapes Iraqi Captors (Update1)
May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Thomas Hamill, a Mississippi truck driver with Halliburton Co.'s Kellogg, Brown & Root unit, escaped from his captors in Iraq and was recovered by U.S. forces near the northern city of Tikrit, military officials said.
``He had an opportunity to escape, saw some U.S. forces and made his dash,'' Air Force General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on ABC's ``This Week.'' ``That's all I know, at this point.''
Hamill ``is in good health,'' Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said at a press conference. Hamill, 43, was captured April 9 after an attack on his convoy west of Baghdad, in which at least four other Halliburton workers and a U.S. soldier were killed. Two Halliburton workers and another soldier are still missing.
At least 34 employees or contractors of Halliburton, the world's largest oilfield-services provider, have died in Iraq and Kuwait since the U.S.-led invasion last year. Houston-based Halliburton has more than 24,000 employees in the Middle East.
Halliburton, formerly headed by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, has received about $5.7 billion over the past 13 months for work in Iraq. Some members of Congress have said the company had an unfair advantage in getting contracts because of its connection with Cheney.
The company doesn't have details on two other workers who remain missing and ``we are working with the authorities and continue to do everything we can to assist the families, as well as our employees,'' according to a company statement. The company said it was ``extremely grateful'' that Hamill was safe.
Hamill Praised
Videotape aired on an Arabic-language television station showed Hamill after his capture earlier this month, surrounded by hooded gunmen and then being driven away. A second video showed him standing in front of Iraqi flag.
``We're just overjoyed and elated that he's been freed,'' said Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall. ``We certainly see him as a hero.''
Hamill's wife, Kellie Hamill, told the Associated Press that she spoke with her husband by telephone early Sunday and said it was ``the best wake-up call I've ever had.''
``There has been a lot of praying and I am so grateful to everybody,'' she told AP. ``We're all so relieved, so excited.''
Hamill's hometown of Macon, Mississippi, held nightly vigils for him and the town of 3,100 set up a fund to help the family.
``We're going to have a parade that never ends, and maybe a picnic,'' said Macon, Mississippi, Mayor Dorothy Baker Hines.
Kellie Hamill, who supervises the Noxubee County 911 system, had open-heart surgery in February and has been home since then, Baker Hines said. Hamill also has a son and daughter who had just returned to school, she said.
Farmer Paying Debts
Thomas Hamill sold the family dairy farm and joined Halliburton to pay off family debts, the Macon mayor said.
``He could have been like a lot of people, file for bankruptcy, but he wanted to be a good man and pay his bills,'' Baker Hines said. ``He also knew he would be helping the Iraqi people.''
A unit patrolling an oil pipeline south of Tikrit discovered Hamill around 10:20 a.m. local time (2:20 a.m. New York time), Kimmitt said.
``Mr. Hamill apparently escaped from a building, came over to American soldiers and identified himself,'' Kimmitt said. ``He has spoken to his family and he is ready to go back to work.''
Halliburton spokeswoman Hall said it's too early to know whether Hamill will immediately return to work.
Injured in Attack
Hamill had a gunshot wound in his left arm that appeared to be infected and he was flown to Baghdad, Maj. Neal O'Brien, a spokesman for troops in Tikrit, told the Associated Press. The video broadcast after his capture showed Hamill's left arm in a bandage.
He first led troops to the building where he had been held and two Iraqis were arrested, O'Brien said.
In addition to the four Halliburton employees confirmed dead and two missing, a U.S. soldier also was found dead. Still missing in Iraq is U.S. Army Private Keith Maupin, kidnapped at the same time as Hamill.
``At this point, I'm not aware of any word we have on him,'' Myers said. `But I can guarantee you that that's obviously something we follow very, very closely, trying to pick up any lead, so we can go get him.''
The April 9 attack on the transportation convoy occurred in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad. Abu Ghraib is also the location of the prison run by the U.S. military where photographs were taken of naked, masked Iraqi prisoners. The military has begun an investigation.
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