U.S. journalist and ex-hostage says he is happy to be back home

Now he just wants to get some sushi.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Micah Garen, the American journalist freed by Shiite militants in Iraq after nine days in captivity, said Saturday that it feels "really good to be back home" and thanked his supporters in his first public comments since returning to the United States.
Asked what he would do now, Garen answered: "Sushi."
The 36-year-old was kidnapped Aug. 13 in Nasiriyah along with his Iraqi translator, Amir Doushi. The two were released Aug. 22 after representatives of rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr intervened.
"I really want to thank everyone who helped secure my release and to bring me back home," Garen said Saturday outside his apartment building in Manhattan's West Village. "Your continued support and thoughts were a great source of strength for my family."
After his release in Iraq, Garen told Arab television he was taking pictures in a Nasiriyah market when a misunderstanding happened with people who did not approve. An aide to al-Sadr has said the kidnappers mistakenly believed Garen was working for U.S. intelligence services.
Al-Sadr, the firebrand cleric who is fiercely opposed to a U.S. presence in Iraq, has condemned past kidnappings of foreigners as un-Islamic and his aides have intervened previously to win the release of a few other hostages.
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