On the morning of February 10, Butler, who was working as a producer for '60 Minutes', and his Iraqi translator, who was released several weeks ago, were taken by gunmen from the Sultan Palace Hotel in Basra.
Yesterday, Butler was rescued by the Iraqi military by chance when a patrol searching houses for illegal weapons came across the one in which his captors were holding him.
After the patrol stormed the house, they discovered Butler tied up and with a sack over his head. He was freed and handed over to the care of the British consulate in Basra.
Butler said: "The Iraqi army stormed the house and overcame my guards and they burst through the door. I had my hood on, which I had to have on all the time, and they shouted something at me, and I pulled my hood off."
David Miliband, the foreign secretary, welcomed the journalist's release and said he was "very grateful to [Iraqi] security forces for the professionalism of the task they have undertaken".
Since late March, Basra has been a flashpoint for clashes between the Iraqi military and the militia followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, with an anonymous Iraqi government source telling the Los Angeles Times at least 15 police or soldiers and 400 alleged militants have been killed or wounded.
Butler's release came on the same day that the US military said they were to release Bilal Hussein, a photographer for the Associated Press who has been held for two years on charges of helping insurgents.
Major General Douglas Stone, who signed the release order, said: "After the action by the Iraqi judicial committees, we reviewed the circumstances of Hussein's detention and determined that he no longer presents an imperative threat to security."
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