posted on September 20, 2004 05:20:23 AM new
Militants Threaten to Kill 31 Captives, Including Two Americans, Unless Demands Are Met
By Andrew Marshall, Reuters
BAGHDAD (Sept. 20) - A deadline set by militants who have threatened to kill two Americans and a Briton seized in Iraq was due to expire on Monday, and more than two dozen other hostages were also facing death unless rebel demands were met.
A group linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has claimed some of Iraq's worst violence, said in footage posted on the Internet on Saturday it would slit the throats of the three unless Iraqi women were freed from Abu Ghraib and Umm Qasr jails in 48 hours.
The families of Americans Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley and Briton Kenneth Bigley have appealed for their release. The men were seized from their house in Baghdad on Thursday by a group of gunmen.
The U.S. military says no women are being held in the two prisons mentioned by the kidnappers but that two are in U.S. custody. Dubbed ''Dr Germ'' and ''Mrs Anthrax'' by U.S. forces, they are accused of working on Saddam Hussein's weapons programs and are in a prison for high-profile detainees.
Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group has claimed responsibility for most of the bloodiest suicide bomb attacks in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. It has already beheaded several hostages including U.S. telecommunications engineer Nicholas Berg in May and South Korean driver Kim Sun-il in June.
The group released Filipino captive Angelo de la Cruz in July after Manila bowed to its demands to pull its troops out.
The United States has offered $25 million for information leading to the death or capture of Zarqawi, a Jordanian, and has launched a series of air strikes on his suspected hideouts in the rebellious town of Falluja, west of Baghdad.
The latest strike was on Monday afternoon, residents said. There was no immediate word on casualties.
DOZENS OF HOSTAGES
Seven Westerners are among dozens of people being held hostage in Iraq. Two French journalists were seized a month ago, and two female Italian aid workers were kidnapped in broad daylight in central Baghdad earlier this month.
A statement purportedly from the group holding the French said at the weekend they were no longer captives but had agreed to stay with the group for some time to cover it. France said on Monday it was preparing for a long wait for their release.
Another group has threatened to kill 10 workers from a U.S.-Turkish firm unless the company that employs them stopped doing business in Iraq within three days. Most of the workers seized are believed to be Turkish.
On Sunday, a guerrilla group said it had captured 18 members of Iraq's National Guard and would kill them unless the authorities freed an aide to Shi'ite rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr within 48 hours. The aide, Hazem al-Araji, was arrested on Saturday night by U.S.-backed forces, Sadr's supporters said.
A senior aide to Sadr held a news conference to denounce the kidnapping of the National Guardsmen and call for their release.
Ali Smeisim said Sadr's movement had nothing to do with the kidnappings, and also called for Araji's release.
''The Sadr movement is facing a conspiracy to finish off its leaders through arrests and assassinations,'' he said.
More on This Story
· Over 135 Foreigners Abducted
· Hostage's Wife Pleads for His Release
· Iraqi Prime Minister Will Face Tough U.N. Questions
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AOL Search: More on Iraq
The Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni group, said one of its members was murdered in Baghdad on Sunday by unknown attackers.
DOUBTS OVER ELECTION
Hundreds of Iraqis were killed in a surge of violence over the past week, casting doubt on whether elections can go ahead in January 2005 as scheduled. But interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi insisted on Sunday the polls would take place on time.
''We definitely are going to stick to the timetable of elections in January next year,'' Allawi told a news conference after talks in London with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The U.S. military says it has launched a drive to regain control of rebel-held areas ahead of the elections.
Blair and Allawi said at the weekend they were working to resolve the latest kidnappings.
Bigley's brother, Phillip, appealed to the kidnappers on Al Arabiya television, saying: ''Ken is a loving and caring father ... and he is looking forward to becoming a grandfather for the first time in February.''
He added: ''At the end of the day, we just want him home, safe and well, especially for my mother.''
posted on September 30, 2004 12:33:33 AM new
Sound of Silence
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
By John Gibson
So a picture surfaces of Ken Bigley, the unlucky Brit who has been captured by Iraqi insurgents, sitting in a cage with what looks suspiciously like a chain around his neck.
Let me see, where have I seen that before? Oh right, the Abu Ghraib prison: One picture of an Iraqi in a collar and leash — a chain, if you will — and the world went crazy.
Now this guy in Abu Ghraib was doubtless uncomfortable, but he had no reasonable fear someone was going to cut off his head. Mr. Bigley on the other hand has every reasonable fear they will cut his head off. After all, that's what they do to Americans. And the Brits are close enough.
So where's the outrage? Where are the howls from the archbishop of Canterbury? Where are the screeches of righteous indignation for the people who would put this man in a chain like a dog?
That's right, you're not hearing anything about the brutal attack on Mr. Bigley's dignity. It's his head they're trying to save, what explains the silence here?
Here's the answer: Abu Ghraib was an excuse to pour more scorn on the hated United States.
In the view of these people who are now so quiet, the terrorists who are doing these things to now headless Americans and the terrified Mr. Bigley are right. They are heroic insurgents against the hated U.S. and everybody knows that is OK.
What is the difference between an Iraqi in a dog leash in an American prison and a Brit — or American — in a dog leash in a Jihadi dog cage?
It's the attitude of the world that one is a horror — an atrocity that people need to be reminded of daily — and the other is, well unfortunate. After all, the people who are doing this to Mr. Bigley have been so badly provoked by the U.S.
It's America's fault.
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"The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work." - Richard Bach
