I guess this had nothing to do with the release of the German hostage. /s
Nice start for Frau Merkel...
Diplomatic sources in Germany confirmed Hammadi's release.Hammadi was captured in 1987 and all attempts to have him exchanged with German hostages held in Lebanon in the late 1980s and early 1990s failed. Hammadi's brother, Abdul-Hadi, was a senior security official of Hizbollah at the time.
News of his release could anger Washington as it had indicted him for Stethem's murder and had asked Berlin to extradite him to the United States if ever he was to be freed.
Hammadi's release occurred a few days before German hostage Susanne Osthoff was freed in Iraq. The archaeologist had disappeared on Nov. 25. Germany said on Sunday she was in safe custody. She has made no public statement since.
If I remember correctly the sailor was brutally beaten for hours before his body was dumped on the tarmac. This obvious exchange is an outrage.
This really pi$$es me off.
But those Germans are doing such a great job negotiating with Iran on nuclear weapons proliferation, we can overlook this.
Rest in peace, hero.
May your killers get their deserved punishment.
This is of course sick. I would have dumped him into the mediterranian. Anyway there would have been no chance of a extradition to the United States since there he would have been threatened by capital punishment there which is strictly forbidden in Europe. Germany and other European countries do not extradite to countries where the offender could end on a scaffold.
Hammadi was probably about more than 15 years behind bars. This is the usual timespan were killers are released in Germany. I doubt that it has anything to do with the recent release of this woman in Iraq since Hammadi was -to my knowlege- a shiite. The hostage was a German woman that was hijacked by some sunni criminal idiots who wanted to press out money. Merkel probably paid. But this is another party.
If these people were given the death penalty as they deserve, this situation could not occur.
If this is true, Bush must immediately call a press conference to recall our Ambassador from Germany. Sanctions should follow. Perhaps a large cutoff of imports from Germany. This action is despicable, totally without honor. All Germans should hang their heads in shame today.
These people have no soul.
Share your thoughts with the German embassy:
http://www.globescope.biz/germany/reg/index.cfm