Terrified hostage paraded again by captors

The Daily Telegraph ^ | September 30, 2004 | Caroline Davies and Nigel Bunyan

[MadIvan]

The British hostage Kenneth Bigley, caged and shackled, pleaded again for his life in a new video released by his captors in Iraq yesterday.

Grainy footage showed him dressed in an orange jump-suit, his hands and feet bound and with a chain around his neck.

A terrified Kenneth Bigley stares into the camera

He apparently condemned Tony Blair as a liar and added: "He doesn't care about me. I am just one, just one person."

The video was said to have been handed to the Arabic al-Jazeera television station by an anonymous source and was broadcast worldwide.

It showed the 62-year-old Liverpool engineer crouched in front of a brick wall, unshaven, looking exhausted and terrified.

At one point he put his head in his hands and wept, huddled beneath the banner of the Tawhid wal Jihad, the terrorist group that is holding him.

"Please, please help me," he said. "I'm begging you. I am begging you to speak . . . to push."

Mr Bigley broke down and wept during the video

The orange jump-suit and the footage of him behind bars were clearly designed to evoke an image of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Many of Mr Bigley's words were not clear as an al-Jazeera announcer spoke over them. But the channel said: "He is seen calling Tony Blair a liar and claiming he has done nothing to help his release."

The Qatar-based station also quoted Mr Bigley as saying: "They don't want to kill me. They could have killed me a week ago, two weeks ago." He was said to have underlined his captors' demands that Iraqi women held prisoner by America should be freed.

The video, however harrowing, did give Mr Bigley's family hope that he was still alive. He was seized from his Baghdad home a fortnight ago with two American colleagues, both of whom were beheaded last week.

His family thanked his captors for the opportunity to see him alive and again urged them to show mercy and release him.

His brother Paul, 54, who lives in Amsterdam, said: "Number one, he is still alive. He looks unwell but is not a broken man."

His son Craig, 33, said in a statement issued through the Foreign Office: "Please could you pass on once more our love and thoughts to him."

The Prime Minister said that he felt "sickened" by the video.

Speaking at the Labour Party conference, he said: "We can't make contact with the hostage takers. They have made no attempt to have any contact with us at all. Of course if they did make contact it would be something we would immediately respond to."

The Muslim Council of Britain, which sent a delegation to Iraq last week to call for Mr Bigley's release, urged caution over the video.

[MadIvan]

The Ancient Greeks said that revenge was a sacred act. In this instance, it would be so again. I want the men responsible for this to die.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Ping!

[Calpernia]

ping

[gortklattu]

Hello? Amnesty International!!!! Hello?

[DSBull]

There is a solution to this Kidnapping problem that might solve this situation in the future, but Civil Libertarians would scream.

That would intel implanting a small mini tracking device under the skin of all foreign workers upon their arrival in country.
If they were kidnapped the military could find them and kill a few bad guys, although a few hostages might by the farm.
It's not a perfect plan, but it is a plan...

[Cogadh na Sith]

The good British 'stiff upper lip' would come in handy just now.

Once upon a time, it was us, The West, that made people grovel. We didn't grovel--that was dishonorable.

We are going to have to remember that spirit to win this.

[JasonC]

Please stop broadcasting the enemy's obscene propaganda. Thank you.

[pistola]

I politely disagree. We need to be reminded daily of just exactly what we are dealing with.

Freegards

[pyx]

The Ancient Greeks said that revenge was a sacred act. In this instance, it would be so again. I want the men responsible for this to die.

I'd go further. The only thing these knuckle-dragging cretins in filthy nightshirts from the seventh century understand is raw unbridled brute force. Quite simply old chap, fear works. Holding back for the sake of political correctness or out of fear that we might be called a NAME by a media that loathes us, is fool hearty at best.

Its long long long past the time for us to take the gloves off and jackhammer these b@$t@rds.

[albertp]

Hello? Amnesty International!!!! Hello?

Let's not hold our breath waiting for the likes of them to defend the human rights of every person on the planet. They clearly espouse a far left agenda and, like the mainstream media, vehemently deny it. As far as they are concerned, all of the hostages who have been beheaded are "mercenaries" (i.e., creatures less than human, and less than animal, for that matter) who deserve their fate. Amnesia International practices selective indignation just as the thousands upon thousands of leftist groups in this country alone also do. What fine specimens of superior humanity and moral vision we have in our fellow Americans of the liberal-leftist mindset. (MEGA-BARF.)

[Viet-Boat-Rider]

Perhaps John Kerry can go before Congress and continue to make accusations about how Americans are in the wrong war, and how Americans need to cut and run.

The captors could play a tape of it to this captive over and over, and tell him that he will never go home..."SEE, EVEN AMERICA HAS DESERTED YOU" they could tell him.

Then Kerry will have completed what he started 30 years ago with his traitorous actions about Vietnam.

[newfarm4000n]

The Ancient Greeks said that revenge was a sacred act. In this instance, it would be so again. I want the men responsible for this to die.

I disagree with you Ivan. We should genocide Islamic Terror and all of its supporters not out of revenge but as self defense.

[burlywood]

Please stop broadcasting the enemy's obscene propaganda. Thank you

I have to agree with you. This obscenity is a win/win situation for the terrorists. They know that if Kenneth Bigley dies, a significant number of the British public will blame Blair. If he lives, many Americans will doubtless be asking questions of Bush: how come two Americans had to die yet the Brit lives? Who paid the ransom? etc.

The terrorists are attempting to destabilise the British government and create a rift between Britain and America. Saturation media coverage is exactly what they want.

[nw_arizona_granny]

did you see this thread?

I have to agree with Ivan.

[JasonC]

The enemy agrees with you not me. Not good company in support of your theory in the matter. Also, it is obscene.

[texasflower]

Would you have us just forget about this man?

[Calpernia]

Yes, I saw you on the other thread hence is why I pinged you here.

The terrorists are raised to embrace the honor of dying in jihad from birth.

They ferret out the people the take as hostages that they can 'get to' emotionally for the videos that are released via AJ or the Net. This reaction is all part of their propaganda.

[Honcho]

That would intel implanting a small mini tracking device under the skin of all foreign workers upon their arrival in country.
If they were kidnapped the military could find them and kill a few bad guys, although a few hostages might by the farm. It's not a perfect plan, but it is a plan...

I actually like this idea. If I were going to Iraq, I would agree to have something implanted to keep track of me while I'm there, so long as I could have it removed once I went home. Can you imagine the propaganda boon for our side by catching some of these idiots? And although a couple of hostages might die in the rescue attempt, it's much better than having your head hacked off.

[nmh]

These people revel in cruelty. They are heartless, evil people. If they had any compassion or mercy they wouldn't be beheading people in the first place.