Posted on 12/28/2005 2:27:13 PM PST by jmc1969
I was quite clearly told about whom it concerned, namely a grouping of the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi group," Susanne Osthoff said in an interview conducted by German public television station ZDF on Tuesday and broadcast on Wednesday.
Zarqawi, who has a $25 million reward offered for his capture, is blamed for a relentless series of attacks, suicide bombings and beheadings in Iraq. His supporters have killed many, if not most, of the people they are known to have abducted.
The archaeologist, who converted to Islam and lived in Iraq, was seized heading north from Baghdad on November 25 by gunmen who threatened in a videotape to kill her and her driver unless Germany ended all support for the Iraqi government.
She was freed by December 18 after the intervention of the German government, which has declined to comment on any conditions for her release.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
These people are really amusing!
Good comment.
LMAO!!
I love that song!
Ransoms from Italy and Germany paid for lots of Zarqawi's weapons and explosives--probably much more than can be offset by a two or three thousand rear-echelon troops.
Why doesn't Germany just give Zarqawi $25 million a month and avoid having to go through all that kidnapping hassle.
The really sad truth is that the Germans have opened up a can of worms. For example, when we go to the national parks, there are signs that ask "please don't feed the bears." That is because once the bears know that there is food, they return again and again and become increasingly aggressive. Its the same for terrorist. Once they see that Germany is willing to pony up the cash for hostages, rest assure they will be back for more.
Don't the Germans realize that the terrorist will accept the $25million and still hate the Germans the next day. With the World Cup on the horizon, the last thing the Germans need to do is encourage these terrorist.
Another reason to relocate the bases.
There´s a lot of nonsense on this thread.
As a German citizen, who carefully has informed himself about this whole affair, let me tell you what I have heard:
1. The whole affair is very suspicious. Osthoffs comments were made during an TV interview in which she (a Muslima) appeared like a member of a terrorist group (not only wearing a headscarf but her whole face except for the eyes covered). She wasn´t able to speak clearly, and the interviewer almost stopped the interview. Osthoff appeared to be under drugs or at least under a state of shock.
2. She has had no contact with her family for years. She considers Iraq as her home country and doesn´t understand the outrage in Germany that she wants to go back to Iraq.
3. Apparently, on the ride when she was captured, she had 17,000 US $ cash with her (from the German embassy for her projects). Her driver knew that, and since he has been hiding after his release, it´s suspected that he told the terrorists to get her.
4. It´s very unlikely that she was in the hands of Zarqawi, since he usually doesn´t releases living people. It´s probable that she was caught by criminals who simply wanted ransom money, or just the money she took with her.
Germanys government has shown in the past that it is willing to pay ransom money to get its citizens free, if there´s no other possibility. However, it was and is also position of the government never to accept political claims of hostage-takers (releases of prisoners included).
5. Lebanese Hammadi (the hijacker of 1985) has no connections to Iraq, he was released because 19 years in prison is above the average time in prison for "life". Believe it or not, the idea that he was released for Osthoff doesn´t make sense. If he had so powerful friends, why haven´t they tried to get him out earlier than after 19 years? Even Osthoff has been working in Iraq for years.
So, it would be nice if we could all make our judgments on what we know. And my conclusion is (the most logical for now) that her captors, who were most likely not Zarqawi, wanted her money, and maybe that of my government.
A good 2006 y´all!
There was no request. At least no official. And you may ask the authorities of the state of Hesse, since this was a state issue. But I can tell you that it´s not unusual that murderers are released after 15-18 years in prison.
Maybe the US didn´t promise not to use capital punishment, which forbids Germany to extradite prisoners?
Al Jazeera interview - "she said her kidnappers were not criminals and had only demanded humanitarian aid for Sunni Arab regions. She had described her captors as "poor people" and that she "cannot blame them for kidnapping her, as they cannot enter (Baghdad's heavily fortified) Green Zone to kidnap Americans."
Al-Taqiyah
Why did the German government surrender to terrorists demands and give them money in exchange for her freedom?
Why did the German government release someone like Hammadi from prison who most probably is going to commit terrorists acts again whenever he gets the opportunity to do it. This 19 years in prison consider to be lifetime is total BS. If you have such a law, then there is something terribly wrong with your judicial system
I tell you, we release criminals for manslaughter after 8-10 years, and for murder usually after 15-18 years. So 19 years was above the average. Sure, the "justice" system is unjust, but "life" can´t be "life" because of a ruling of our supreme court: "The dignity of man is untouchable" (Art. 1 German Basic Law) also applies to prisoners, so they need to have a chance to get out after a certain time.
Why Germany gives in to terrorists and pays ransom money?
Because we don´t want to get our citizens back dead. I know foolish (because of the increasing risk of being taken as a hostage), but that´s how the government behaved during the last years. We don´t know whether ransom money was paid this time. It is also possible that the kidnappers released Osthoff once they realized that she is actually Iraqi-by-choice. It´s difficult to tell, because there´re so many criminal and terrorist groups. But the handwriting definitely does not look much like a terrorist one, more like a criminal (= no political goals).
Their willingness to pay only encourages the terrorist pukes in the practice and gives them funding to accomplish their evil goals. It's major hair-splitting to then claim they ignore the claims of the kidnappers.
Barn door. Horse. Out.
Exactly what I thought when I read that they had released her. Plus I also wondered if she really had been kidnapped or if it was a ploy to see if the Germans would cave. Either way, they obviously did.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.