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!