New Doubts Arise About Former Hostage Susanne Osthoff

Reuters,UK ^ | 01/21/06 | vanity

[genefromjersey]

BERLIN (Reuters) - Part of the ransom money alleged to have been paid by the German government to win the freedom of Iraq hostage Susanne Osthoff last month was found on Osthoff after her release, the German magazine Focus said on Saturday.

Without citing its sources, Focus said officials at the German embassy in Baghdad had found several thousand U.S. dollars in the 43-year-old German archaeologist's clothes when she took a shower at the embassy shortly after being freed.

The serial numbers on the bills matched those used by the government to pay off Osthoff's kidnappers, the magazine said.

[LSUfan]

Wasn't this the same beotch that was traded for Robert Stethem's murderer?

[The Bronze Titan]

"Isn't thaaaat specccciaaalllll"?

[Ken522]

... she's in trouble ...

[birbear]

I wouldn't jump to too many conclusions... This is a Reuters story, reporting from a German magazine, with no identified sources.

I realize that's how journalism is done these days (i.e. no effort made to check the veracity of the claims), but I'm not trusting anybody until somebody stakes their name on it.

[farfromhome]

How stooopid can you get. Didn't she see "Office Space" and learn about money laundering?

[TADSLOS]

oops...

[builder]

I notice the "kidnappers" apparently wanted U.S. dollars.

[COEXERJ145]

She was probably in one it from the beginning and the whole thing was a setup.

IIRC, several months ago Rush predicted stuff like this was going to happen.

[livius]

I suspect this is probably being leaked from Germany to prevent other nutcase "hostages" from trying the same thing. I was in Europe when this happened, and it was obvious to many people that Suzie was in league with the terrorists. Germany first denied paying ransom but it came out soon afterwards that they had indeed bought this terrorist-loving "humanitarian" back for a substantial sum.

Lots of criticism for the then government; don't forget that the German government has changed since then, and that may be one of the reasons this is being released.

Besides, Reuters is very pro-terrorist, so if they published something that could reflect unfavorably on their darlings, you know it's likely true.

[mtbopfuyn]

We'll have to see how this plays out but if it's true...

[nkycincinnatikid]

Note to terrorists, American GI's gave these women chocolate bars, harder to trace.

[Patriot from Philly]

Can the Iraq or our Justice Department file charges against her. This collaboration between European "hostages" and the terrorists is putting millions of dollars in the hands of the brutal insurgency.

While we're at it can we charge the Italian communist sympathizer Sgrena. At the very least it would give us a negotiating tool to get the charges against the US soldier the nutty leftists decided to file dismissed more quickly.

[genefromjersey]

Yep.

[seppel]

yes. and she pocketed some of the dough. looks like this was setup and the German guv fell for it because she was also working for the BND. they were worried about the political fallout because old Fisher and Schröder were lying about Germany's Intel support for the US in the Iraq war.

Schröder got 3 more years in power as a result of his lies about Iraq. It's turning into a political scandal here, but as usual the libs get of the hook.

[JasonC]

Gee, I guess they can't pretend they didn't pay then, can they? Can anyone say "open season"?

[Dallas59]

Her



...And her mother....

[Shermy]

Former Iraq Hostage Makes Bizzare TV Appearance

[livius]

I doubt it, but it would certainly be nice to nail her and Sgrena, both of them terrorist sympathizers, inciters and funders. Sgrena is even responsible for the death of one of the Italian special forces who rescued her, since the Italian govt didn't want to reveal the fact that they had ransomed her and the driver tried to blow through a US checkpoint.

Of course, Italy is now trying to bring the US into the courts over this, so I think you can see how effective the EU is on this.

[livius]

Wooo! Take a look at this picture (of the German):

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1548885/posts

Thanks, Shermy! Pretty scary.