Posted on 10/01/2001 2:25:46 PM PDT by Utah Girl
An American aid worker on trial with seven others in Afghanistan for preaching Christianity is pleading with the President to hold off on any retaliatory strikes.
"All eight of us want to live," Heather Mercer wrote her mom.
In the letter, Mercer pleads with President Bush "to not take any retaliatory action until we've been freed," Mercer's mom, Deborah Oddy, told reporters in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Mercer, 24, of Vienna, Va., is one of two Americans, four Germans and two Australians who face anything from expulsion to jail time and execution for spreading Christianity while aiding the Islamic nation's poor. They all adamantly deny the hard-line Taliban's charges.
The judge handling the case assured the aid workers yesterday that they would be treated fairly — and that the threat of a U.S. assault would play no role in the case.
"I now want to say to you again that the current developments in the face of America's possible attack will not affect the proceedings of the trial," said Taliban Chief Justice Noor Mohammad Saqib. "There will be no discrimination or injustice against you."
The trial resumed yesterday after a three-week suspension after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The eight workers are all employees of the German-based Christian group Shelter Now International.
At yesterday's session, chief investigator Mohammed Umer Hanif read the charges aloud and recited a list of items seized from the workers' offices, including what he said were cassettes and reading material related to Christianity.
The aid workers finally got to meet their defense attorney yesterday, Pakistani lawyer Atif Ali Khan. Khan was given three to 15 days to prepare his case, further delaying court action.
Mercer and fellow American Dayna Curry, 29, of Nashville were arrested Aug. 3 in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
Two days later, the Taliban's religious police stormed the offices of Shelter Now International and arrested the other six foreign employees: Germans George Taubmann, Margrit Stebnar, Kati Jelinek and Silke Duerrkopf and Australians Peter Bunch and Diana Thomas.
Thomas' sister also appealed to the U.S. to delay any military strikes.
"We're worried about her trial, and now they're going to attack in that area, you know. It's too much to bear at the moment," Samantha Thomas told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Can you say "hostages"? Sadly, I doubt that any of these prisoners knows that their freedom has been demanded by the U.S, and I doubt they know the full story regarding the attacks. They are not going to be freed by the Taliban, they will be kept there and the process is being delayed on purpose so any retaliation by the U.S. will be to blame for their deaths...
God's hand is sure to save, and prayers are in order NOW for these Christians. Their jailers are inhumane monsters who don't mind resorting to torture and murder, and we must act soon.
Ummmm, not to seem insensitive, but I think these folks have zero consideration when it comes to when, where and how we carry out military operations.
Though I hate .... absolutely hate to say it ... They are already dead
Of course they do. They're humans, not robots.
But you know what? American national security takes precedence. They knew what they were getting into when they went to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, where there is a travel ban, and now here are the consequences of their choices.
Don't get me wrong: I pray for their safe return. But America has a higher priority right now: her survival in a fight against those whose highest goal is to kill us all.
Why do I think he won't offer himself like one of the girl's dad did? < /cynicism>
1) First she goes into someone else's country, a country ruled by a faction who everybody knows considers attempted conversion a felony,
2) She goes willingly against the laws of that country,
3) Pulls Afghanis into her ministry's plot to undermine that country, knowing they'll face the death penalty,
4) Wants the justice for 6,000 held off until she can get her self-involved little ponytail safely out of the country
5) Is willing to let thousands of military stand by and perhaps die if opporunities to strike successfully come and go while they wait to make sure she isn't hurt for her crimes against her host country... need I go on?
If that little twit is the only human shield OBL has, they'd both be in big trouble if I were the sniper.
Islam loves hostages.
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