Jeffery Ake, the unkown Hoosier Hostage

I live in Northwest Indiana. On April 13th, 2005 a man by the name of Jeffery Ake was taken hostage in Iraq. He's from about 15 miles from where I live. Never thought I'd hear something like this.

Ake, 47, of LaPorte, is president and CEO of Equipment Express in nearby Rolling Prairie, whose products include machines that fill water bottles.
Link to full article

Well, naturally I was in shock. I went and turned on CNN to see what they were saying about this. Nadaa. Zip. " Hmm, this is weird. Maybe MSNC,"
"Weird, nothing there either. Oh wait! theres a litttle thingy going across the bottom. It just said something about it. Ill wait it out. Theyll have something about this."

Well after about 30 minutes of MJ coverage, they mentioned it. It was an in depth piece lasting about 15 seconds. Then that was it. If they ever covered it after that, I must have missed, but since I sleep with the news on, I doubt it.

Our local papers covered it for a bit, but not much. Aprx one weeks worth. Im going to link to the articles. Please read them. Its more interesting than you might expect.

Laporte in Shock. Dated April 14th (1 day after)

Ake's Fate Unclear. Dated April 15th. (2 days and counting)

Interesting OP/ED piece from same day

Now a week later, there is another article. It will be last one for 2 months. Please read. It leaves some foretelling clues in it, that we wont be hearing to much come..

Speculation grew after the candlelight vigil set for Friday was canceled hours before it was to begin with no explanation.

"We have no further information to release regarding Jeffrey Ake, the LaPorte resident who is being held hostage in Iraq, nor do we know when any further statement will be made."

Activity outside the family's Pine Lake home has picked up. People have been coming and going more freely than last week, when reporters and photographers were camped on the lawn across the street. For the most part, the national media has left, with a few lone reporters and photographers occasionally dropping by the house.

Still No Word on Ake


So one week. Thats what you get here. I guess he doesnt matter. Maybe its just to boring now. After Nick Berg, they all just blur into one. 7 days, your stale, unless of course your a mutimillonare who has a fondess of little boys. At which point they wont rest untill you know the FULL story.

Well, honestly, I wrote this guy off as dead untill earlier in the week, I came across this:

Officials from two different federal agencies said Thursday that there was nothing new to report on the condition of Jeffrey Ake, the LaPorte man taken hostage in Iraq two months ago, despite recent comments an Ake family member made to the media.

Jim Ake, Jeffrey's father, told a LaPorte freelance journalist on Wednesday that he had been told by "federal agents" that his son was alive.

Representatives of both the State Department and the FBI would not comment on the remarks because it was unclear where Jim Ake received his information.

Link to Full Article

Hmm, to me, either the dad is goin crazy, someones messin with him, or someone from our government really told him that. Its sounds like they are denying it even though they dont actually say " We didnt tell his dad anything!"

In one of the articles it says that more than 200 people have been kidnapped there in the last year. 200!!!! How many get any media? How many can you name RIGHT NOW! 2? 3?

Now ask yourself this.. Who is Scott Peterson's attorney? Who is Tom Messeruo? Jennifer Willbanks, anyone? Now name me 2 hostages...you can't! Neither can I. This is whats wrong with our media.

Everything should be done to get hostages freed. If the Austrailians could, and the Jappanese could, why not us? How many Americans have been beheaded because of our inability to efficently execute a rescue mission?

Why is there no coverage of this? Are these people meaningless? Do they hope that everyone will forget, and it will just go away? I dont get it. I really dont.

Well, I just wanted to let any of this guys family or friends know that he isnt forgotten, and is in mine and now I'm sure, alot more peoples thoughts.








I cant wait untill this is all over with.











[edit on 26-6-2005 by spliff4020]

givin this a bump since it was 4am when i posted it

Maybe they figure that if we don't give hostages being taken in Iraq a lot of play in the media, that the insurgents taking hostages won't be as inclined to do so as it doesn't generate any publicity for their cause.

Our troops are attacked about 50 times a day (I think I read somewhere). Yet we barely hear about any of it, maybe just one attack if we're lucky. I think the American media is doing its part in the propaganda front by downplaying the ferocity and effectiveness of the insurgency.

Just my guess...

Ive also noticed that Fox News calls them "homicide bombers" instead of "suicide bombers". I

An interesting post spliff4020 and I can understand your point.

On a slight different note, but along similar lines - lack of what you might expect in national news press coverage.

Only a few days ago a friend emailed me about a British soldier who was killed in Southern Iraq which was covered in his local area

The only conclusion is that further deaths, this bringing the total to 88, do no longer afford a mention in the national news.

Returning to the point Rasputin13 made about the possibility of the media refusing to 'play the game' so to speak, that is also touched upon here - Kenneth Bigley and Censorship and here - What should the media’s role been in the war on terror?

Jak

Although the media shouldnt pander to the captors, these people need to be acknowledged. And ALOT more needs to be done to get them back. Not that soldiers are less important, but when its innocent civilians, whos only crime is giving these people drinking water, everything in out power should be done.

Ive yet to read about a single American hostage being released (at least with their head still attached).

(and thnks to the overzealous mod for the point deduction on this. Its nice to see that this site is getting lamer every day.)


Anyrate...there needs to be a middle ground. Keeping our collective heads in the sand and acting like it aint there aint gonna bring them home. Swift actions will. Something we seem to be lacking, as of late. Maybe we could take some pointers from Australia and Japan.