WAR: Japanese, British, Canadian, South Korean & Israeli Civilians Held Hostage in Iraq

25 million Iraqis. Mostly non-combative.


A few Thousand "Militia" ready to fight to the death.
In a world where you're judged by the size of your RPG,
All you've known all your life is "America needs to die"
You've got nothing to Live for, but "Paradise" to die for.
What do you do? You fight...tooth and nail, bullets and bombs. TO surrender is to Die spiritually....to die, is to live forever.


You're surrounded, you're outnumbered. You have no support from a CHINA, or a USSR.
You take hostages, non-islamics are just animals anyway right? plus, it's easy. You show the world
that it's really YOU, who is the animal.

This is no Viet-nam, this is the End-Game.
The last gasp, of those without a grasp..on reality.


And When, not if, they die. There is no paradise , the elders lied, they've been used for someone elses purpose. Too Bad, good riddance anyway..

Just out of interest are there any elements of the Islamic/muslim media condemning these kidnappings and urging restraint.

I doubt even more that UN support or intervention will be forthcoming (as unlikely as that was in the first place) now things seems to be unravelling to such a degree. A shame because that may have helped convince suspicious Iraqis that this is not simply an excercise in empire building by the US?UK etc. This whole thing has become one vast expanse of foggy grey.

I would really like to see that, Ubermunche.
There weren't many decrying Sept. 11th.
I'm not holding my breath, but, it would be important, if it happened.

Live from Tokyo, this news has been all over Japanese TV and the press since it hit the wires yesterday afternoon. The three in question are a free-lance journalist, a photo-journalist for the socialist-biased Asashi Newspaper, and a children's aid worker.

Despite the generally pacifist nature of post-war Japan, there is unflinching support of US foreign policy by the powers at be although, as in most countries, Japanese media is unabashedly left-wing.

While the Japanese Constitution - actually penned by US occupation forces - forbids the formation and deployment of armed forces for purposes other than self-defense, Prime Minister Koizumi and his administration stated their claim in court of public opinion, side-stepped Constitutional purists and the left-wing opposition and successfully deployed a token number of Japanese Self-Defense Forces, the only standing military in Japan. To be sure, this has come at significant political equity at the expense of the Prime Minister.

To be sure, the participation of Japanese armed forces is more a gesture in support of US foreign policy than a willingness to provide significant manpower on the ground. However, one fact highlighted in the Japanese press is that next to the US, Japan is the largest provider of financial support in the mop-up effort, to the extent that the media has mockingly labeled Japan an automatic teller machine for the US.

Nonetheless, following the hostage news the papers and TV editorial news programs today are consistent on two points: a) Japan will not pull out of Iraq and b) everybody knew it was a matter of time before something like this (eg human casualty) was going to happen.

To the extent this crises doesn't involve the Japanese military personnel, the media can't point fingers at the administration. Meanwhile, one observation thus far lacking is that private professionals, such as those captured, should understand their lives are in danger the moment they step on the ground of a war zone. To think otherwise is foolhardy. However, this doesn't diminish the hope that lives are saved and the tradegy ends without event.

A Canadian aid worker has now been reported captured.
He is also a civilian.

I knew it. I just KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!!! WAAAAH!!

even the 'terrorists' knew that the japanese were there ONLY to support reconstruction efforts. no terrorist, without backing from a clandestine agency, would have done this sort of thing. Not even possible. Nobody is that friggen stupid.

The Red Cross attack, UN building attack, and this latest act of aggression have WHAT in common? they are all startegic terrorist attacks with the evil agenda in mind.

why do I say this?

The Red Cross is mostly neutral and focused on helping people. The UN building was also neutral and focused on bringing a legitimate international balance to the situation. And now these poor Japanese victims, who were also partially neutral (in terms of what they were doing), are the latest in this lineup.

Doesn't anyone else see this pattern, here?

regular terrorists don't make such stupid mistakes that would only serve to cripple their position! only when they are ordered to do so by some kind of foreign organization, this much I am sure of! the same kinds of organizations that schedule IDF attacks and suicide bombings within a few days of Israel-Palestinian peace talks.

The Japanese have sent an envoy to Amman Jordan to coordinate an effort to release the hostages in Iraq.

www.reuters.com...