| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| Japanese hostages ’to be freed’ |
| 2004-04-10 |
| An Iraqi group holding three Japanese citizens hostage has reportedly said it will release them within hours. Arabic al-Jazeera TV quoted a statement from the kidnappers saying they would free the three after mediation by a Sunni Muslim organisation. The insurgents had previously threatened to burn the journalist and two aid workers alive unless Japan withdrew its forces from Iraq. Japan has refused to withdraw its troops from Iraq despite the threats. Very strange. Has somebody managed to locate any official news releases relating to the supposed anti-war stance of these Japanese hostages? That an unnegotiated hostage release is happening in the face of Japan’s defiant stance makes zero sense. Anyone else have a read on this? |
| Posted by:Zenster |
| #13 what does sushi smell like on the grill? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-04-10 11:54:18 PM |
| #12 GK, thank you for the link. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-04-10 11:44:44 PM |
| #11 JH - Lol! Now it's appropriate! Heh, heh. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-04-10 10:11:22 PM |
| #10 "tell the 'mujahideen' that the hostages were all against the war" >okay, now you can burn them alive. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-04-10 10:09:10 PM |
| #9 GK - Thx! The fake-kidnapping rumor makes far more sense than any other reason I can think of for the Japanese being "released." I was puzzled, to say the least, when I heard the report. Obviously Zayed has the same problem! |
| Posted by: .com 2004-04-10 9:37:28 PM |
| #8 Here's what zayed had to say about the 'kidnapping' of the Japanese: There have been rumours on the Internet that the three Japanese hostages faked the video that was displayed two days ago with the help of Iraqis in an attempt to pressure the Japanese government in withdrawing their troops. All three of them are anti-war activists. Noriaki Imai was in Iraq researching the effect of Depleted Uranium on Iraqis. Nahoka Takato works with an NGO helping Iraqi children orphaned from the war, and Soichiru Koriyama is a freelance journalist who has been in the Palestinian occupied territories recently. I find it hard to believe they would go this far. The fear and horror in their eyes was very evident in the video, if it is a hoax then they certainly have a promising future in Hollywood. I also received an incredible number of emails and appeals from Japanese citizens and organizations asking me to spare the lives of the Japanese hostages (do they think I have something to do with the kidnapping??) and to tell the 'mujahideen' that the hostages were all against the war (as if that would make any difference to the kidnappers). |
| Posted by: GK 2004-04-10 9:28:48 PM |
| #7 Maybe the terrorists are trying to manufacture some positive PR. That's the first time I've ever seen the words "terrorist" and "positive PR" appear in the same sentence before. Backing down is the very worst thing they can do in light of the momentum they had going with Spain and Thailand. This would represent the exact opposite of "positive PR" for them. Being "nice" = being weak. I also refuse to believe that the insurgents would even blink about capping those hostages. That sort of honorability just isn't in their playbook. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-04-10 9:20:03 PM |
| #6 Whether or not the Iraqis were even vaguely aware of those Tokyo protests, most likely they still knew of Japan's standing refusal to post combat troops to Iraq. Something's fishy. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-04-10 9:10:52 PM |
| #5 Maybe the terrorists are trying to manufacture some positive PR. That would explain such a move on their part. Perhaps the rumors floating on the internet are true: The kidnapping was a set up from day one and the Japanese peaceniks were never in jeopardy. |
| Posted by: Mark 2004-04-10 9:09:33 PM |
| #4 In responce to the kidnapping, there was a recent protest in Tokyo about Japan's involvment in the war and the handling of the 3 hostages. I don't know how the iraqi militants would know anything about that. |
| Posted by: CobraCommnader 2004-04-10 9:05:12 PM |
| #3 Something still doesn't add up, Frank G. No matter how much I'd like to think that the Iraqi fighters are all uneducated guttersnipes, they must have some organization behind them. Even a poorly informed group would still have a good chance of knowing that Japan has no intention of sending combat troops. Ergo, a fear of further Japanese reinforcements isn't exactly on the table. In light of this, there's no real gain unless damage is inflicted upon the coalition via a withdrawal by Japan. Executing the hostages was the only avenue towards this end. I also maintain that even if the hostages were willing participants, the captors would have had no compuncitons about torching them anyway, just so long as their message got out. Japan's successfully facing them down is the very last thing they want and it's rather difficult to imagine that the insurgents had a change of heart. In light of their defiance, it's equally difficult to think that Japan back-channeled a ransom payment, so there must be another explanation buried in this somewhere. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-04-10 9:03:40 PM |
| #2 Frank, Excelent, rotflmao. |
| Posted by: Mr. Davis 2004-04-10 8:44:24 PM |
| #1 from the JPost: The kidnappers, identifying themselves as the "Mujahedeen Squadron," said they made the decision after mediation by the Islamic Clerics Committee, an Iraqi Sunni Muslim organization, Al-Jazeera reported. possibly someone realized Japan wasn't going to give in and played them a film about Nanking? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-04-10 8:31:52 PM |