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| Iraq-Jordan | |
| U.S. Citizen Kidnapped From Iraq Hotel | |
| 2004-04-16 | |
A U.S. businessman was abducted from his hotel in the southern city of Basra by kidnappers disguised as policemen, the Basra police chief said Friday. Col. Khalaf al-Maleki said the abduction of the American, who was of Jordanian origin, took place Thursday night. He had no further details. Including the Basra abduction, at least 21 foreigners have been abducted over the past week in a wave of kidnappings. The abductions have coincided with intense violence around the country and most are believed to have been carried out by anti-U.S. insurgents, apparently for political reasons. The vast majority of the abducted foreigners were snatched on roads west and south of Baghdad, where gunmen have run rampant the past week, attacking convoys and battling U.S. troops. It was not immediately clear if the businessman's abduction was by insurgents or by criminals seeking ransom. For months, there have been many kidnappings of Iraqi citizens, especially wealthy ones, for extortion purposes.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 For about two months before the hostage-taking started, you would hear stories about the burgeoning Iraqi kidnapping business. Check Zayed's archives for some descriptions of how wide-spread and penny-ante the kidnapping business got. Apparently it got worse than Colombia, which has a national tradition of for-profit kidnapping which rivals the drug trade. It's my opinion that this current spate of kidnapping of foreigners is just the natural extension of that earlier expansion of the kidnapping business. I wouldn't be surprised if the Russians quietly ransomed their people, for instance. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2004-04-16 2:09:44 PM |
| #3 Synour: yes. Getting the Iraqi economy going is one of the most important things to be done. Get the job market going, give average Iraqis a reason to support the new government, get some prosperity into the country. Remember the adage about idle hands and the Devil. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2004-04-16 12:52:02 PM |
| #2 Is an economic revivial THAT urgent that civilians need to be ushered into combat zones? Can't this wait for a while, a year or two, even? |
| Posted by: Seynour Paine 2004-04-16 12:35:01 PM |
| #1 This is an Al Q tactic to destroy the commerce potential in the country. It sends a signal to any non-com that is thinking about going to Iraq. The signal is STAY AWAY. That means limited economic growth and more handwringing from the media. We need to stamp this shit out and fast. |
| Posted by: remote man 2004-04-16 12:24:31 PM |