You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Iraq-Jordan
Kidnappers Free Cousin of Iraqi Prime Minister
2004-11-21
Kidnappers have freed the cousin of Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a source in the premier's office said on Sunday. "He has been freed and is now with his family in Baghdad," the source said, giving no more details. It was not clear when 75-year-old Ghazi Allawi, the prime minister's first cousin, was freed. A previously unknown Islamist group had seized him along with his wife and their daughter-in-law in Baghdad on Nov. 9. The women were released a week ago, Arab television channels said. The group had threatened to kill all three unless Allawi's government called off a U.S.-led assault on the rebel-held city of Falluja, alleged to have become a haven for foreign Islamist fighters, and freed prisoners.
That worked well.
The government said it would not be influenced by the abductions, which took place a day after the assault began. U.S. forces now control the city, where they say they have killed some 1,200 fighters and detained more than 1,000 suspected insurgents. Scores of Iraqis and foreigners have been seized by Islamic militant groups and criminal gangs. Some have been freed while others have been killed, several by beheading.
I wonder why they were freed, fear after Fallujah?
Posted by:(-Cobra-)

#5  Seafarious, say you're Iraqi 'millitant'...what is the likelihood that some family member of a westerner would track you down for a wendetta? Now, what is the likelihood that Allawi would track you down because you harmed hair of his family member? Several orders of magnitude in comparison with the first scenario.
Posted by: Cornîliës   2004-11-21 9:31:32 PM  

#4  Zen, something like a russian gambit? (ya know the story about those Russkis kidnapped in Lebanon and their exchange for family mebers' token parts in the mail...something in that line of work?)
Posted by: Cornîliës   2004-11-21 9:26:16 PM  

#3  Huh. I was expecting to see them holding up his head for the camera. Nice to see I was wrong.
Posted by: Seafarious   2004-11-21 9:22:37 PM  

#2  I wonder why they were freed, fear after Fallujah?

My money's on something along the lines of ...

"You, your family, every one of your cousins, your in-laws, all of their relatives, all your high school buddies, your favorite soccer team, your dog, the cat, all their fleas and your pet goldfish ... oh, and your mistress too and her family, her in-laws, her cousins, relatives, friends, sorority sisters ..."
Posted by: Zenster   2004-11-21 8:21:48 PM  

#1  Probably no chance of getting some moolah. The political dimension was, likely, a ruse. And fear may be there too. The cousin became a liabitily.
Posted by: Cornîliës   2004-11-21 7:53:31 PM  

00:00