Nothing better demonstrates the madness behind the Iraqi insurgency than the kidnapping of four foreigners who support peace on Iraqi, not American, terms. While it may yet prove this is simply another criminal gang making money out of the loathsome business of abduction and ransom — a crime which has made victims of far more Iraqis than foreigners — there are strong indications that the previously unheard of “Sword of Truth Brigade” really is a terrorist organization, possibly connected to Al-Qaeda.
A deadline of next Thursday has been set for the release of all insurgent detainees; otherwise the four foreigners, an American, two Canadians and a Briton, will be murdered. Since there is absolutely no chance that this demand will be met, these men, if really held by insurgents, are already as good as dead. Their captors would not have been so stupid as to imagine that it could have been any other way. Thus the coming days will see a disgusting drama in which international pleas for the men’s lives will probably be punctuated by additional videos from the kidnappers, showing the victims becoming ever more terrified and desperate. A final one may show their cold-blooded murders.
We can only hope that there is no grim amusement in Washington that these four peace activists, who had made clear their condemnation of the US attack on, and subsequent policy in, Iraq, should themselves have become victims of the violence. The men, including the 74 year-old Briton Norman Kember, reportedly a life-long pacifist, were working for one of the few remaining foreign charities in Iraq seeking to promote peace and reconciliation. Their kidnappers have accused them of being “spies” which has come to be insurgent-speak for “foreigner”. A year ago, charity worker Margaret Hassan was also accused by her captors of espionage before they filmed her murder.
As happened with Ms. Hassan and other kidnapped foreigners, an international chorus of protest is mounting, with visiting Muslim scholars demanding the victims’ release and condemning the crime of abduction as un-Islamic. The appeals this time seem particularly strident because the seized men were working for peace and reconciliation. While the elevation in tone and volume may be understandable, is it really appropriate that there should be any difference in the ardent appeals for mercy on this occasion than after the kidnapping of any other unfortunates?
Because the majority of victims are Iraqi and the motive of the criminals is often extortion rather than political blackmail, virtually no attention is paid to the acts by the international press and media. Nevertheless, the fear and anguish of the victims and their families is every bit as devastating, If this recent abduction ends in murder, the sense of loss will be every bit as profound. The bitter truth about all such kidnappers — and one which they seem unable to grasp — is that they are heartless, immoral cowards who, by their cruelty and inhumanity, defile themselves and whatever cause they pretend to represent.
