Voices from Iraq: Kidnapping
Recently, there has been a wave of kidnapping of foreign workers in Iraq aimed at political putting pressure at their governments to withdraw their forces from Iraq. The question on the BBC Arabic service is what are the consequences of such acts of kidnapping?
Most respondants in Iraq objected to the kidnappings. Here are some of their comments translated to English:
May God damn those kidnapping the people who came to do nothing more than help us. The Japanese in particular came to Iraq without weapons. I wish that these hostages return to their families safely and that they do not take a bad image about us to Japan. These kidnappers do not represent the Iraqi people. (Anwar Al-xxxxx, Najaf, Iraq)
Without doubt, kidnapping is a cowardly act in the literal sense of the word. If the kidnappers want to put pressure on the governments of the hostages to withdraw their forces from Iraq, then the question is what are these forces? They have come to help the Iraqi people and participate in the rebuilding of Iraq. This proves that those doing the kidnapping are against humanitarian work and are therefore the enemies of the Iraqi people and must be got rid of. (Hisham, Iraq)
All countries spend so much effort, time and money to attract [good] international attention, even the major powers. Why do we sacrifice everything, including lives, to attract international animosity and what is the purpose of that? (Mushtaq xxxxxx, Baghdad)
We witnessed many events which show the savageness and barbarity of kidnapping, ransacking and looting and we do not wish to emphasise only the kidnapping of foreigners. It’s a proof of the security vacuum in Iraq and the lack of fundamental solution for such problems. I am most amazed to see that when few stray ones decide to kidnap some foreigners, we see the whole world condemning it and working hard to negotiate the release of their hostages. But what about the continuing acts of kidnapping against the Iraqis, young ones as well as adults? If we want to solve the problem, then only one side must take the blame and that is the coalition forces. (Majid xxxxx, Baghdad)
Its like people who want to destroy the reputation of Iraqis by doing such acts. Even though I have reservations against the acts of this so called resistance, but we see people who do certain things which destroy their own reputation. We see in Falluja some people in one hour destroyed the one year work of the resistance by mutilating the bodies of the dead. And now they started kidnapping, starting with the Japanese who came here only few months ago and they are the second biggest donors to us, then the Koreans and lastly the Germans who are against the war anyway. This is only doing harm to the reputation of Iraq and the Iraqis and its done by people who do not wish to live under the sun, because they always lived in the darkness and do not wish well to others. (Muhammadxxxxx, Baghdad)
I strongly condemn the acts of kidnapping of foreigners in Iraq, especially the foreigners working for relief agencies. Those doing such acts are highway bandits and criminals who do not belong to the poor people of Iraq. Our hearts are with the families of the hostages and we wish that they are released immediately. (Abu Mustafa, Baghdad)
Brothers, these people [the kidnappers] want to take Iraq back to the middle ages because they live in darkness and are unable to see the light which is spreading in Iraq. These people use to work for crime during the Saddam era and now they are continuing the same job as before. (Bashar xxxxi, Arbil, Iraq)
It’s a cowardly act. If they were heroes then they should kidnap Americans and not unarmed civilians. (Jihan, Iraq)
Islam forbade terror in everyway against peaceful civilians. Any act which contradicts this is an insult to the teaching of the prophet Muhammad. (Haithem xxxx, Iraq)
Kidnapping was a practice done under the old regime to compromise people resisting it. For example, they would hold the wife and children or relatives of the required person so that he would surrender and get executed. Often these people had to surrender to avoid causing problems to their families. These kidnappings prove the cowardice and low life of those criminals of the regime. I wish the [current] hostages a better luck in surviving captivity. Qassim, Iraq
The kidnapping of those innocent foreigners working for relief agencies is a proof that this resistance as its called is nothing but a group of saboteurs aiming to destabilise the security of the country whenever they have the chance using slogans which are clear. They are receiving support from neighbouring countries, particularly Iran. (Raimoon xxxxxx, Iraq)
It is not right to kidnap people who came to help Iraqis. (Atheed, Baghdad)
Those who are doing the kidnapping do not have a faith, morals or values. Why do they call themselves Jihad fighters? Is this the Jihad? They are infidels and want to see Iraq remaining in the savageness of the Saddam era. (Abdullah xxxxxxxx, Iraq)
Thanks again to Amir for the translation to English.
Here is the BBC link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/arabic/talking_point/newsid_3614000/3614807.stm
