Iraqi Hostage Situation
Aljazeera has some balance coverage of the Aussie hostage in Iraq. They quote Howard as saying;
“We can’t have the foreign policy of this country dictated by terrorists.”
Tragic as it may seem, this is the only approach viable. It must make the family feel they are in a no-win situation but to take any other stance would only serve to turn the whole war in a twenty-hostages a day situation.
The Australian reports that Australia is setting up a Response Team and they will be deployed to Iraq, if they aren’t there already. There will be SASR comms and language experts as well as police and defence personnel
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the emergency response team, which left Sydney yesterday, would be led by former Solomon Islands regional assistance mission chief Nick Warner and would include federal and state police and defence personnel. It is also expected to include SAS communications and language specialists and will set up headquarters in the secure zone close to Baghdad airport.Linguists and comms specialists don’t have to be SASR unless there are other SASR teams on-board. I would suggest there is a snatch team going as well and if the Response Team get a fix on these guys then the days of the Shura Council of the Mujahedeen of Iraq are numbered… and the number is small. Sometime in the very near future, they can expect to hear a large noise and while they are recovering from that and muttering ‘what the hell…in arabic, they will feel the sting of 9mm bullets, double-tapped into each and everyone of them. God! I hope they locate them.
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I hope they find him to. And catch the thugs that are holding him.
John Howard and Alexander Downer are handling this in the correct manner and I pray for a good outcome.
Send Niall over there to whinge at ’em. That should do the trick
Because as sure as shit, he’s going to come on here and comment with his own brand of stupidity.
The ragheads don’t have “need to know” who is on the team Kev.
Keep ’em guessing.
Take a look at the SMH letters pages this morning. One word: disgusting.
I feel sorry for the guy, but he went where the big money is and the money is there because of the risk.
The Aust Govt has reacted exactly right, all efforts to rescue or recover him short of changing our policy or paying ransom.
Clearly the Aust Govt thought this out long ago and put in place the contingency plans that they have activated.
Will it get him back? probably not, but he did choose to take the risk.
You’re right Harry but not another throat slitting. That’s a big price to pay for chasing the dollar.
Absolutely right, it is a huge price to pay but it was a risk he chose to take.
The Govt is doing all the right things, but I don’t believe that will get him back. Sometimes, when you take a risk, you lose.