Free Republic

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Friday shrugged off a reward for her arrest as a war criminal announced by university students ahead of a visit to New Zealand. “Protest is a part of democratic society and student protests are particularly a long honoured tradition in democratic society,” Rice told a news conference in the West Australian capital Perth. “And I can only say that the United States has done everything that it can to, in this war on terror, live up to our international and our national laws and obligations.” New Zealand university students had earlier offered a reward...

(IsraelNN.com) The Israel Air Force struck terrorist groups in Gaza in three separate attacks Tuesday afternoon, killing at least six operatives, including Army of Islam second-in-command Muataz Dughmush. The head of the terrorist group, Mumtaz, is Muataz' half-brother. Two of the strikes were carried out in the central Gaza town of Dir el-Balah, where IAF pilots successfully targeted the gunmen involved in the 2006 kidnapping of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit. One of the missiles struck a vehicle carrying the Army of Islam terrorist cell, which included Muataz Dughmush. Five terrorists were killed, including Dughmush, and three others were wounded, one...

CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Multi-National Division – Baghdad soldiers rescued a kidnapped Iraqi citizen May 8 near Ibrahim Bin Ali, northwest of Baghdad. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment “Gimlets,” 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team “Warrior,” 25th Infantry Division, acted on tips from Iraqi Army soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, in addition to tips provided by Iraqi Police and Sons of Iraq (Abna al-Iraq) members. The suspected kidnappers were detained and are being held for further questioning. “U.S. soldiers, in full partnership with Iraqi Security Forces, are aggressively pursuing criminals and terrorists,...

BALAD, Iraq, Dec. 27, 2007 – Iraqi police and U.S. special operations forces seized two suspected extremists believed to be complicit in the kidnapping of three U.S. soldiers in early May, U.S. military officials said today. The suspects were detained during Dec. 24-25 operations in Ramadi, officials said. The raids were prompted by intelligence reports linking the two individuals to the May 12 abduction of three U.S. 10th Mountain Division soldiers after an insurgent ambush near Mahmudiyah in which four U.S. soldiers were killed. Reports indicate the two detainees are linked to al Qaeda in Iraq. One of the suspected...

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan police killed three Taliban commanders allegedly involved in the abduction of 23 South Koreans two months ago, the Interior Ministry said. The police operation took place Friday in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni province, where insurgents seized the 23 South Koreans on July 19, the Interior Ministry said. "The commanders who were killed during this operation were directly involved in the kidnapping case of the Korean hostages," the ministry said in a statement Saturday. It did not provide any further details or the identities of the slain Taliban. There have been several military operations in Ghazni...

Mother fights off couple who tried to snatch baby from pramLast updated at 16:23pm on 13th August 2007  The woman attempted to grab the baby but was fended off by the girl's mother    A mother bravely fought off a couple who reached into her pram and attempted to snatch her four-month-old baby daughter by punching one of the would-be abductors in the face. The female attacker yelled 'get the baby, get the baby' as the pair tried to rip the girl from her pushchair. But the couple fled empty-handed because the tot was strapped into the pram and...

We will kill your girl, kidnappers tell mother By Mike Pflanz and Kelvin Ebiri in Port Harcourt Last Updated: 5:27am BST 07/07/2007 The mother of the three-year-old British girl who was snatched in Nigeria said the kidnappers phoned and threatened to kill her daughter. Nigeria's most senior policeman, Inspector General Mike Okiro, centre, in Port Harcourt. He has taken control of the investigation Oluchi Hill, whose daughter Margaret was kidnapped as she travelled to school in Port Harcourt, Nigeria's oil capital, said the kidnappers threatened to kill the girl unless her English father, Mike, agreed to take her place. "They...

LAREDO, Texas - Two men kidnapped by as many as 40 bandits at a Mexican hunting ranch near the U.S. border were released unharmed Wednesday, but three others remained missing, authorities said. The FBI in San Antonio and the Coahuila state prosecutor in Mexico did not give further details about how David Mueller, 45, of the Sweetwater area in Texas, and Fidel Rodriguez Cerdan, of Monterrey, Mexico, were freed three days after they were kidnapped. Mueller "showed signs of being roughed up" but did not require hospitalization, FBI spokesman Erik Vasys said. "He had some bruising and evidence of some...

CAMP HABBANIYAH - Jill Carroll ‘s kidnappers are now locked up. Marines captured four members of an insurgent kidnapping cell responsible for the kidnapping of American journalist Jill Carroll of the Christian Science Monitor. Marines of L Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment captured and detained three members May 19, in a small village west of Fallujah. A fourth member of the same kidnapping cell was detained later by Marines of 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment. Both battalions operated as part of Regimental Combat Team 5. Carroll was held hostage by insurgent captors for 82 days between January and March...

WASHINGTON, August 2, 2006 – In separate operations throughout Iraq today and July 31, coalition and Iraqi forces foiled a kidnapping attempt, captured eight terrorists, and seized numerous weapons, U.S. military officials in Iraq reported. Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers foiled a kidnapping attempt by four men disguised as Iraqi policemen in southeastern Baghdad early today. Soldiers from Company C, 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, spotted four kidnappers dressed in Iraqi police uniforms attempting to abduct an Iraqi civilian. The four kidnappers were detained for questioning. In another operation, Iraqi national police and soldiers...

BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers foiled a kidnapping attempt by four men disguised as Iraqi policemen in southeast Baghdad early today. Soldiers from Company C, 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, spotted four kidnappers dressed in Iraqi police uniforms attempting to abduct an Iraqi civilian. The four kidnappers were detained for questioning.

WASHINGTON, July 18, 2006 – Iraqi security forces captured an insurgent-run kidnapping ring and an assassination squad during two separate operations in Baghdad yesterday. In the first incident, Iraqi troops seized two insurgents believed to be involved in a kidnapping ring during an operation conducted near Abu Ghraib. The collared insurgents also are believed to have conducted illegal weapons deals and assisted foreign fighters coming into Iraq, U.S. officials said. Another person of interest was detained. In another operation conducted near Gazaliah, Iraqi forces captured four insurgents suspected of involvement in area kidnappings and assassinations in the Baghdad area. Two...

(IsraelNN.com) Diplomats living in Gaza have stated that they have located the whereabouts of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped yesterday during the terror attack on Kerem Shalom. The prime minister has stated that Israel will not agree to the release of Arab prisoners, and Israel has threatened to strike at senior Hamas figures, including members of the PA government, if Shalit is not released. The diplomats, who are involved in negotiations for his release, told the Ha’aretz newspaper that Gilad is being treated well. Although he is injured, he is in a good state of health. They also expressed...

TIKRIT, Iraq, April 27, 2006 – An Iraqi civilian kidnapped in Samarra was rescued today when soldiers from 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, stopped the would-be kidnappers' vehicles and released the citizen. Units stationed in Samarra had already been aware of a "be on the lookout" report for a silver sedan suspected of being involved in a kidnapping when alert soldiers noticed a pair of silver sedans along a major thoroughfare in southern Salah ah Din province. The two automobiles were parked next to each other as observers noticed the occupants passing what appeared to be a rifle...

Kidnappers of four Christian peace activists including two Canadians threatened to kill them unless all Iraqi prisoners are released from Iraqi and U.S. prisons, according to a new tape broadcast Saturday. Al-Jazeera TV aired a tape dated Jan. 21 showing Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, along with an American and a British co-worker. The four members of the Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams disappeared in Baghdad on Nov. 26.

KEHL AM RHEIN, Germany, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Germans in Iraq may be targeted as cash cows after two men from Leipzig were kidnapped in the Sunni triangle, the second abduction of Germans in just a few weeks. "It looks like Germany is seen as a country that pays," Karl-Heinz Kamp, security expert at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftug, a think tank with close ties to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, told United Press International in a telephone interview Wednesday. "The latest kidnapping has been professionally executed. I don't think there is an extremist background. The abductors likely asked themselves: Where can we make...

BAGHDAD, Jan 22 (Reuters) - U.S. forces hunting kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll are raiding Iraqi homes in a race against time but, as with much of their counter-insurgency war, face the dilemma that their tactics can foster resentment. Operations designed to take her captors by surprise have angered those Iraqis who say troops have blasted their way into their homes, put sacks over their heads and detained their relatives in the search for Carroll, who was abducted on Jan 7. One such raid, shortly after the reporter was seized, targeted one of Baghdad's biggest Sunni mosques; the sight of...

At Sundance Film Festival... Many celebrities keep their kids out of the public eye to avoid the paparazzi and kidnappers. Not Rosie O'Donnell. O'Donnell said it was Madonna — her co-star in "A League of Their Own" — who explained to her why she appeared with her daughter Lourdes in public. Rosie, wife Kelli Carpenter O'Donnell and their two sons and two daughters will be on hand Tuesday for the world premiere of the documentary "All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise" at the Sundance Film Festival. Kelli, whom Rosie married in San Francisco in 2004, and Parker, 10; Chelsea, 8; Blake,...

Israel handed over the bodies of three Hizbullah terrorists who were killed Monday while trying to kidnap IDF soldiers near the village of Rajar. Lebanese politicians affiliated with the Hizbullah terror group threatened in recent days that Israelis would be kidnapped to win the release of the bodies. The IDF originally denied reports that a handover was being negotiated, but after the deal was finalized began informing journalists of the media event. "Press wishing to cover the transfer of the bodies of the three Hizbullah terrorists killed in an attempt to kidnap IDF soldiers on November 21, 2005, are requested...

HOME from Iraq, Mohammed Raad, 27, a lorry driver from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, has a probable unique but unenviable claim to fame. Survivor: Mohammed Raad He may be the only man in the world to have been taken hostage by followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, watched a fellow captive beheaded, and survived to tell the tale. Pale and gaunt, and chain-smoking, his eyes brimmed with tears and his foot tapped nervously on the floor of his home in the hillside village of Bednayel yesterday as he told The Times of his ordeal. “I thank God I’m still alive, even though...

Immediately after Malbrunot and Chesnot were abducted, President Jacques Chirac launched an intense effort to secure their freedom. At the same time, he saw a chance not only of circumventing the US authorities in Baghdad, but torpedoing a potential Washington-Damascus rapprochement over joint military border action. To this end he took three steps: 1. He formed a special panel at the Elysee Palace of French intelligence officers and diplomatic advisers with good connections in Arab countries, such as the former UN secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who is well remembered in Washington for his contribution to the 1993 American military debacle...

France refuses Iraqi kidnappers' ultimatum Associated Press Monday August 30, 2004 The French government today refused to bow to the demands of militants who have kidnapped two French journalists in Iraq, insisting that a law banning Muslim headscarves in school would go ahead. Government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope told Canal Plus television that France would not compromise its values to win the release of the journalists. Militants claiming to hold them demanded the law be overturned within 48 hours, a deadline that expires later today. "The law will be applied," Mr Cope said, rejecting the militants' warning. The law, which bans...

Several yeshiva students, learning at the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, found themselves targeted in what apparently was an attempted kidnapping by Arabs from the Galilee. Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of Tzfat (Safed), told Arutz-7 that the incident proves the danger from local hostile Arabs to be greater than originally thought. The incident, as reported in the weekly B'sha'ah Tovah magazine, took place several days ago, when a group of yeshiva (seminary) students from America studying in Jerusalem made their way to the Galilee to visit the holy sites in the region. Upon returning very late at night to...

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California governor who made his name playing movie tough guys, is under attack for freeing a record number of "lifers" from prison. The governor has granted parole to 34 convicted murderers and kidnappers in his first seven months of office, an astonishing record compared with his predecessor. Democrat Gray Davis, the former governor, freed only eight life sentence prisoners in his four-and-a-half years in office. The Terminator star turned Republican politician believes, however, that "people can reform and be reformed". But his approach has brought criticism from victim support groups. Harriet Salarno, president of Crime Victims United...

Iraqi Kidnappers Kill Lebanese Hostage Saturday June 12, 2004 5:01 PM BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Iraqi gunmen kidnapped three Lebanese in Iraq and killed one of them, a Lebanese Foreign Ministry official said Saturday. Hussein Ali Alyan, a Shiite Muslim from southern Lebanon who worked in construction, was tortured and killed in ``grisly circumstances'' and his body dumped on a road near Baghdad, the official said. Alyan was kidnapped separately from the two other abducted Lebanese, identified as Habib Samour and Roger Haddad. Haddad was released, but Samour was still held by his kidnappers, the official said. It wasn't clear...

Saudi security forces 'allowed kidnappers to flee' BY AGENCIES IN AL-KHOBAR, SAUDI ARABIA Saudi security forces allowed some kidnappers in the bloody weekend attack on a residential compound to flee because they threatened to blow up the building, according to reports. At least 22 people died in the attack, including a Briton whose body was dragged through the streets of the port city of al-Khobar. One employee of the Oasis compound said today that a hostage heard the gunmen shouting that they would release their captives if the security forces let them go. "The security forces refused at the beginning...

Kidnappers set deadline for killing hostage By Colin Freeman in Baghdad and Philip Sherwell (Filed: 11/04/2004) Iraqi kidnappers paraded an American hostage in a tape shown on Arabic television last night and threatened to execute him unless US forces lift their siege of Fallujah by this morning. The captive, who was shown seated in front an Iraqi flag, identified himself as Thomas Hamill and said he worked for a private company which had business dealings with the US-led Coalition. Thomas Hamill on al-Jazeera If Coalition forces do not end their blockade, "he will be dealt with worse than those who...

<p>December 2, 2003 -- Two bumbling kidnappers who released a Brooklyn teenager, but insisted they were still entitled to a ransom, were nabbed by cops after they tried to collect.</p> <p>The pair first tried to rob the teen's mother, a 44-year-old home-care attendant who they believed had come into $20,000, by pouncing on her at 10 a.m. Sunday outside her Bath Beach home, investigators said. They pushed their way inside. Then they tied up the woman and her 19-year- old son when she told them they didn't have any money.</p>

One of the freed tourists kidnapped in the Sahara desert said today that his captors had demanded money to buy weapons to overthrow the Algerian Government. No one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of 32 European tourists in southern Algeria, 17 of whom were released yesterday. This led to a range of theories blaming Islamic extremists or smugglers that operate in border regions. But Gerhard Wintersteller, a retired technician who led an eight-member group of tourists that went missing in late March, said that the kidnappers "told us they wanted to install an Islamic state in Algeria and overthrow...

Thieves have stolen a baby Jesus from a display in New Jersey and are demanding $800 in ransom. The model statue was taken from outside the home of Tom and Candy Konczos in Trenton, New Jersey. Police say the kidnappers left a computer-generated type-written ransom note demanding $800 in "small" bills in exchange returning the plastic figurine. The note was signed by "Me, him and the other kid who was really scared and didn't want to take your baby Jesus and the whole time all he did was say stuff like you're going to hell." Local police said they think...

MANILA: Fierce clashes between Philippine marine troops and Abu Sayyaf rebels Saturday left at least seven soldiers dead and 25 others wounded on the southern island of Jolo, military officials said. Government bombers and attack helicopters took turns blasting suspected positions of an Abu Sayyaf faction believed to be holding four female Jehovah's Witnesses, the officials added. The women were snatched Aug. 20 while selling Avon cosmetics in a remote village on the troubled island. There were no reports on the women's fate. Three Indonesian tugboat crewmen are also being held by the Abu Sayyaf. Other marines deployed elsewhere on...

We're on the brink of war with Iraq. Congressional Jane Fondas are holding press conferences. Demos are trying to steal a Senate election in New Jersey. Businesses are fleeing the town. The local budget crisis is yielding to tax increases. The economy of San Francisco is absolutely anemic. There's a governor's race where no issues have been discussed in the "paper of record". Corruption is rife in city hall. The homeless own the streets of San Francisco. And the Chronicle? They've just begun a new campaign to release more murderers and kidnappers on to our streets from our prisons. Why?...

Three more men have been arrested in the slaying of American reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan -- and they've reportedly told police where Pearl's body can be found. According to a police official in Karachi, authorities have headed to a site on the western edge of the city. That's where they were told they'd find the body of the slain Wall Street Journal reporter. The official said, "We believe we have found Daniel Pearl's body." The development comes even as the trial continues for four Islamic radicals who've already been charged with Pearl's murder and kidnapping. Pearl is believed to...