[Clive]

The military has come under criticism by the uncle of one of the soldiers who were abducted and killed by insurgent forces.

His view was that ransom ought to have been paid.

[Hegemony Cricket]

Customary to ping someone if you refer to them in your post (j/k)

[dhuffman@awod.com]

Good post. Thanks. And that is not a joke, j/k(? whatever). I dispair.

[colorcountry]

Perfect!

Thanks for reminding us. I fear we've already gone down the road of paying the Dane geld. Now it's time to stand up and say, "No more."

The consequences will be the same whether we take them now or wait for them to escalate.

[Dane]

I feel sorry abd empathize with the Uncle's anguish, but paying off terrorists only encourages more terrorism.

[JimRed]

Kipling had it right, but we seldom are reminded.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Pay the ransom, and then have open season on US military.

[Publius6961]

"His view was that ransom ought to have been paid."

Obviously and utterly devoid of common sense, ignorant of history, and able to exist only through the sacrifices of better men than himself --- including his nephew.

He is unaware of the Barbary Pirates, ironically the very same cultural barbarians that we are fighting today. One of the earliest and proudest achievements of a nascent nation, "fixing", again ironically, a European problem that the Euroweenies were unable to deal with.

Semper Fi!

[ImpBill]

Unfortunately Mr. Kipling's poem goes way beyond the discussion of ransom for one soldier.

"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that pays it is lost!"

How many times since WWII have we been willing and actually practiced "Dane-geld"?

And still do this day.

Great find and timely post.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute.

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney

[Mike Darancette]

That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.

And then you get the Dane-law.

[Jeff Chandler]

The military has come under criticism by the uncle of one of the soldiers who were abducted and killed by insurgent forces.

Yep. Another unassailable human shield for the leftist Democrat party. He's quite the Drive By Media darling.

Ann Coulter is right.