[Rennes Templar]

What this means though, is that the terorists are running out of arms, explosives and money. It doesn't cost much to kidnap people and cut their heads off. al Sadr's "revolution" in April, which I contended was their last big stand, failed.

[SMARTY]

This particular lurid and visceral brand of 'retribution' for an either real or perceived infraction is business as usual for Middle Easterners. In all the history I have ever read about them, discrepancies of all description, down to minor interpersonal disputes, are resolved in the most drastic and damaging way conceivable between individuals and families. It is aspect of Asian/Oriental character which ever and always has stupefied and appalled Westerners diplomats, travelers, scholars, etc. It is one of the main reasons so little interaction took place between us and them even though technology long ago facilitated widespread cultural and social interaction between the West and almost all other parts of the globe.

[Lijahsbubbe]

What this means though, is that the terorists are running out of arms, explosives and money

I agree. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Hostage taking is the least expensive and most easily exploited with the pleading videos and the severed heads. They are running a cheap propaganda offensive.

[Eagle Eye]

What this means though, is that the terorists are running out of arms, explosives and money

Yeah, right....