Posted on 07/26/2004 12:40:48 PM PDT by Gucho
The Egyptian diplomat kidnapped in Iraq has been freed, according to a video broadcast by the al-Jazeera satellite news channel.
The Egyptian mission's third most senior official, Mohamed Mamdouh Kotb, was shown giving a hug to one of the kidnappers in the video.
Al-Jazeera quoted one of the kidnappers as saying they "decided to free Mohamed Mamdouh Kotb because of the religious faith and the moral qualities he possesses".
He added that his group had "refused to accept enormous sums of money" in exchange for the diplomat's freedom.
Kotb was grabbed in Baghdad on Friday by masked men calling themselves members of the Lions of Allah group.
It was the first time a diplomat was snatched as part of a wave of kidnappings by insurgents aimed at pressuring the US-backed interim Iraqi government and forcing foreign troops and interests out of the country.
The diplomat was purportedly kidnapped in response to what the group described as Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif's offer to provide the Iraqi government with security expertise.
Huh.
I guess the fact that Egypt benefits enormously from US aid, including defense and tech support for same, eluded these kidnappers.
Well, at least they didn't pull a "Phillipines" and run screaming like little girls.
Hard to stomach this guy hugging them, though.
So, what did Egypt have to give the kidnappers?
I suspect they gave them money or something and we will never know what it was.
Agreed, we'll probably never know what it was.
Well we do know that Egypt plays for keeps. They probably promised not to kill the kidnappers mothers if they released the hostage.
"Well we do know that Egypt plays for keeps. They probably promised not to kill the kidnappers mothers if they released the hostage."
Egypt a number of years ago had a terrible problem with terrorists. I do not believe the final solution to that was to sit around a fire and drink tea. I believe that the army was sent to root out the terrorists and kill them. Isn't that interesting? Yet the U.S. is castigated for 'rushing to judgment'-----> http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Area=egypt&ID=SP30601
"Already posted HERE"
Sorry bout that-puter is big time in slo-mo
Mine isn't that great either. I thought Free Republic went down a few minutes ago but it must have been my dumb computer! :-)
some great blogs from Mosuel, Iraq ---> http://cbftw.blogspot.com/
Did Michael Moore blame the Bush family for Egypt's problem with terrorism? < /sarc>
Saddam Hussein got a lot of hugs before the US kicked his *** twice.
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