Posted on 10/01/2004 7:20:07 PM PDT by aculeus
Dutch intelligence officers raided the home of Kenneth Bigley's brother last night. An intelligence officer from the Foreign Office is understood to have accompanied them to Paul Bigley's home in Amsterdam.
The raid came amid claims that the British hostage was free to roam his kidnappers' home in Iraq and was "caged" only for terrorist videos.
Paul Bigley's computer was seized and he was interrogated about his alleged contact with the Tawhid and Jihad group, which yesterday claimed responsibility for Thursday's killing of at least 35 children in Baghdad.
Material from his computer was downloaded and sent back for analysis in Britain as he was forced to make a five-page statement.
Mr Bigley has been an outspoken critic of the Government's handling of his brother's case and has established his own contacts in the Middle East but denies being in direct contact with the kidnappers.
In Fallujah, Mohammed Kasim, an Iraqi-born gunman with a British passport, said the latest video of Mr Bigley showing him shackled in a cage had been staged to "terrify" the British public. There was no way of verifying the claim, particularly in a country awash with rumour and conspiracy theories.
Two of Mr Bigley's American colleagues were beheaded by the captors, believed to be the group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Gruesome footage of the murders was transmitted on the internet.
The Bigley family will take renewed hope from the account offered by Kasim.
"If they wanted to kill him they would have done this immediately after they kidnapped him," said Kasim.
"Instead they want to use him to press on the British kingdom." Kasim, 35, is one of two Britons believed to have joined the "resistance" in Fallujah, a stronghold of armed opposition to the US-led presence in Iraq.
An Iraqi translator met him in a coffee shop close to Hamid al-Hamoud mosque.
Kasim spoke fluent English, but refused to show his passport. He also declined to provide any details of where he lived in London, saying: "I want to keep my family safe."
He said he spent the mornings translating websites of foreign newspapers on behalf of the "resistance" and the afternoons manning checkpoints on the main street.
Kasim said he did not belong to Zarqawi's group, Tawhid and Jihad. But the resistance, organised under an 11-member "Mujahideen Shura council", has close ties with Zarqawi and is believed to be protecting him in Fallujah.
Kasim claimed he heard news of Mr Bigley "every day". He said the cage and chains were set up only for the video recording.
"They made this video for two reasons. They wanted to scare Tony Blair. They also wanted revenge for Saddam Hussein for the way in which he was displayed by the US military after his capture."
According to his account, Kassim was born in Fallujah and is a member of the dominant Dulaimy tribe.
He moved to Britain 12 years ago to study at a university, and says he married an Englishwoman who converted to Islam and bore him two children.
Kasim said he returned to Fallujah six months ago and said he had taken part in a raid on a US convoy.
"I am born in Iraq and I should fight with my tribe. I cannot see my town under siege and destroyed so I came from the UK to Iraq to fight.
"I was crying every night when I saw the news. I will go back to my family when the occupation ends and Iraq gets its freedom."
30 September 2004: Terrified hostage paraded again by captors 27 September 2004: Blair's silence 'is kiss of death' 26 September 2004: Bigley family tormented by false execution claim
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Whew! Well we knew the jihadist play the media like a finely tuned fiddle. Maybe this will open a few eyes if it's true.
Prairie
Yes,yes,and absolutely.And I'm not wearing tinfoil either.:-)
They are smarter than most people give them credit for.
I actually saw a now suspended/banned freeper last week argue that the terrorists don't read our newspapers or pay attention to politics in our country. It made my head spin how someone could be so dumb.
Perhaps that non-Freeper was just spinning his own propaganda. ??
freepmail coming
Ping, Hostage or participant?
I'd bet my life on it.
It would make my head spin as well, given that the terrorists and their sheeple have the same access to the same interenet we use. The terrorists can also watch CNN, FOX News, CNBC, as well as CBS and NBC worldwide as well.
bump
freepmail
The guy acted like a DNC plant anyway and there is no way I wanted the lurkers and some naive newbies falling for his spin that the terrorists don't pay attention to our news.
It's been made evident for anyone paying attention that they do indeed pay attention to our news.
I doubt it .. like CBS and Danny .. they want to report these stories
What seemed odd to me was the fact that Bigley's life was spared, as were the two Italian women, while the two Americans were brazenly beheaded. What also seems odd is that Bigley's son kept pleading and pleading for the release of his father, and once the two Italian women are somehow released, Bigley's son hasn't been seen or heard from since. In more ways than one, I think they're all in cahoots with one another.
Jiminy Krismass! I sure hope Haliburton has nothing to do with this....ya know with the VP debate coming up and all.
It will be real interesting to see where this all leads.
What do you think?
Of course they do. As a matter of fact, I have a lady friend in Australia who says there is a cable channel in Australia that carries Jennings, Rather and Brokaw, as well as The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, every weeknight in Australia. She even said that in the evening, she can turn FOX News on and watch Fox and Friends live.
:-) I think that was a rhetorical question because we all know the answer...the spinmeisters would work together to make sure it sounded like either A)Isolated instances of loony fringe activists driven to this behavior by the evil US occupation (read: justified) or B)simply report the uncovered facts and ignore the underlying story hoping it gets lost in the subsequent news cyle...
You darned well could be right. sheesh.
Prairie
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