What the ****?
What's the difference?
Are they trying to tell us that if you commit a crime that it isn't a crime if said act is "politically-motivated?"
Please tell me it's Monday. 
Posted on 02/07/2005 5:05:17 AM PST by Cornpone
Special troops have stormed the Spanish consulate in the Swiss capital, Bern, in a bid to capture a group of kidnappers.
All the hostages have been freed or managed to escape before an ultimatum expired. The reason for the hostage taking is still unclear.
Police said they had given the three kidnappers, who are armed with knives and a firearm, an ultimatum to surrender.
A spokesman added that the three hostages were safe. They apparently managed to escape from the building shortly after the kidnappers entered the building in the Swiss capital, Bern, at 8am.
One consular employee was injured and had to be taken to hospital.
"We don't know whether [the hostage taking] was politically-motivated or simply a criminal act," a police spokesman said.
Security forces, including army soldiers, have been deployed around the consulate. Several buildings in the area were evacuated.
The Federal Police Office set up a special task force and is trying to contact the armed intruders.
Spanish reports
Earlier the Spanish foreign ministry said the hostage crisis had ended without bloodshed.
Some reports said the the masked gunmen may have been trying to seize documents such as passports from the Spanish consulate.
muslims?
I doubt it...they would have blown themselves up by now. (end/sarcasm)
The situation is still unclear, but it is thought that they wanted the passports to be able to get into neighboring EU countries. Or perhaps that they were ordinary criminals who were planning on selling the passports to people from non-EU countries who wanted an access point to the EU. Once they get into the EU, they can move from country to country without having to show anything in the way of documentation.
The Swiss are in the process of deporting an AQ member who is wanted in connection with the Madrid bombings. There was some speculation that this was connected, but it doesn't seem to be, at the moment.
That is closer to the truth than you think.
Is that a question?
Ba'athists looking for their blood for oil vouchers kickback money?
What the ****?
What's the difference?
Are they trying to tell us that if you commit a crime that it isn't a crime if said act is "politically-motivated?"
Please tell me it's Monday.
Eagles fans?
AFP via Babelfish -
ALARM - the attackers of the consulate from Spain in Bern have escaped with the police force
BERN - the attackers of the consulate from Spain in Bern are escaped building before even the arrival of the police force on the spot Monday morning, announced the head of the police force bernoise at the time of a press conference.
The Swiss are very tough...
LOL
I'm still trying to find out more, but both Swiss and Spanish press are being a little non-committal about it. It appears that the attackers were French-speaking, which could be anybody from ordinary French-speaking Swiss, to ETA to Muslim terrorists from a French-speaking country. The Swiss are saying that it is a criminal gang that probably wanted the passports to sell them. They haven't mentioned whether any passports were actually stolen, or if the robbery was interrupted early enough to prevent that.
Why not?
The Democrats have been doing it for years!
They would be here but who knows over there. Last year the Germans debated whether they could charge a man for murder when he butchered a man, cooked certain parts of his sexual organs and shared a meal with the victim of his own flesh before killing him. Their logic was to question if it was really murder if the victim consented. Only in Europe.
It was at 8am. I'm just getting back online at 12:36pm, and trying to find some updates on who they were. Do they know yet?
If it's politically motivated, it's terrorism, according to the new definition of terrorism.
I saw some foreign news reports regarding the kidnapping much earlier today. Pravda.ru even had photos posted.
Link to Major International News Sources
Link to Major U.S. News Sources:
At almost 8PM CET there's still nothing new to add.
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