Posted on 06/11/2005 8:43:57 AM PDT by areafiftyone
The daughter of a man held hostage in Iraq for more than seven months has arranged to have an Arabic-language flier circulated in Baghdad offering a $40,000 reward.
Amanda Hallums, 25, of Cordova, Tenn., said Friday that she resorted to the public appeal to the streets of Iraq because she remains confident her father, Roy Hallums, 56, is still alive.
"I still have hope," she said.
Hallums was taken hostage when a compound in Baghdad where he lived and worked was overrun by insurgents on Nov. 1. He had been working with a Saudi Arabian company that provided food to Iraqi forces. He was last seen on a videotape circulated to Arabic news organizations, pleading for help with a gun to his head.
Ms. Hallums said she asked for help in drawing up the flier from Nabil Bayakly, a Muslim imam and chairman of Muslims in Memphis. It's now being circulated by military personnel in Baghdad.
In an interview Friday, Bayakly said he felt obligated as a Muslim-American and as a human being to do what he could. And he explained that elements of the flier message should be an effective appeal if it reaches the right hands.
"She came to the mosque and, just from a humane perspective, we all sympathized with her. Whatever we can do to help the release of our American citizen, we feel we're obligated to do," he said. "If my father were in a similar situation, for sure - everyone should help."
Bayakly says the flier makes reference to Ms. Hallums' visit to the mosque in Roy Hallums' hometown and of her request to Muslims for help. It doesn't mention her by name, but calls her "his (Hallums') daughter," he said.
The flier also offers pictures of Roy Hallums, gives his physical description and offers the $40,000 reward. Then it makes a case for his release.
"Also, there is a plea in it from an Islamic standpoint: That innocent people should not be harmed, according to the Sharia, or Islamic holy law," Bayakly said. "If they have any sense of Islamic values, that should be honored."
I hope she's ready for deceipt and more heartbreak, not to mention getting ripped off with her money funding terrorists.
Of course - I feel bad for her but I thought the Policy of our government was NOT to negotiate.
I would certainly try to negotiate if it were my father!
I think governments should not negotiate with terrorists. If it was my husband/father/son who was going to be decapitated by savages, I would probably be offering money, too.
I wish she had made the reward for the release of her father and “information leading to the apprehension and execution of the terrorists” who kidnapped her father.
Yes, I would. But if you pay them to release hostages, they use the money to buy more weapons to kill US soldiers and then they will just kidnap someone else.
Offer them money by all means. As soon as they go to pick it up, shoot them dead.
Regards, Ivan
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