Are you sure about that?
sw
"What the kidnappers appear to really want- ..." (is money)-
Am I sure? No. Only fairly sure. They appear not to be "official" Hamas b-tards and they appear to be naive- chancing getting us mad at Hamas/PA/ and everyone living in Gaza. Not to say that Hamas always acts logically. But the facts- that no one admitted to it for quite some time, that Hamas at least says they didn't do it, and that the kidnappers "say" they want us to release prisoners (not bloody likely)- altogether, my best guess is they are a bunch of testosterony 17-to-20-somethings, with no political experience, and a lot to "prove" to themselves and to Hamas, so, because (we read) they haven't been paid their salaries from Hamas, they're hard up for cash. And this is their best bet for the cash. Another thing: they've seen that Pres Bush has promised $230 million to their brethren, Hezbollah, in Lebanon, which in effect, in their eyes maybe, "rewards" the Hezbo's for attacking Israel (and causing the destruction of their own, inside So. Leb). The kidnappers are figuring, what the hey? and really, how can they lose? Hamas isn't about to beat them up. They figure the worst that can happen is they let Steve and Olaf go, they collect nothing, and maybe get a little, secret praise from Hamas for at least trying, and maybe even getting paid by Hamas for past evil deeds or even for releasing the newsmen (Hamas pays the ransom, in other words, to keep US from bombing them to smithereens). I know that's wishful thinking on my part, but I understand that that has been a pattern in Gaza (kidnapping for $ ransom, then letting them go when they don't get it).
"What the kidnappers appear to really want- not the release of prisoners held by US- but MONEY,...snip"
Are you sure about that?"
Well, that's all they're going to get, whether or not it's all they want. IMHO, even idiots like these guys have to know the damage it would do to their "cause" if they harmed a Fox news reporter.