Kidnapped WSJ reporter a friend of Muslims

UPI | 2/01/02 | SHAHID IQBAL

[kattracks]

KARACHI, Pakistan, Feb 01, 2002 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- The kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was a friend of Arabs and Muslims and often supported their cause, says a former editor of the Asian edition of the newspaper.

"You have got the wrong guy," said Kenneth Neil Cukier, in an article published in Pakistani newspapers on Friday. "Freeing him unharmed is in your interest."

Appealing for his release, Pearl's former boss said "the Arab and Muslim world has no greater in American media than Danny Pearl."

The 38-year reporter is newspaper's bureau chief in Bombay, India, but had moved to Karachi, Pakistan, temporarily after the Sept. 11 attacks to report on the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

"In his reporting, he's uncovered cases where U.S. foreign policy and military intervention has been misguided, with terrible consequences on the lives of people. Rather than being a spy, as he is wrongly accused of by his captors, Pearl's reporting at times has cast the U.S. in a negative light," Cukier wrote.

"In a series of major front-page articles in 1998 Pearl ... suggested that the U.S. bombing of a factory in Sudan that the U.S. claimed made chemical weapons was unfounded. Evidence that Pearl discovered suggested the plant made pharmaceutical drugs, and that America had acted wrongly."

Cukier described it as "ironic" that would be considered a CIA spy because "his work was critical of U.S. actions, not congratulatory."

He said Pearl was kidnapped last week from Karachi while "seeking to interview leaders of Islamic groups -- trying to publicize the views of the Muslim world."

His captors, a group called "The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty," boasts that he is being treated inhumanely, to protest the conditions of around 150 Taliban and al Qaida prisoners detained by the U.S. in Cuba.

The U.S. government considers them "unlawful combatants" rather than "prisoners of war," which would give them certain rights under the Geneva Convention.

But by kidnapping Pearl, Cukier said, the group undermines its own objective as it would bring negative publicity and damage their cause.

"Pearl's reporting gave publicity to the perspectives of groups like The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty. Now, the group, and their complaint, looks illegitimate," said Cukier.

"Pearl revealed cases of U.S. errors and the issues facing the Middle East not because he has a grudge or self-interest, but because he is objective and wishes to tell stories that need to be told. He is not a spy, but a neutral observer seeking to reveal the truth."

Meanwhile, Pakistani authorities have taken the father of one of the suspects, Mohammed Hashim, into custody.

He told authorities that his son couldn't have been involved, because he had already been killed in Afghanistan when he was to arrange a meeting with Pearl. Police say they are investigating his claims.

Also, Mubarak Gilani, head of Jamaatul Fugra, has turned himself into authorities. He said he had no role in Pearl's disappearance and that is group was not a terrorist group, but a religious organization.

By SHAHID IQBAL

Copyright 2002 by United Press International.

[nopardons]

You know better than to ask that, OF ! Of course I think that bombing the aspirin factory was just a sham.

Perhaps it is YOU , who needs ( desperately , I might add ! ) to reread this article, and think... and read, and think, and READ & COMPREHEND what it says. You seem to have missed several salient poins about Daniel Pearl's veiws. Or, have you recently changed over to being a bleeding hearted LIBERAL lately ?

[crystalk]

The most likely person to be killed by a tiger, is a tiger trainer, thinks he knows tigers, loves them.

The person most likely to be bitten by a cobra is a snake handler, a snake person, herpetologist, etc. He thinks he knows and loves them.

BUT DO THEY LOVE HIM???

Ah, no...Just that same cold Satanic blood lust, that looking for an opening. Show me someone who thinks Muslims are his friends, and I will show you somebody you wouldn't want to issue a life insurance policy on.

[M. Thatcher]

Now, I hope that they DO kill him.

Indefensible post.

[OldFriend]

The point is that every effort is made to save this man's life. Sorry but if you want to go on a hateful rant against that end, you ought to think about what you want to say if it were your son kidnapped.

[Rubber Duckie]

Yeah, Fiske got beaten up. But evidently not badly enough. He's still writing his Chomskyish dribble and biting the hand which feeds him (while licking the boot which kicks him). Of course, it was the fault of the United States that he got beaten up. The perps had no choice in the matter.

[nopardons]

Yet MORE bleeding heart / LIBERAL kant from you ? What, no " YOU MUST WALK A MILE IN HIS MOCCASINS " ?

As far as I know, everything possible IS being done to extridite this self hating Jew / self hating American, who has ALWAYS taken the Arab and Muslim side ( Please READ the article ! ) before. That the crazy kidnappers don't seem to know what they are doing, makes me rather suspicious. Will Mr. Pearl soon come home, write a long article talking about the " poor, misunderstod, victims" , who captured him ?

This country can't give in to kidnappers anywhere. Once they do, it's all over !

I've got news for you, IF I had a son ( which I don't ) , and that sons was a loony lefty ( as this man is ), even after ALL the indoctrination I and his father had stuffed him with... I wouldn't care if they shot him. Cold hearted ? Maybe. Truthful ? 100 % so, and I don't give a damn what you make of that ; so don't bother to reply.

[a_witness]

And what, pray tell is WRONG with you ? Bet you didn't read the article , or are a bleeding heart yourself. Johnny Jihad is an American citizen too. I bet you love him, and think that he is just a " poor , misguided youth "; don't you ?

Given your gambling patterns you must be a poor man. I think John Walker Lindh should be tried and convicted of treason and then executed. Daniel Pearle may be liberal and misguided in his politics but he is simply a WSJ journalist and an American. That is why he was targeted. If you can't distinguish a victim from a terrorist and hate your fellow Americans over politics so much you wish them dead at the hands of evil terrorists, I can assure you that President Bush does not want you on our team and your heart is altogether bound in evil and iniquity.

[RamsNo1]

What was Pearl thinking when he wanted to interview a radical muslim cleric? Is a story really that important?

[aimlow]

He had meetings apparently with these folks before. This time they decided to get him in the news apprently instead of him just reporting it.

[wretchard]

Jolo is the capital of the Island of Sulu, one of the three principal Muslim-inhabited islands of southern Mindanao, where US troops are now. The three islands are: Basilan (capital Isabela), Sulu (capital Jolo) and Tawi-tawi (capital Bongao). They are the ancestral home of the Tausug, a pirate people. This is where the Special Forces will fight.

Jolo is a dusty little town about a mile square. What little business or services exist is provided by ethnic Chinese or Christian Filipinos. The locals just sit and stare sullenly, when they are not drinking.

When I was there last, the Vice Governor of Sulu (Kimar Tulawie) was engaged in a feud with the Jolo Mayor (Saud Tan). Tulawie's men seized the hospital, drove the patients out (who ran through the streets carrying bottles of dextrose) and opened fire with mortars on Saud Tan's house. Being as they were not very good mortarmen, they peppered the shantytown between the hospital and Saud Tan's house with rounds (the Mayor's house was never hit) and burned out six or eight blocks. They then launched an infantry assault through the smouldering ruins and fought to an indecisive conclusion in this cindery no-man's land. The hospital itself (where I slept, after the combatants had left for more drinks, figuring it was still the safest place in town), has chicken wire on all the windows because of the nasty practice of the local Islamists of throwing hand grenades into the wards. And oh, yes. They smuggle drugs into Luzon to earn the living which they believe everyone owes them.

[OldFriend]

Seems our 'friend' nopardons is off his meds!

[MarMema]

They smuggle drugs into Luzon to earn the living which they believe everyone owes them.

It is truly amazing how alike these islamic terrorists are around the world, as if they had been cut from one cutter. Doesn't matter if it is Bosnia, Chechnya or the Phillipines. Having only known the european flavor until recently, I am actually impressed with their degree of synchronicity. Kidnapping, beheading and drug running. Who can question that these people are indeed the earthly servants of the evil one?

Am glad you were safe on your journey.