Chances are the hostagetakers were just plain criminals who keep the money for themselves and their families. Right before the war started Saddam opened the prisongates and set thousands of normal criminals free. Remember part of the deal was that a dozen wounded Iraqi kids have to be treated in Italian hospitals. Doesn't sound like terrorist thinking to me.
The problem is that all of these "common" criminals are attached to the terrorist network. Like it says in the article:
"If the criminals don't get their money within 72 hours or so, they sell them up the chain to other groups," said a British security consultant who has been operating in Iraq for a year."
Higher up the chain = terrorist groups. So they definetly have ties, and it is quite possible that some of these bigger fish are going to demand some of the money.
-paridel