Posted on 08/27/2006 8:48:04 AM PDT by TaxachusettsMan
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Two FOX News journalists were released by their kidnappers Sunday, nearly two weeks after they were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.
Steve Centanni, 60, and Olaf Wiig, 36, left Gaza and have since crossed into Israel after their release. The men left Gaza through the Erez border crossing.
The freeing of Centanni, a correspondent, and Wiig, a cameraman, ends the longest-running drama involving foreign hostages in Gaza.
The two journalists were dropped off at Gaza City's Beach Hotel by Palestinian security officials and appeared to be in good health. A tearful Centanni embraced a Palestinian journalist briefly as he entered, then rushed upstairs as Wiig followed.
Centanni, in a phone interview shortly after his release, said "I'm fine. I'm just so happy to be free."
He recounted how he and Wiig were pulled out of their car on August 14 and taken at gunpoint into another car. The kidnappers blindfolded them and handcuffed their hands behind their backs with plastic ties. They were then transferred to another car and driven to a building that they later learned was a garage.
"We were pushed down onto the dirt-covered concrete floor and we were forced to lie face down with our handcuffs on," Centanni said.
"Olaf was in the same room with me. Our shoulders were wrenched back, very painful."
Both of the men were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint, Centanni said.
"We were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint," Centanni told FOX News. "Don't get me wrong here. I have the highest respect for Islam, and I learned a lot of good things about it, but it was something we felt we had to do because they had the guns, and we didn't know what the hell was going on."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I know of a web site that you'll enjoy. Go here.
www.democraticunderground.com
I have the highest respect for Islam, and I learned a lot of good things about it
If you hold Islam in high respect, you know nothing about it... it is a relgion of hatred, violence and subjugation, and always has been.
With La Raza on our left attempting a reconquestia,(sp?) islamofascist on our right with a knife at our throats wanting to destroy us, the media and the left in this country at our backs, helping both parties equally to bring Bush and this country crashing down, I get frustrated from time to time and take it out on someone who doesn't deserve it...you.
I am appalled at appeasement, it only makes them stronger and us weaker.
I understand, I am angry too. This is SO different from any other war in the past.
These people are crazy and have no problem killing civilians or blowing themselves up in the name of their so called religion. I just don't think it is fair to place that kind of burden on Olaf and Steve unless they want to carry it.
As for fighting the WOT, it has to be very frustrating for the president and the military to be fighting such an elusive thing. I am sure they constantly have to change stratgies and not all of them work the way they want it to.
Hi widow, I've been thinking about this myself quite a bit. You are so right, God would be watching and to honor Him over life is what we are called to do as followers of Christ (we do no love our life unto death..). To face Christ, the One who died for me, as a martyr I believe would be glorious day. God give us the strength (i.e. Stephen) to stand and to do everything to stand.
Matthew 10:33
"But he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven."
That said, in the arms of safety, I'm more repulsed that Centanni said he has "the highest respect for Islam". I can accept that none of us are really quite sure how we would react in the same circumstance. We could say, "oh yes, I would gladly have my head sawed off slowly for Christ," but really, at least I don't know if I could do it. Like you said, even Peter failed in the clutch, but his response was not to praise the Pharisees and Scribes. He repented and re-doubled his dedication to Christ. Time will tell, but I hope these guys come to their senses and realize the gravity of what they did...
It is. And the leftist in this country, media included, will take any opportunity to tie our hands and slow us down.
I'd rather be dead than have to live the rest of my life with the knowledge of my betrayal.
Just a microcosm of what we are up against. What kind of "religion" forces people to join at gunpoint? A cult is my answer.
Agree. Steve Centanni is a Bay Area native (Los Gatos) and the local San Jose station had a long piece with his brother and sister - the relief and gratitude they felt were all over their faces, and so evident in their words.
I would lie to those swine, too, to keep my family from the everylasting torture of losing a loved one to terrorists.
I beg your pardon!
I've been trying to figure out Centanni's statement "don't get me wrong..."
After his captivity, I'm thinking that he is being so careful with his words so the other western reporters' lives aren't similarly threatened...
I'd rather be dead than have to live the rest of my life with the knowledge of my betrayal.
Well, if you were to repent and receive absolution, I'm sure the Lord would help you with the guilt. Ideally, we would all stand firm. Realistically, I would need the grace of God to assist me in facing such a fate.
St. Thomas More wrote a book called, "The Sadness of Christ". He advocated firmly that, although it is a matter of the highest glory to die willingly for our faith, it is neither sinful to protect one's life during a crisis by lying. Obviously, this was quite prescient, as he would face the test, himself, and pass with flying colors. But he pointed out that in the heat of the moment, there are those who simply cannot cope under heavy mental and emotional strain, and take the easier route.
I would have a lot more respect and understanding for these guys, now that they are safe - if they denounced Islam, even if they took the easier route of "converting" in order to be freed. This whole "religion of peace" thing is simply nauseating.
Of course you will not deny you are an atheist..otherwise you would only be just a "humanist". It is widely excepted that anyone who calls themselves a "secular" humanist is specifically anti-religious.
So why are you here to debate religion? Do you believe that Humanism is a religion?
Think Darwin. The appeal of Humanism is that you get to be the dominant one, or the dominant species due to a supposed intellectual superiority or "enlightenment". It’s the same with racism or bigotry, but less obvious. Humanism is the same as any other competing universalism – Humanists want to lord humanism over the world, and you want humanism to be lord don't you? Bingo...Religion.
That was done before. Remember the Germans, who instead of stopping Hitler in his rise to power acquiesced and joined the Nazi Party? They said they didn't believe in it, yet they joined, it was easier than fighting and risking their families. However, it didn't help the Jews did it? Or the world for that matter.
That's what you're saying, I hope you realize that.
By not standing up to the islamist before they reach their pinnacle of power, you are advancing it.
I hope I never need some FReepers watching my back if push comes to shove. I would be betrayed so they could save their own necks.
I mean, if they'll give up Christ, why would I think they would stand with others who want to stop this murderous cult in it's tracks.
I clarified it in some of my other posts. Despite many lives being extended after 60, most people that age start departing this world in rather rapid succession, actuarily speaking, even before 60 actually. Yes, you can live to 90 and 100 and more, but not that many do.
I suppose I should have said "MAY not have that long". 60 is getting up there. I'm up there, too. I can't think of one person in my age bracket that doesn't have some health issue that could hasten their end despite all the life-prolonging procedures we have now. I've already lost many friends.
I didn't attend my last class reunion, but these are the stats. Our of a class of 606, right around 60 have now departed this world. That is 10 percent. The percentage will increase over the next ten years.
There's a name for that-appeasement.
3 : PACIFY, CONCILIATE; especially : to buy off (an aggressor) by concessions usually at the sacrifice of principles
Oh, I don't doubt that the Lord forgives apostates. Peter proves it.
What I doubt is that I could forgive myself.
Let's say a terrorist captures you and some kid. He then puts a gun to your head and orders you to rape the kid or he'll shoot. Would you do it to save your life? Of course not. It's the same with denying Jesus. I don't think I could do it even if they stuck the gun up my ass. I'd never forgive myself for it, any more than I'd forgive myself for raping a kid. Having to live the rest of my life with the shame of my actions would be far, far worse than physically dying. As I said, death is far from the worst thing that can happen to a man.
I have a weird response to bullying. Past a certain point, I stop being afraid. Instead, I get an emotional numbness -- not resignation, but more like an anger so deep that I don't feel pain anymore. This is how I used to win fights at school: after the fight began, I couldn't feel pain anymore, and thus became "invulnerable" to the blows of the school bully.
In elementary school, there was a bully who enjoyed dominating the boys. His method was a "game" in which he would interlance his fingers with yours and bend them backwards until you cried out "Mercy!" He came to each of us in turn and one by one forced all of the boys to say it. But when he came to me I flat-out told him he could never make me say "mercy". With an evil grin, he grabbed my hand and started bending my fingers back. What he didn't know was that I was so angry and contemptuous of him that I had gone past the point of feeling pain and fear. He was a lot stronger than me, and despite my best efforts he graduually pushed my fingers back until they were flat against the back of my hand, disjointing them. But it didn't hurt at all. I never said mercy. After a few minutes he dropped my hand in disgust and never bothered me again. My fingers snapped back into joint (hand tendons are remarkably flexible, especially at age ten), and that was the end of his bullying.
I say this not to make myself out to be a superman or anything, but to point out that, thanks to the way I was raised (and, I suppose, to my natural stubbornness), there are some things I cannot be forced to do no matter what. It used to be that most men in the West were raised to be the same way. It was called "honor". I pray that, should God ever withdraw His divine protection from me, and my guardian angel turn away so that I may be tested, that I will not redeem my life at the price of my honor, and that I will still refuse to beg for "mercy" from the bullies of the world.
They've done it to themselves and I fear that we are headed down the same road. I have little doubt that Sharia Law will become a reality in this country and that, as a result, many lives will be lost. Not only that, we will have lost our country.
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