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 ...
"a "religion" so rotten to the core that the only way they can get converts is to kidnap them and hold guns to their heads"
They did not convert, they read a story written for them, they acted out, as they were told to do.
Good for them, they are good actors.
Can't wait for them to come home.
They're marked.
The fanatics will kill them, next time.
It's quickly coming to that isn't it.
I can say I have NO respect for Islam, guns or no guns. This is not my home.....
I guess the Fox Journalists learned how the Islamofacists plan to treat individuals and countries that become under the control of the Islamic ideology and false religion. Either convert to Islam or die. Gee, religion of peace and fits right in with America's freedom of religion.
Exactly. The hysteria here over their supposed "conversion" is really annoying. They may have said the words, but God knows what's in their hearts and that's what matters -- not what they were forced to say with guns pointed at them.
bttt
I wouldn't have converted either, then again, They wouldn't get the chance to ask because I would be kicking and screaming and raising all kinds of hell.
I would not resist a "conversion" to Islam at gun- or swordpoint. I have very high principles. I have beliefs I would not compromise under any circumstances. I would ( and have) put my life on the line for the right principle or issue.
But to make a point to these asshats? What point? Look at it from their point of view:
If I yield, they are "successful," and feel all squishy about themselves. If I resist, they eliminate one more infidel whose life wasn't worth anything anyway. Remember: Convert or kill.
They're crazy. I mean clinically crazy. At the extreme edges of any extreme ideology, the behavior, the thought processing, qualifies as insane.
Why would I give my life--my gift and blessing from my God and Creator--to someone who's literally insane?
Does that mean I'm a coward? If it does, I'll be a living, breathing one. But I don't think it does.
To me it means I'm outsmarting them.
about the same..
You can be "annoyed" all you want, but I do find it disturbing--on many levels. If it doesn't bother you, you have a lot to learn.
I sure hope no one ever holds a gun to my head and forces me to convert to Islam. For one thing, I'd have to give up barbecue and bacon, and that would be pretty tough.
It could be a wonderful faith for those in it
Interesting. I scanned through it. Thanks!
Good actors? Maybe. But will Centanni denounce Islam? I'm guessing not, and I note that even once safe, he praised Islam. I won't be trusting any of his reports about the events in the middle east after this.
"I would have converted to save my life. Then I would have arranged a press conference from Israel upon release to see how many ways I could publicly insult Islam, and tell those who made me do it to go screw themselves."
And if you had done that it would have been exactly what God would have wanted you to do! Those who keep saying that Steve and Olaf have sold their souls to the devil by making that statement with guns to their heads, really do not know how God knows what is in our hearts.....no matter what one is forced to say! God is rejoicing today that Steve and Olaf are free and I am also! Thank God!
How about rounding up all the muslims in this country next tuesday force them all to convert to Christianaity at gun point and shoot them if they don't?
Naahhh,,,, wouldn't work. They're all lyars.
/ sarc
Neither will I.
As ready as one can be. It helps to know what their true agenda is--kill all the infidels who won't convert, and for the ones who do convert, they are to be slaves. Correct me if my memory of the Koran is faulty, it's been several years since I took the time to read it so I would know who the enemy is.
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