Posted on 08/31/2006 1:42:03 PM PDT by veronica
'I Can't Hate Them for What They Did,' Olaf Wiig Says
Aug. 31, 2006 — - Despite being taken hostage at gunpoint in Gaza by a jihadist group and held captive for 13 days, Fox News cameraman Olaf Wiig says he can't condemn his captors.
"It's really complex," Wiig said on "Good Morning America."
"In some ways, I feel such sympathy for the Palestinian cause. You know, in my heart. You know, I can't hate them for what they did. I resent on behalf of my family what they did. But there's a funny bit of me that's sympathetic to them still."
Wiig, 36, and Steve Centanni, 60, were abducted by masked gunmen earlier this month.
Centanni, a Fox correspondent, said they were sometimes held facedown in a dark garage, tied up in painful positions, and forced at gunpoint to make videos and say they had converted to Islam.
The two journalists were dropped off Sunday at Gaza City's Beach Hotel by Palestinian security officials.
Centanni said he felt "sheer animal fear" after he and Wiig were taken hostage.
"I was wondering if I was going to die of a heart attack or if the next thing would be a bullet in my head," Centanni said.
According to Wiig, when asked where they were being taken, their captors said, "To hell. You're going to hell."
Pledge Allegiance to Islam
A previously unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades held the two men in a garage for 13 days, forcing them to pledge allegiance to Islam.
On the day of Centanni's and Wiig's release, their captors delivered a video showing the two men in Arab robes reading from the Koran to indicate their conversion to Islam.
Centanni has said their conversion was forced at gunpoint.
"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," he said in other reports.
Centanni and Wiig were stripped of their possessions and dressed in sweat suits as part of a process of removing their identity.
The journalists said they were not harmed physically during their captivity.
Videotaped messages shown around the world revealed the apparent resignation in their faces.
"You have no choice but to stay calm," Wiig said.
The captors told Wiig that he would be released because he was from New Zealand.
However, Wiig said, they told him that his colleague, Centanni, an American, was dangerous and that they were going to kill him.
Wiig said he kept that information from Centanni.
"I just knew that he was under [a] huge strain already, and I thought it was a burden he didn't need to carry for however long," Wiig said.
Centanni said he was grateful for that. "He's a beautiful man and a good friend," he said of Wiig.
A Force to Be Reckoned With
Wiig's wife, Anita McNaught, who is also a journalist, was on assignment in Damascus, Syria, when she heard the news of the kidnapping. She rushed to Gaza to put pressure on Palestinian authorities and local Islamist chieftains to save the lives of her "boys."
"The terrorists have not met my wife," Wiig said. "She is a force to be reckoned with."
McNaught said she believed Wiig and Centanni had been released thanks to a team effort on the part of local politicians and journalists, Fox News, her visibility locally and the men themselves.
"It's really crucial to emphasize this," she said. "Now know that a lot of the things I did were visible to the people holding them hostage. They knew I was in Gaza making statements, talking to Palestinian people. That on its own I don't think would have been enough to have got the guys out."
McNaught said it was Wiig and Centanni's "nobility and self-possession" as hostages that played a large role in their release.
"Because they kept, despite the stress they were under, they kept their cool," she said. "They got to know their captors. They behaved with generosity and courtesy. They took them seriously."
"Don't be such a twit."
Sure thing chief. Whatever you say.
I limit my FNC viewing to Special Report w/ BH, Cavuto, & Fox News Watch. That's about it.
Olaf just doesn't seem to have the capacity to make a judgment between right and wrong. It is sad but many young people his age don't know the difference between right and wrong. He was wronged and doesn't even seem to know that he was emotionally abused if not physically. No one has the right to kidnap you and hold you against your will especially when you have nothing to do with the social situation they are living under. You don't praise these captors that just encourges them.
That money Hezbollah was dishing out to the Lebanonese was counterfeit US bucks. It didn't come from the US "gubmint".
Screw you, Jackal! I hate you! You go to hell and you die!
See? I am a smooth operator and get-along easily!
FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE, I will remember the name of that great Italian hero, who is almost Homeric: Fabrizio Quatrocchi.
Actually it was not Bosnia and old Yugoslavia but Serbia that was the "Guardian of the Gate".
Steve... pick a new camara man! ASAP!
All of you who want to criticize these guys should volunteer to exchange places with them right now. Otherwise, shut up.
Yes, she reminds me of Chuck Schumer, but even more obnoxious.
That's very true. I think a lot of it is shock, it hasn't even been a week yet since they were freed. And so many young people have been brought up with a PC education and culture that they just assume they were guilty somehow if something bad happens to them. I think he is slowly having his eyes opened to what the world is really like. When I was his age, I was still in transition between the knee-jerk liberalism of my 20s and early 30s, to a more conservative viewpoint. I really wouldn't have been able to articulate any principles very well at that time, and especially not after a traumatic experience like he had.
But even if he does turn out to be the mushiest-headed liberal on the planet, he still didn't deserve what happened to him and I really hate to see all this blaming the victim business.
I don't hate you for what you did.
I'm going to kill you for what you did.
Believe me. That is not even remotely conceivable...ever.
FNC's perceived left turn by some hosts like Shep may be what's behind FNC's latest downturn in its ratings: http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/default.asp
He is sympathetic to his captors. In his wittle heart... he is sympathetic. Well I was sympathetic to him... but not anymore. If he has sympathy for his captors, then he must not have really suffered much. So my sympathy for him is not much either.
I am sick of it too.They treat our people like crap and the very people who were abused and kidnapped can't muster up some righteous anger. It makes me sick to hear this guy talking about "what is in his heart." Get pissed off! You were wronged!!!!
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