Christian Missionaries Removed From Kabul Prisons

Paula Zahn CNN ^ | God'sgrrl

[AgThorn]

Our soldiers are NOT over there because they were taken hostage.

So, may one presume that the women are not to be considered in any military tactic, of rescue? Do you suppose that the women have given up hope for rescue, themselves?

So, failing to make the illusion that the missionaries have put our soldiers in harms way, you are now trying to draw a case that we should just leave them since our soldiers are over there NOT to rescue them?

Did you ever join a debate club? ;-)

Of course we should do everything possible to rescue our fellow citizens, as well as the others with them, that are now basically hostages of the enemy.

We are there, they are there, the fact that we are there has made their situation NOT better but worse ...

[Conservababe]

Of course we should do everything possible to rescue our fellow citizens, as well as the others with them, that are now basically hostages of the enemy.

I rest my case.

[AgThorn]

I rest my case.

Your "Case" never got off the ground!! ;-)

[AgThorn]

Article URL for below:

Wednesday | November 14, 2001

Son of Libyan leader Gadhafi says aid workers could be released soon

11/14/2001

By The Associated Press

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VIENNA, Austria - Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's son predicted today that the Taliban would soon free eight foreign aid workers, including two Americans, held on charges of preaching Christianity.

Seif el-Islam Gadhafi, chairman of the Gadhafi Foundation for Charitable Organizations, said his non-governmental organization had been in touch with Afghanistan's Taliban militia for about two months in efforts to win freedom for the eight detainees.

In a statement to The Associated Press made through Libya's consulate in Vienna, Gadhafi's son said the effort was bearing fruit "because of the good standing the foundation enjoys in this area.

Dayna Curry

Heather Mercer

"I believe that the Taliban will release these people in the near future," he said.

The eight – four Germans, two Americans and two Australians – are employees of the Germany-based Christian organization Shelter Now International. They have been held since Aug. 3 on charges of trying to convert Muslims, a serious offense in Islamic Afghanistan.

Taliban Supreme Court judges have indefinitely postponed their trial, saying they fear their anger at the United States over the airstrikes could hamper their ability to make a fair ruling in the case.

On Tuesday, the eight were moved from their cells in a detention center in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and were taken to the south by retreating Taliban forces.

At the Kabul detention center, suitcases sat on steel bunk beds in a room with concrete-block walls that housed the women: Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry, Baylor University graduates and members of a Waco church; three Germans, Margrit Stebnar, Kati Jelinek and Silke Duerrkopf; and Australian Diana Thomas.

Gadhafi said his foundation had made contact with the Taliban and his foundation was working "to try to visit these people in order to convey letters and messages from them to their families. ... As far as I know, they are all in good health."

Libya has not given the Taliban diplomatic recognition, but Gadhafi told Berlin's Tagesspiegel daily last week that "our humanitarian help for the Afghan people has improved our relations with the Taliban." He did not elaborate on what kind of aid Libya or his foundation had been providing.

Last year, Libya was involved in freeing all but one of 21 Western tourists and Asian workers kidnapped by the Philippines' Abu Sayyaf rebels. Tripoli reportedly financed huge ransoms to win their freedom, and earlier this year, Seif el-Islam Gadhafi held peace talks in Tripoli between the Philippine government and Muslim separatists fighting for autonomy.

Although the United States accuses Libya of sponsoring terrorism and recently extended sanctions against foreign companies suspected of doing business with the North African nation, Washington suspended sanctions against Libya itself in 1999.

The suspension came after Libya handed over two officials for trial on charges of planting the bomb that downed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.