Free Republic

The terrorists who held kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit for over five years will take center stage alongside Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal in Cairo when he greets the first 477 of 1,027 terrorists being traded for Shalit's release. Some observers, who noted Israel only promised not to pursue the freed terrorists on condition they do not return to terrorism, made no such promises about those who abducted him and held him captive. According to the Hamas affiliated Palestine Information Center website, the trade of Shalit for the first 477 security prisoners - most of whom are terrorists - will begin at...

ngrid Betancourt, the French-Colombian politician held hostage for more than six years by guerrillas in the Colombian jungle, told CBC News in an exclusive interview that her captors despised her. "I was a politician. They hated politicians. I was a person with some education. They had none, so they thought I [had] a privileged social background and they hated me for that," Betancourt told the CBC's Mellissa Fung in an excerpt from an interview that will air on The National on Monday at 9 p.m. ET.

"I know it when I see it" was the famous response by a U.S. Supreme Court justice to the vexed problem of defining pornography. Terrorism may be no less difficult to define, but the wanton killing of schoolchildren, of mourners at a funeral, or workers at their desks in skyscrapers surely fits the know-it-when-I-see-it definition.The press, however, generally shies away from the word terrorist, preferring euphemisms. Take the assault that led to the deaths of some 400 people, many of them children, in Beslan, Russia, on September 3. Journalists have delved deep into their thesauruses, finding at least twenty euphemisms...

Saddam fails to enlighten captors, readying for trial: Powell Fri Jan 16,11:39 AM ET LONDON (AFP) - Saddam Hussein has failed to provide his US captors with much useful information and is preparing to justify his actions as Iraqi leader at any trial he might face, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said. "He hasn't told us a great deal", Powell told Britain's Sky News over a month after Saddam's capture as he cowered in a hole in the ground near his home town of Tikrit in northern Iraq (news - web sites) on December 13. "He's speaking but he...

AD-DAWR, Iraq (Reuters) - "I'm Saddam Hussein," the man with the scruffy beard said in English when U.S. troops found him in a dirt hole. "I'm the president of Iraq and I'm willing to negotiate." "President Bush sends his regards," they replied. U.S. officers who captured the 66-year-old former dictator in the hole next to a hut in Iraq Saturday could not believe how easy it was when after eight months of hunting they took Saddam without either side firing a shot. Maj. Brian Reed, operations officer for the first brigade of the Fourth Infantry Division, recounted the story for...

ZAMBOANGA CITY — A Chinese-Filipino businesswoman kidnapped by suspected Abu Sayyaf members escaped after almost four months in captivity, the military said yesterday. Marine products trader Gertrudes Tan, 50, eluded her captors in a coastal village in Maimbung, Sulu last Monday night, said Lt. Gen. Roy Kyamko, chief of the Armed Forces’ Southern Command. Kyamko said Tan drifted into the sea using a small plastic jug as float until fishermen found her at about 2:30 a.m. the following day. The fishermen brought her to the Maimbung town proper where she took a passenger jeepney that brought her to the capital...