Iraqi kidnappers threaten to kill US hostage

[seemslikeadream]

Captured US civilian contractor Thomas Hamill is seen in a tape sent by his Iraqi kidnappers to Al Jazeera. (Reuters/Al Jazeera)

Iraqi kidnappers say in a tape aired on an Arabic television station they will kill a US hostage they are holding unless US forces lift the siege of Fallujah.

"Up to now your prisoner is being dealt with in the tolerant manner specified by Islamic law ... our one request is to break the siege of the city of the mosques (Fallujah) during the 12 hours from 6:00pm (local time) Saturday evening," a voice on a tape shown on Qatar-based Al Jazeera said.

"If not, he will be dealt with worse than those who were killed and burned in Fallujah."

Iraq has seen an escalation in fighting including a spate of hostage-taking following the mutilation of four US contractors killed after an ambush in Fallujah in late March.

Gruesome footage of the men, shown on US television, prompted an ongoing American siege of the town west of Baghdad.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has shown footage of the hostage saying he had been seized after a convoy was attacked.

more
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1085092.htm


Surprise footage
Gunman stops car and asks cameraman to film hostage

BAGHDAD

TELEVISION footage yesterday showed an American being held hostage in a car.

The man, who identified himself as Mr Thomas Hamill, spoke with a southern American accent. He had a bandage on his arm and blood and dirt on his jeans.

In the footage taken by a cameraman from Australia's ABC television on Friday, he was shown sitting in the back seat of a car with a masked gunman next to him waving a rifle.

When asked by an ABC reporter what happened, he said: 'They attacked our convoy. That's all I'm going to say.'

The car then took off quickly, passing a burning tanker truck on the highway west of Baghdad.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4386,245202,00.html

[mike_c]

1. does he still think those big paychecks are worth dying for...?

eom

[seemslikeadream]

2. Kidnappers set deadline for killing hostage

By Colin Freeman in Baghdad and Philip Sherwell
(Filed: 11/04/2004)


As the rash of kidnappings continued, two teams of armed ex-Special Forces soldiers were sent into Iraq last night on undercover rescue missions to extract British workers from the country. One team was sent to retrieve members of a prominent City law firm, the other to bring out workers from a major British building company.

"We have Japanese, Bulgarian, Israeli, American, Spanish and Korean hostages," said a masked and armed man. "If America doesn't lift its blockade of Fallujah, their heads will be cut off." He added: "We announce the killing of four soldiers and we have the bodies."


Bodies are littering the streets after six days of clashes that have claimed hundreds of lives. Five fighters from Egypt, Sudan and Syria were among 60 guerrillas detained by US marines. Battles flared in Baghdad as insurgents fought US troops in the Adhamiya district, a Sunni stronghold.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/04/11/wknap11.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/04/11/ixportaltop.html

[rumguy]

7. unnecessarily harsh

get a grip

[Daisey Mae]

3. GOSH, I thought I heard the President,

Rummy, Colin Condi and all saying things were getting more peaceful with each passing day......Bless that American....But he shouldn't have been asked to go there in the first place.....This is descending directly into Hell at an accelerated rate....This is BUSH'S war....BUSH DESERVES TO SUFFER NOT THIS POOR FOOL WHO NO DOUBT WAS JUST FOLLOWING ORDERS.... to bad that
Bush will not volunteer to change places with this poor man....PIGS WILL FLY FIRST.

[daleo]

5. I am sure he was following his boss's orders

But he was not a member of the military, so he was not following orders in that sense. Personally, I don't wish anything bad to happen to him, but he was there of his own free will. From the Iraqis point of view, if he was delivering fuel to marines who were besieging a city, with many civilian casualties, he was not exactly on a humanitarian mission.

Still, everything comes down to it being Bush's fault for lying his way into a needless, criminal war. All blood is ultimately on his hands - the blood stops there.

[Prodemsouth]

4. My sympathies are with this man and his family. But I would be lying if I

said I did not understand some of the brutally honest points made here.

[rumguy]

6. poor guy

[seemslikeadream]

8. He works for Kellogg Root and Brown! HALLIBURTON

Posted on Sat, Apr. 10, 2004


Family praying for hostage from Mississippi


JOEDY McCREARY

Associated Press


JACKSON, Miss. - A Mississippi man is being held hostage in Iraq by insurgents who have threatened to kill and mutilate him if U.S. troops don't withdraw from Fallujah, relatives said Saturday.

Thomas Hamill, 43, of Macon, was captured Friday during a convoy ambush, the latest in a series of kidnappings in Iraq. Family members said they learned of his capture later that day.

"They've been showing him on the TV, and they don't think he's an American," said Vera Hamill, his grandmother. "I just wish somebody would tell them he is an American.

"I got God, and I just trust in God," she said.

Vera Hamill said her grandson is a contractor who went to the Middle East in September to help rebuild the war-torn country.

Hamill's wife, Kellie, declined to comment to The Associated Press, referring all questions to her husband's employer, Houston-based engineering and construction company Kellogg, Brown and Root - a division of Halliburton.

"Halliburton's primary concern is for the safety and security of all personnel, especially those working in such challenging environments and conditions," the company said in a statement issued Saturday. "We are monitoring the current situation in Iraq and continue to work closely with coalition authorities regarding the safety and security of all our personnel in the region."

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/8403796.htm

[tedzbear]

10. "Bring it on!" sez Bush

Another sacrifice for our emperor.

[Dr Fate]

9. I hope he comes out okay.

This is a nightmare- thanks GOP!!!