Three ex-hostages billed $21,000 for travel expenses home from Iraq

[Judi Lynn]

Three ex-hostages billed $21,000 for travel expenses home from Iraq

Monday, April 26, 2004
(04-26) 04:52 PDT TOKYO (AP) --

Three Japanese taken hostage in Iraq earlier this month have been charged a total of $21,000 by a travel agency for their air fare home from the Middle East and other expenses, an official said Monday.

A Foreign Ministry official said the government was aware of a travel agency bill for expenses incurred by the two aid workers and one photojournalist for their return to Japan. The ministry's position is that the bill should be paid directly by the former hostages and their families, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Aid workers Noriaki Imai, 18, and Nahoko Takato, 34, and photojournalist Soichiro Koriyama, 32, returned to Japan last week to face a storm of criticism that they were reckless to ignore government warnings to stay away from Iraq.
(snip/...)

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/a/2004/04/26/international0752EDT0474.DTL

[bowens43]

1. I agree.....

They should be held responsible for their expenses.

[MrPrax]

2. It's bad PR...

But I think your right...

They would have had to pay for their travel expenses out if they weren't hostages...

Just doesn't seem right, but can't figure out why...

[1monster]

3. But doesn't $21,000 for three flights out seem just a tab bit over the

normal air fare? That is $7,000 per person for a one-way ticket...

[Frederic Bastiat]

5. Not really

You can get some pretty huge disparities in international flights. For example when I was shopping for ticket prices for a trip a couple years back I got quotes ranging between $1300 to $5800 per person (Montreal to Nairobi). A one-way ticket doesn't guarantee that the price will be cheaper because airlines charge a premium because now have to fill your return seat with someone flying in the opposite direction.

One can only imagine what its like from Baghdad/Amman to Tokyo.

[SoCalDem]

4. The organizations that sent them should pay.

All things considered, $7K is not a high price to pay for your life ..

[Saeba]

6. An appalling reaction...

It’s the name of an article of a Japanese newspaper. Here the link:
Asahi Shimbun

“Any democratic government anywhere in the world has the responsibility to protect its nationals. Governments must work all the harder to bring about the safe release and return home of citizens taken hostage by an unknown armed group.”
It seems reasonable to me.

A second point is that following the WWII, Japanese troops were strictly banned (by USA) to make any operation outside Japan. Under the excuse of humanitarian mission, some troops were authorized to go to Iraq. Officially the country was pacified and safe. Then Japanese civilians could also expect to be safe. If it’s not the case, one could wonder why there are Japanese troops in a war zone.

[newyawker99]

7. Hi Saeba!!

Welcome to DU!1 :toast: