A harrowing tale of kidnapping and release

[Cowperson]

A Canadian feelance journalist, Scott Taylor, was kidnapped by Turkmen in Iraq then turned over to al-Queda before being mysteriously released.

It was six days of hell, he says, including massive beatings.

His harrowing tale includes these quotes:

''Here I am with no ID and an eagle tattoo on my arm, in a basement with 30 or 40 mujahideen, it's 40 degrees and we're choking on dust. And there's a woman with several sons herself who's cooking for them and telling them to go out and die like their brothers.''

And:

''The house must have been targeted as a leadership centre and hit with a smart bomb,'' Mr. Taylor said last night. ''It was amazing. There must have been 1,200 mujahideen firing RPGs blind into the sky at the Apaches, all yelling 'Allah Akbar.' They've got guts. They actually cheer when they lose a guy -- another martyr.''

With his wife recollecting his first phone call after getting to safety:

''He sounded very shaken and upset,'' Mrs. Taylor told the Citizen. ''He said he had been beaten up pretty badly and that the terrorists were Muslim fanatics. There was no question of a ransom or negotiation. If you were not a Muslim, then to them you were an infidel, a Jew, and you had to die. He was convinced he was going to die.''

http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpos...9e-f3010686ff01

Cowperson

[Skyceman]

''Turkish intelligence people say I'm the only Westerner ever released by the al-Qaeda group and they can't understand why,'' he said.

I thought that was interesting.....the first Westerner spared is a Canadian. Probably just a coincidence as I don't think we are a favored country in their eyes.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally posted by Skyceman@Sep 13 2004, 08:50 PM
''Turkish intelligence people say I'm the only Westerner ever released by the al-Qaeda group and they can't understand why,'' he said.

I thought that was interesting.....the first Westerner spared is a Canadian. Probably just a coincidence as I don't think we are a favored country in their eyes.

We might not be a favored country but there's no gain for killing the guy

Do we have troops in the area? no

does Canada have oppressive Anti Muslim Laws? Nope

Is there a point to negotiating with Canada for his freedom? Nope we suck at it, look at the guy in Saudi Arabia who rotted in a jail cell til the English negotiated his release instead of Canada.

If anything negotiating with Canadians would annoy this thug to the point of cutting his own head off to stop the suffering

[Cowperson]

Originally posted by CaptainCrunch+Sep 13 2004, 08:56 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (CaptainCrunch @ Sep 13 2004, 08:56 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Skyceman@Sep 13 2004, 08:50 PM
''Turkish intelligence people say I'm the only Westerner ever released by the al-Qaeda group and they can't understand why,'' he said.

I thought that was interesting.....the first Westerner spared is a Canadian. Probably just a coincidence as I don't think we are a favored country in their eyes.

We might not be a favored country but there's no gain for killing the guy

Do we have troops in the area? no

does Canada have oppressive Anti Muslim Laws? Nope

Is there a point to negotiating with Canada for his freedom? Nope we suck at it, look at the guy in Saudi Arabia who rotted in a jail cell til the English negotiated his release instead of Canada.

If anything negotiating with Canadians would annoy this thug to the point of cutting his own head off to stop the suffering [/b][/quote]
We've had plenty of troops in Afghanistan though, killing al-Queda and Taliban, both during the original invasion and the follow-up peace.

It is a puzzle as to why he was released, kicked out the door on the side of a road without a backward glance.

Cowperson

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally posted by Cowperson+Sep 13 2004, 09:03 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Cowperson @ Sep 13 2004, 09:03 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>

We might not be a favored country but there's no gain for killing the guy

Do we have troops in the area? no

does Canada have oppressive Anti Muslim Laws? Nope

Is there a point to negotiating with Canada for his freedom? Nope we suck at it, look at the guy in Saudi Arabia who rotted in a jail cell til the English negotiated his release instead of Canada.

If anything negotiating with Canadians would annoy this thug to the point of cutting his own head off to stop the suffering

We've had plenty of troops in Afghanistan though, killing al-Queda and Taliban, both during the original invasion and the follow-up peace.

It is a puzzle as to why he was released, kicked out the door on the side of a road without a backward glance.

Cowperson [/b][/quote]
Our troops in Afganistan really haven't gotten much media play except for the JTF sniper situation.

Even with troops in Afganistan there is very little politically to be gained by killing a Canadian. All it might do is hurt fund raising efforts here.

There's very little about these animals that makes sense to me anymore. Thier operations are eratic and don't seem to have a common purpose.

Just like the attack on woman and children in a Russian school can't help thier cause