http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/200...=home&SEC=news

U.S., British Troops Rescue Iraq Hostages

Mar 23, 1:23 PM (ET)

By BASSEM MROUE

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. and British troops Thursday freed three Christian peace activists in rural Iraq without firing a shot, ending a four-month hostage drama in which an American among the group was shot to death and dumped on a Baghdad street.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, the U.S. military spokesman, said the hostages were being held by a "kidnapping cell" in a house, and the operation to free the Canadian and British captives was based on information from a man captured by U.S. forces only three hours earlier.

"They were bound, they were together, there were no kidnappers in the areas," Lynch told a news briefing.

He also said military operations concerning other hostages were ongoing, "probably as a result of what we're finding at this time."

Still missing is Jill Carroll, a freelance writer for The Christian Science Monitor kidnapped Jan. 7 in Baghdad. She has appeared in three videotapes delivered by her kidnappers to Arab satellite television stations.

When asked whether he had any information about Carroll, Lynch said: "None that I can discuss at this time."

"There are other operations that continue probably as a result of what we're finding at this time," Lynch said. "So you've got to give us the opportunity to work through that."....

Now, I want to hear some good news about Jill Carroll.

__________________
Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.

I noticed this and it made me wonder:
(emphasis mine)

The wording struck me as odd. They found his body. He wasn't described as murdered, but he was indeed dead with a bullet hole in his head and he had been tortured. They made sure to cautiously submit that he was "found dead." I wonder why.

__________________
"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left."
Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV)

Sounds like the kidnappers gave them up, so, I suppose, in that sense, yes 'rescued'. Good on them...

__________________
"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

Thanks 12thMan!!! I was out most of yesterday and was hoping they'd be someone else on the board representing the "good side."

Too bad, though, that the coalition has to waste their time on people who shouldn't be over there in the first place. It one thing to have contractors and people doing business over there....it's quite another to inject into the middle of a war as a peace activist.

__________________
"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

I would think a war is right in a peace activist's wheel house.

__________________
I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

I hope they do the same thing for the Christian who is in danger of having his head cut off by the people we are supposed to be "liberating" -- if they would rescue him, they'd get my vote to stay another 3 years and kick every ass that even looks cross-eyed at them.

__________________
"Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and the waves, and they obey Him." Luke 8:25

If we rescue him we'll look like huge hypocrites. "Rule of Law" and all that.

__________________
I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

Yes, but how about just DOING THE RIGHT THING FOR ONCE?

__________________
"Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and the waves, and they obey Him." Luke 8:25

I don't think we will be helping ourselves in the long run if we did that.

__________________
I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

Stop and think about this. If Bush has any sense at all, which I doubt, and he wants to win back the hearts and minds of Americans (and Germans and French and Canadians and British) he'll issue a no ifs-ands-or-buts regarding this innocent Christian. This man didn't go over there and knowingly risk his life like a reporter or peace activist. He lives there, it is his home, and we have been engaged in the most mindboggling war of all time to free these people (well that's the story we're going with now). If we allow these monsters to murder him, then even the staunchest War/Bush supporters have to admit TOTAL, COMPLETE AND UNADULTERATED DEFEAT. Please don't call me a Bush basher and say that is what I want. I don't want that. We are at the crossroads and I would love nothing better than to see us stand up over there for what is right, and for what we have sacrificed 3,000 of our kids, and hocked our budget into the next millimeum for. Someone needs to tell Bush this is his chance. If he does the right thing now I won't say another bad word about him.

__________________
"Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and the waves, and they obey Him." Luke 8:25