"Obey the demands of the Mujahadeen. If you
refuse, we slaughter."
Scotland on Sunday
September 26, 2004
On Thursday morning, as the world was digesting the shocking spectacle
of [British hostage] Kenneth Bigley pleading for his life...
"I need you to help me, Mr Blair," he sobbed, "because you are the
only person now on God's earth that I can speak to. Mr Blair, I am
nothing to you. Please, you can help. I know you can."
Bigley, aged 62, from Liverpool, was in the unimaginably appalling
position of being the only survivor of three foreigners taken hostage
in Baghdad, and facing the same fate as the others, two Americans who
had been beheaded by their Islamist captors, a group known as "Tawhid
wal Jihad."
Within minutes of Bigley's appeal, appearing anonymously on an
Islamist website, the 11-minute message was picked up and broadcast to
a global audience on 24-hour television news channels.
Late on Friday a fresh message appeared on a website believed to be
used by al-Zarqawi which read: "What is laughable is the insistence of
the ministers of all infidel nationalities on the phrase 'no
negotiations'. As if there was any question of negotiation. Far from
it -- they must obey the demands of the Mujahadeen. If you refuse, we
slaughter."
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1127282004
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