Blair ready to talk with freedom fighters
No War and Just Us | 30.09.2004 00:27 | Social Struggles | Liverpool | London
Mr Blair told reporters: "I don't think we can take any hope from anything until we know exactly what the intentions of these people are," he said. "They're not in contact with us, it's impossible for us to make contact with them."
Hello: I think without a guess that their intentions are to have US and British forces out of Iraq. As if Blair didn't know! But that's a worry if you won't negotiate with "freedom fighters" isn't it?
Hello: I think without a guess that their intentions are to have US and British forces out of Iraq. As if Blair didn't know! But that's a worry if you won't negotiate with "freedom fighters" isn't it?
Ken Bigley appears in
a new video released
by "freedom fighters"
in Iraq. (Rooters)
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was ready to open up contact with "freedom fighters" who caught a British hostage in Iraq, shown on video begging Mr Blair to save his life.
Kenneth Bigley, 62, was shown on the tape chained and squatting in a cage, pleading to the Prime Minister for help while accusing him of lying over the hostage crisis.
"They've made no attempt to have any contact with us at all. If they did make contact, it would be something we would immediately respond to," Mr Blair told reporters.
"I don't think we can take any hope from anything until we know exactly what the intentions of these people are," he said.
"They're not in contact with us, it's impossible for us to make contact with them."
I think without a guess that their intentions are to have US and British forces out of Iraq. As if Blair didn't know! But that's a worry if you won't negotiate with "freedom fighters" isn't it?
Italy rejoiced at the release of two women aid workers after paying a ransom and France was also gripped by a hostage drama when a freelance negotiator, disowned by Paris officials, said two French journalists held for six weeks could be free in days.
The French mediator said a condition for the journalists' release was for US forces to provide safe passage between the rebel towns of Fallujah and Ramadi, where Iraq's puppet defence minister said US and Iraqi troops were about to launch offensives to re-establish their control.
Kidnapping has flourished in the lawlessness that has engulfed parts of Iraq since the illegal and degrading war on Iraq but the United States has said it will restore order in the next few months so that planned elections can go ahead in January?
Al Jazeera television broadcast the tape showing a haggard and distraught Mr Bigley dressed in an orange jumpsuit of the kind associated with Muslims held by US troops at Guantanamo Bay.
"Tony Blair is a liar. He doesn't care about me. I'm just one person," Mr Bigley said in barely audible comments.
The tape was aired a day after the two Italian women and four Egyptian engineers were freed.
Sources say? Mr Bigley's two American colleagues, seized with him from their house in Baghdad two weeks ago, have already been beheaded on video by a group "allegedly" led by Jordanian Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi the new demon in the war on Iraq.
Freedom fighters in Iraq are holding two other Western hostages, French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot.
Paris rejected the freedom fighters' demands that France scrap a law banning girls from wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf in state schools.
Related:
British hostage pleads with Blair to save his life
The Bigley family's hopes have been raised by Iraqi officials who say they have been considering for a month to release two female prisoners, Rihab Taha and Huda Ammash known as "Dr Demon" and "Mrs Demon".
More:
http://www.brisbane.indymedia.org.au/front.php3?article_id=13863&group=webcast
Jordan's king doubts Iraqi elections possible
Iraq is far too unsafe to hold elections as scheduled in January and extremists would do well in the poll if Baghdad tried to hold it, Jordan's King Abdullah said in an interview. Excluding troubled areas from the nationwide poll would only isolate Iraq's Sunnis and create deeper divisions in the country, he said.
The United States and Iraq's interim government insist the vote should go ahead as scheduled despite a worsening insurgency there.
More: http://www.geocities.com/nswcn13/archive04/2004e61.html
a new video released
by "freedom fighters"
in Iraq. (Rooters)
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was ready to open up contact with "freedom fighters" who caught a British hostage in Iraq, shown on video begging Mr Blair to save his life.
Kenneth Bigley, 62, was shown on the tape chained and squatting in a cage, pleading to the Prime Minister for help while accusing him of lying over the hostage crisis.
"They've made no attempt to have any contact with us at all. If they did make contact, it would be something we would immediately respond to," Mr Blair told reporters.
"I don't think we can take any hope from anything until we know exactly what the intentions of these people are," he said.
"They're not in contact with us, it's impossible for us to make contact with them."
I think without a guess that their intentions are to have US and British forces out of Iraq. As if Blair didn't know! But that's a worry if you won't negotiate with "freedom fighters" isn't it?
Italy rejoiced at the release of two women aid workers after paying a ransom and France was also gripped by a hostage drama when a freelance negotiator, disowned by Paris officials, said two French journalists held for six weeks could be free in days.
The French mediator said a condition for the journalists' release was for US forces to provide safe passage between the rebel towns of Fallujah and Ramadi, where Iraq's puppet defence minister said US and Iraqi troops were about to launch offensives to re-establish their control.
Kidnapping has flourished in the lawlessness that has engulfed parts of Iraq since the illegal and degrading war on Iraq but the United States has said it will restore order in the next few months so that planned elections can go ahead in January?
Al Jazeera television broadcast the tape showing a haggard and distraught Mr Bigley dressed in an orange jumpsuit of the kind associated with Muslims held by US troops at Guantanamo Bay.
"Tony Blair is a liar. He doesn't care about me. I'm just one person," Mr Bigley said in barely audible comments.
The tape was aired a day after the two Italian women and four Egyptian engineers were freed.
Sources say? Mr Bigley's two American colleagues, seized with him from their house in Baghdad two weeks ago, have already been beheaded on video by a group "allegedly" led by Jordanian Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi the new demon in the war on Iraq.
Freedom fighters in Iraq are holding two other Western hostages, French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot.
Paris rejected the freedom fighters' demands that France scrap a law banning girls from wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf in state schools.
Related:
British hostage pleads with Blair to save his life
The Bigley family's hopes have been raised by Iraqi officials who say they have been considering for a month to release two female prisoners, Rihab Taha and Huda Ammash known as "Dr Demon" and "Mrs Demon".
More:
http://www.brisbane.indymedia.org.au/front.php3?article_id=13863&group=webcast Jordan's king doubts Iraqi elections possible
Iraq is far too unsafe to hold elections as scheduled in January and extremists would do well in the poll if Baghdad tried to hold it, Jordan's King Abdullah said in an interview. Excluding troubled areas from the nationwide poll would only isolate Iraq's Sunnis and create deeper divisions in the country, he said.
The United States and Iraq's interim government insist the vote should go ahead as scheduled despite a worsening insurgency there.
More:
http://www.geocities.com/nswcn13/archive04/2004e61.html
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