Puttin' the Bag on Krako

Been reading this: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6015597/
I find myself wondering, how can I be a hard-hearted liberal?

I've been reading so much about hostages in Iraq, and I don't get it. How can anyone possibly think that you can get ransom money out of a government? And, based on this article, can you?!

Italy may have paid a million dollars to free two people. I have no idea what part of the budget that comes from. The Philippines withdrew they're 51 troops from Iraq in order to free one man, but hey, they've only got a population of 76 million or so, they can't afford to lose any or the balance on the islands goes awry and they're all winding up in the drink.

So here's my take on it: I'm the U.S. government. I'm involved in a war. Some non-military terrorist group abducts a few of my civilian citizens that are working over in the dangerous war zone. They want anything, doesn't matter what. I can't do it. Not at all, not for anyone. Not for a "regular" guy, not for the President himself. If I give in, then kidnapping proves to be an "effective weapon". Not giving in can disarm this weapon.

I understand that kidnapping goes on all the freakin' time in Mexico City, and that it's just expected that people will pay the ransom and get their loved one back. It's more or less an acknowledged profession, "Kidnapper". But that's not where these people are. We have no established practice of "give in, get what was yours in the first place". We have no guarantee that paying the ransom, or acquiescing to the demands will result in the hostages actually being freed. It stands to reason that I - if I'm now a kidnapper instead of the U.S. Government for a moment, here - would not want to free my captives, what with there being the possibility of them ever identifying me. Plus, I hate the foreigners, and want to make them suffer. I shoot the hostages and take off with whatever it was that I demanded.

This is why, I (being myself again, and not a hypothetical abstract or criminal), the peace-loving, murder-hating, every-life-is-sacred-spouter, actually support the way our government is handling the situation. Criminals cannot be rewarded. Kidnappers cannot be shown that their methods will work. We can't give in. I know it's hard for the families. I know it seems cruel, but it's hard for everyone, and it's the only thing that makes sense.

Now, can we make it so that people don't want to kill each other in the first place?