7 Responses to “Guardian journalist released”

1. 1 SP Oct 20th, 2005 at 11:11 pm

   Did you see Qaradawy and the Iranians called for his release? Apparently it does help to work for a lefty paper.

   http://www.guardian.co.uk/rorycarroll/story/0,16647,1597354,00.html

2. 2 Issandr El Amrani Oct 20th, 2005 at 11:22 pm

   Yeah, Qaradawi and a bunch of British Muslim leaders. Wonder if they would have done the same for the Fox News correspondent…

3. 3 Dan Oct 21st, 2005 at 9:39 am

   Whatever Qaradawi had to say (while nice) had no influence on his release. He was taken by sadrists.

4. 4 SP Oct 21st, 2005 at 10:34 am

   Sure, it was a show of moral support at best, an attempt at positioning. Still, interesting.

5. 5 Issandr El Amrani Oct 21st, 2005 at 2:38 pm

   Dan, was he taken by Sadrists for ideological reasons or for money? The Guardian seemed to think it was a criminal gang at first.

6. 6 SP Oct 22nd, 2005 at 10:50 am

   Saw an interview with Rory Carroll yesterday in which he said he was told he had been taken as a bargaining chip for the release of Sadrists that the Brits had in jail.

7. 7 Dan Oct 22nd, 2005 at 11:26 am

   Probably more about getting guys in Basra released. Some pretty senior guys were behind this. Maybe money too, but the bargaining chip issue was the driver. The Guardian’s “criminal gang” stance looked a calculated way to give the Sadrists a face-saving way out. This wouldnt have been neccessary if they hadn’t screwed up and allowed his kidnapping into the public domain so quickly in the first place.