August 27 Update: After encouraging signs in the past 36 hours or so, the Fox journalists have been freed.
Rusty Shackleford is reporting that the group that has claimed responsibility for abducting Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig appears to be at least inspired by Al Qaeda; The fact that the GIMF was not involved in the initial production of the video is a sign that the "Holy Jihad Brigades" is exactly as I feared: part of al Qaeda 3.0. What this means is that they are an al Qaeda inspired jihad gang, not directly under the control of the terror organization, but which is connected through a worldwide network of radical Salafists--most importantly through the internet. More importantly, if they have made a connection with GIMF then it is likely that they see Abu Musab al Zarqawi as a source for inspiration. Zarqawi is infamous for popularizing the beheading murders of his hostage victims. If this is the case--and these are words you may never hear repeated at The Jawa Report---then God help the Palestinian Authority and Hamas in finding them before it is too late.
More at Michelle Malkin.
But, but, GEORGE BUSH is the world's biggest terrorist!
I heard that he and KKKarl Rove abducted Mother Sheehan and have threatened to behead her!
(if only that were true)
Considering most copy cats try to build on the previous "efforts" of whomever they are copying,i fear the worst for the journalists...
I think in the ever evolving WOT that Hamas and AQ are oh so over with these thugs. It doesn't surprise me that freelancing is emerging. All you need is the intolerance of Islam, a rabid hatred of all things not Islam, fueled by the death cult's grandiosity and macho spirit; you can have your own piece of jihad just where and when you will it. Throw in the easy access to terror weapons too.
The MSM isn't connecting the dots with our own homegrown suburbanite jihadis acting alone or in small cells in the US, Canada and Britain. Of course, the left via their strict pc rules would like to have our mouths nailed shut on this increasing phenomenon.
The real inspirer of all of these thugs is the Big Enchilada Himself aka Mohammed. The permission flows from his sacred rantings to today's fanatical and politicized imams to the little 72 virgin guys doing the dirty work. It would be hard at this point and time in the 21st century to blow up stuff and kill large numbers of innocents in the name of the historic Jesus on record by modern literates.
Five years from now at the rate of accelerating Islamofascist murder and mayhem just how many squeamish multi-culti souls are going to be left standing?
I think these kidnappings are a 'new game' for the thugs in Iraq; they are an economic tactic and have little to do with ideology.
This happened in Central America, in South America etc; when the Soviet Union collapsed and stopped funding the various Marxist rebels, they turned to kidnapping and drugs as their basic economic way of life.
Same thing in the ME. The failure of the distributed economic mode, aka socialism, in the ME, ie, the state run centralized top down payments to the people, from oil revenues, led to the exodus of many Muslims from the ME. This population drop wasn't enough to deal with the economic unrest, but the military dictatorships and religious fundamentalism are key tactics to repress the people.
Iraq has been freed of the repressive dictatorship, but it takes time to build up a non-socialist, open economy. It is certainly happening in various areas of Iraq, which are in an economic 'boom'.
In the meantime, the thug-criminal types are moving into the criminal mode of kidnapping for economic gain. This will slow down, as the 'wealthy westerners' leave and as Iraq gains control over its population and as the economic growth in Iraq continues.
It will also be interesting to watch the other ME countries - as Iraq's GDP increases far, far over theirs.
From BOB LAURENCE, TV critic, San Diego Union-Tribune: I'd like to offer a couple of possible reasons for the lack of attention given to the kidnapping of the two guys from Fox:
One is that, sadly, they are far from the first to be kidnapped, injured or killed. They are, alas, only the most recent two of many. The kidnapping or targeting of journalists in Iraq isn't the story it once was.
Second, Fox has deliberately set itself apart from other news media. Starting at the top with Roger Ailes, the Fox sales pitch has been to deride other media, to declare itself the one source of the real truth, the sole source of 'fair and accurate' news reporting. As a result, there's not a reservoir of kinship or good will with Fox on the part of the rest of the news media. You can't keep insulting people and then expect friendship when you need it.
They've made it a policy to keep a distance between themselves and the rest of the media, far beyond the usual competitive spirit, so that's where they are: at a distance.
Or
"Kill him first, please, kill him first, I'm on your side"
This POS also got the location wrong, it happened in Gaza.