DUBAI (Reuters) - Hostage Kenneth Bigley, kidnapped 10 days ago by gunmen in Iraq, is still alive, a London-based Muslim activist who has good contacts with Islamist groups in Iraq says.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040926/325/f3cyt.html


Seems this Mr Serri has a pretty colourful past himself. I wonder if this gives him greater credibility when talking to these terror groups in the M.E. Should we take what he says to be true, given the fact that he has links with such organisations, therefore may have access to more reliable information?

If so i think he owes the British public at large a big drink otherwise he would be in camp x-ray or have been beheaded himself in Egypt. Talk about being wanted! Wonder why the judiciary let him stay here, essentially protecting him. Maybe they need him as a communicator with these people in the M.E?

Open to your comments as always! Keep em clean :thumbsup:

The Foreign Office is checking unconfirmed reports on an Arab TV station British hostage Kenneth Bigley has been killed by Iraqi militants. :(

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3726744.stm

I'm thinking this is probably going to be true if the BBC are talking about it... :(

........................................

Not much to say until its been confirmed.

It is a shame, but then you have to look on the global scale of things.

If they gave in, the terroists would then try it again next time with another british person.

Hopefully they will now get the hint, that we do not deal with terroists.

It's so nice to see the government really cares for it's people. R.I.P Ken, I am sorry it happened to you.

What would Blair do if it was Cherie???

I dunno what Blair would do.

Man's a muppet IMO, and is too far up George W Bush's arse over this whole Iraq issue.

I know precisely what Blair would do it was Cherie.

Unfortunately he would have to let her go and I am sure she would understand. That or send the SAS to nuke the bar stewards.

You can't be seen to be giving into terroists. Otherwise they will never learn.

Originally posted by Rich
Man's a muppet IMO, and is too far up George W Bush's arse over this whole Iraq issue.

I don't think anyone could disagree with that statement. :)

................................................

Have you seen the video or at least got proof that it's been released or is it just media speculation at the moment? :(

I really am hoping that it's media rubbish but sadly now that Yahoo News, Reuters and BBC have got hold of it then it could well be fact.

Thoughts go out to Ken's family and friends. :( :( :(

A video CD has been released, but no-one is saying what is on it yet. The message is that he was killed yesterday. Expect the worst.

..............................................

This is going to sound incredibly heartless, and some of my friends, whilst sharing the opinion, have advised me to keep it to myself but why all the outrage about Ken Bigley?

He will have gone to Iraq with his eyes wide open, all the companies shipping out labour to the country are obliged to fully brief their recruits. As I see it, Ken Bigley will have spotted an opportunity for a quick buck just the same as the CEOs of the likes of Halliburton, and as such I can't have too much sympathy.

Now, if it was a British journalist or aid worker my feelings would be completely different.

M

Originally posted by Mattski
but why all the outrage about Ken Bigley?

I think the outrage probably relates to the fact that a man has been beheaded in cold blood. Reason enough for outrage I feel.

Hey Damon,

But this is so minute in significance in comparison to the atrocities which are taking place right throughout Iraq now.

Gruesome yes, but no more so than those injuries inflicted upon the Iraqis themselves, both from the coalition forces and the kidnappers who are making an industry out of ransoming the indigenous population.

M

Originally posted by Damon
I think the outrage probably relates to the fact that a man has been beheaded in cold blood. Reason enough for outrage I feel.

It is indeed outragous and the people that did it are undeniably scum.
It is though a shame that people only seem to reserve sentiment and compassion for the minority of people that are "news worthy", like this Bigley fellow. If the amount of column inches and compassion dedicated to Bigley was shown to all victims of war the world would be a much better place. Bigley went to Iraq by choice because the potential rewards were huge. But there are people there that are being killed by coalition forces and Al Queda that have no choice but to be there. People, incidentally, that would probably have been very grateful for the kind of job and money that colatition forces are giving to economic migrants like Bigley.

I'm sorry but I made no comment on any of those issues. Mattski expressed surprise that people were outraged about the beheading of a man - in cold blood and on video. I replied that it didn't seem surprising to me at all.

Hey Mattski try telling that to the familys of the victims ,murdered by scum like the Tawhid & Jihad Group.They are nothing but mindless murdering scum.I for one do not condone what other countrys have done to the POWs,In gauntanamo bay etc,but did the USA or other countrys involved,humiliate there victims & family before cutting off there heads,I do not think so,ok there was outrage about them being stripped & p****d on,but man I would rather have that than be tortured for 3 weeks & make you beg for your life & then cut your head off.These murderers had no intention of letting any of there victims go,from day 1.So all countrys involved in this war should send in there own troops & wipe out the Tawhid & Jihad Group.RIP to all the victims in Iraq.

Originally posted by chill
Bigley went to Iraq by choice because the potential rewards were huge.

Excellent idea. Lets forcibly evict everyone who has gone to Iraq to work, especially those who actually want to help rebuild the place. or why not patronise them and then tell their relatives when they are taken hostage and beheaded that they deserved it for being mercenary greedy b**tards.,

Sad news if it is true. I am hoping in some way though that its some sort of obscene publicity stunt by the group, but as the hours go on it seems increasingly unlikely. Until a body is recovered, I suppose it will not be confirmed 100%.

He along with the others who have been beheaded, (even people from Iraq, Turkey etc) have fallen victim to a sad state of affairs in Iraq, i feel this is somewhat worse than Saddam.

These people ( and I use the term loosely ) have no right to exist amongst normal Iraqi's or civilians there to make a living. You can go into any country with your eyes wide open, and be fully aware of the risks. I am suprised that if they knew so much about the place, their companies were willing to let them live in a baghdad suburb without protection.

I feel sorry for him, and all others gone before him. its high time the yanks and our troops did something useful, and used their technical abilities to help pinpoint these people and get rid of them.

The problem as ever is, they are making this arch-terrorist Zarqawi a well known face, and are spreading his political views all over for him. He might not even be there, but he has plenty of sympathisers willing to do his dirty work.

Well come now Killian,

Let's not be quite so niave. If you care to read my post again you may notice that I explicitly name both aid workers and journalists as those whom I believe are deserving of sympathy if they are unfortunate enough to be kidnapped.

Do you honestly believe that the majority of foreign companies still operating in Iraq are there to rebuild the country solely for the good of the people? Please, take a look at the nationality of these companies, look at who is benefitting from the 'reconstruction'.

To have any sort of involvement in Iraq right now (except for aid workers or journalists) is to doff your hat to Blair and Bush.

Of course, nobody deserves to be murdered (well, almost nobody), particularly in such a barbaric way but he weighed the odds and made his decision.

Open your eyes.

M

PS - Tosh. Cast your mind back to March 2003 when the first pre-emptive strike struck Baghdad killing an innocent family. The reason why this happened? Bush thought he could 'decapitate' the Iraqi leadership early on. Just a figure of speech? Double standards anyone? Oh, and don't forget the dozens of Iraqis who have been tortured to death in UK/US custody. There are numerous criminal cases currently being investigated internationally.

Originally posted by Mattski
Well come now Killian,

Let's not be quite so niave. If you care to read my post again

I have just read your post again and, apart from a keen sense of deja-vu, found myself scratching my head. Reason? My quote didn't come from your post, so not quite sure what point you're trying to make.

I read through your post earlier Killian, and could not see a post from a user called chill that you referred to :confused:

Maybe I'm getting messages from the other side, but two posts from the top of this very page is a very detailed post from someone called Chill (sig - Chris Hill). Am I the only one who can see this, is my PC psychic, or do you need to visit Specsavers?

The post is back, and has appeared. :clap: I swear blind it wasn't their earlier as I searched both pages for it.

I'm pleased about that. I was beginning to think something weird was happening with my PC. :confused:

Originally posted by Mattski
This is going to sound incredibly heartless, and some of my friends, whilst sharing the opinion, have advised me to keep it to myself but why all the outrage about Ken Bigley?

He will have gone to Iraq with his eyes wide open, all the companies shipping out labour to the country are obliged to fully brief their recruits. As I see it, Ken Bigley will have spotted an opportunity for a quick buck just the same as the CEOs of the likes of Halliburton, and as such I can't have too much sympathy.

Now, if it was a British journalist or aid worker my feelings would be completely different.

M

I'm sure your feelings would be quite different if it happened to be a member of your own family, aid worker or not. Which fence would you be sitting on then I wonder? :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Mattski
This is going to sound incredibly heartless, and some of my friends, whilst sharing the opinion, have advised me to keep it to myself but why all the outrage about Ken Bigley?

He will have gone to Iraq with his eyes wide open, all the companies shipping out labour to the country are obliged to fully brief their recruits. As I see it, Ken Bigley will have spotted an opportunity for a quick buck just the same as the CEOs of the likes of Halliburton, and as such I can't have too much sympathy.

Now, if it was a British journalist or aid worker my feelings would be completely different.

M


Why not go for the full-blown, no sympathy angle. Let's face it, why would anyone have sympathy for an innocent, almost old-age pensioner, who suffered agonising mental torture (at the very least) for three weeks and then had his head hacked off? Can't really understand why your friends wanted you to keep this to yourself. Where do you stand on Fox Hunting?

just found a link to a site where you can leave a message of condolence to his family...
http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk
click on the link on the right hand side of the page.

sue

Originally posted by Mattski
Let's not be quite so niave. If you care to read my post again you may notice that I explicitly name both aid workers and journalists as those whom I believe are deserving of sympathy if they are unfortunate enough to be kidnapped.


There isn't a limited amount of sympathy one can give. What's happened to Ken Bigley is horrible. I can say that without saying that what happened to Terry Lloyd (ITN reported killed by American fire) was less horrible. I can say it without saying that what happened to Ali Abbas (the boy who lost his arms and his entire family when his house was bombed) was less horrible. Lots of horrible things happen and I have sympathy for all the victims of this horrible war, British, American, Italian, Iraqi and any other nationality. The fact that people are expressing shock about Ken Bigley doesn't mean they are less shocked about other victims.

Originally posted by Killian
Excellent idea. Lets forcibly evict everyone who has gone to Iraq to work, especially those who actually want to help rebuild the place. or why not patronise them and then tell their relatives when they are taken hostage and beheaded that they deserved it for being mercenary greedy b**tards.,

WTF? Where did I say Bigley should be forcably evicted? Where did I say he deserved it for being greedy? Seriously, tell me.

Originally posted by chill
WTF? Where did I say Bigley should be forcably evicted? Where did I say he deserved it for being greedy? Seriously, tell me.

Originally posted by Skatiechik
The post is back, and has appeared. :clap: I swear blind it wasn't their earlier as I searched both pages for it.


I wouldn't worry about it. Your post doesn't even exist in the real sense of the word. Like Brigadoon, it only materialises once every hundred years and if you don't catch it quick it's gone.

There really is no response to that drivel, so I guess I'll just drop it.

Originally posted by chill
There really is no response to that drivel, so I guess I'll just drop it.

It made perfect sense to me, but then I read through the entire thread.

Anyway, if you want an answer on this, you posted on a very emotive issue, which came across to be particularly off-hand and uncaring. I simply read between the lines and answered in the way I saw it. It may not be what you intended, and I respect that, but that's how it came across to me, personally, so perhaps you might have worded it differently.