Speaking of Ingratitude

You know those peace-keeping dudes who got kidnapped in Iraq and were rescued by the American and British Special Forces, i.e. "the sworn enemy"? And remember that the American hostage got tortured and killed and found like discarded trash on the streets of Bagdad? Well, not only have these rescued people not given sincere thanks, they refuse to cooperate with the military and offer any intelligence.

No one has said it yet, that I have read, people are too politic, but I'm not. Why did we waste resources hunting these people down? They didn't want to be found, evidently, yet they left willingly enough. Why didn't they stand on their beliefs and stay hostaged?

Norman Kember is being called the "Selfish Idealist" in the Opinion above. That seems apt.

Anger and disbelief greeted the 74-year-old's earlier failure to thank the hundreds of British and American -personnel who worked and risked their lives to free him and his fellow captives, all members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams campaigning organisation.

Gen Sir Mike Jackson, the chief of the general staff, had already expressed dismay at Mr Kember's apparent refusal to say "thank you", saying he was "saddened that there does not seem to have been a note of gratitude for the soldiers who risked their lives to save those lives".

It has also emerged that the hostages refused to take part in a critical debriefing session with intelligence officers who need valuable information on the kidnappers.

I really don't know what to say. To be grateful to the soldiers who risked life and limb, to thank the intelligence people who spent time and energy to find them, to thank the TAXPAYING public for saving their stupid asses from self-inflicted danger would be too great a double bind--since these people are the enemy, not the crazy loons who took them for ransom, and murdered their friend.

Jan Benvie, 51, an Edinburgh teacher who is due to go to Iraq with the same organisation this summer, said: "We make clear that if we are kidnapped we do not want there to be force or any form of violence used to release us."

Don't worry, Jan. If you get kidnapped, if it were up to me, you're on your own. No force, no violence, no money, no resources, and not one shed tear, either will be spent on your silly ass when you're gone. Silly, silly girl. This shouldn't shock me after everything else, but it does.


Update: Just read Dr. Sanity's take on all this and it's a must read if you want to understand the psychology of these people. Short take: insane.