Apparently been sprung in a rescue operation by the military along with the two Canadians.

I noticed that that weasel Jack Straw was quick to appear on TV to take the credit Don't forget if it hadn't been for is actions Kember would not have been kidnapped in the first place.

 

Hi UB, do you have a link to it?

 

Just heard this on Radio 1, good news. There will be alot of relieved family today.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/4836218.stm

Steve

 

This is great news although you have to question the wisdom of what he was doing there. Doesn't matter now though but shame it didn't come early enough to save the American.

 

I'm pleased he's free but wondered how a pacifist feels about being rescued by force?

Just a thought.

Steve

 

Good point, maybe they just used bad language, insulted their mommas and shouted 'let them go' at the kidnappers until they let him go!

 

Tony Blair is reported to be 'delighted' at the news.

 

I think the guy is a looney..."Ah right, there's a war on where militant muslim extremeist types are threatening the downfall of the west and there's a likelihood westerners may be the target of kidnappings, murders and many scary bombs. I know! I'll pop over and do a bit of aid work."???? WTF?

The guy's a sandwich short of a picnic...

Some may think its a selfless act, hopping off to do a bit of aid work in Baghdad, but it's the opposite. It's totally selfish putting intense pressure on his family and friends and on the british taxpayer who pay for the negotiation and armed rescue...

 

He is hardly likely to say his pi**ed off about it is he

 

its great news there alive and free. they must have been through a real nightmare.

 

I agree totally. if you go looking for trouble, regardless of your motives, you're going to find it sooner or later.
If he/they went with the belief they wouldn't, then they are sadly misguided

 

Right. And your action to stop the taxpayer-funded multi-billion pound illegal war in Iraq was what, exactly?

What a crass comment.

 

LOL... My action was to excercise my democratic right to vote for another party who did not instigate the war in Iraq... Not to put my friends and family through months of hellish anguish on some personal crusade which ultimately made no more of a contribution towards a protest of war than my vote did .

My comment wasnt crass at all, your response was slightly bland and pointless. Have a nice day

 

I agree with abdabz here... However much it's toughtitties to him, and he may well not complain about it as he knew the risks - it's well tight on his family. Like a big fingers up to them.

 

**

hang on a sec UB: much as i loathe jack straw for the feeble-minded lightweight that he is, norman kember chose of his own free will to go to iraq. he was kidnapped because the naive old fool chose to put himself in harm's way and he's bloody lucky to have been sprung with his head still on his shoulders. i trust he is suitably grateful to the people who risked their lives to get him and the others out.

why didn't his family hide his passport to prevent him going in the first place? what were they thinking to let an old guy with his head stuck in a typically academic ivory tower of "outrage" and "conscience" travel into a warzone where people of his ilk are a clear and regular target for kidnap and murder? it's not brave. it's stupid.

humanitarian aid workers and civilian contractors are one thing. "solidarity" junkies like kember are just a liability. to themselves and others. did he "help" the situation? did he ****. they just get in the way. "Christian Peacemaker Teams"? protected by the power of the holy trinity no doubt. it's enough to make you weep ...

apologies if i seem hard-nosed but people who deliberately make their beds in burning bedrooms don't deserve much sympathy in my opinion. that having been said, i'm glad he's free and in one piece. but i hope he's learned his lesson.

 

Glad he's OK, but it's a case of "play with fire and you might get burned".

He knew what he was getting himself into. What made me laugh was how everybody was SO shocked when he was kidnapped

The impression it gives to me is that the lentil-munching tree huggers wanted to help out. Whether help was required or not.

Like I said, glad he's OK, but you've got to be pretty dense to do that sort of thing voluntarily.

Dan
PS Couldn't give a toss whether this opinion is PC or not. It's my opinion and I'm happy with it :P

 

I think hes on their side

 

Radio had some woman from the same movement as Kimber saying they had asked the government not to use force to get his release.

I'd like to hear whether hes glad they used force (though apparently no shots fired),

 

Good to see there are many like minded people on here!!!

What an IDIOT! What was he doing in probably the most dangerous and hostile place on earth (apart from st Anns in Nottingham)???.

What was he going to achieve?

All the time wasted rescuing him simply cost us more money and put more of our boys at risk.

dammed fool

 

No shots fired but **** me! Imagine being faced with a squad of SAS guys!

Would you bother firing!?

I'd run a fookin mile!!!

 

Class!

 

On the news it says the forces interrogated two suspects they caught and they confessed where the hostages had been held.

 

no doubt those interrogators will end up on trumped-up charges of some human rights abuse type...!!!

and the soldiers that rescued him will be done under article 8...!!!

 

I admire him for his attempt as a committed Christian to go out and try to do something at least to defuse the situation. It ws his choice to do it for altruistic motives and he did say beforehand that if he was captured that he did not wish the military to rescue him. I certainly think it is unnecessarily rude and unpleasant to call him by such unpleasant names.

It is worth mentioning that he was not rescued by force since an Iraqi had led the forces to the house where they were imprisoned and their captors had fled the scene. They were released without any fighting from a room on the top floor of the house.

it is regrettable to see how uncharitable some can be with their comments.

Les

 

Do you think a Chrisitan in an Islamic country on the brink of civil war is likely to difuse the situation or inflame it (if it were to have any impact at all)?

But that puts people in to a very awkward position. If you just leave him to be killed then you come over as uncaring, if you do go and save him, you incur cost and risk lives that need not have been incurred if the guy had actually thought this through beforehand.

I suspect more by good fortune than anything else.

I'd like to see the army give him a bill for his rescue and see his passport revoked on his return.

 

I totally agree. This would be the right thing to do... Well said.

 

Well the fire brigade and coastguard do, so why not indeed?

 

**

oh leslie: it's not being uncharitable, just pragmatic and realistic. christian peacemaker teams? in a (confused) warzone where just about everyone is a target for everyone else? come on. if it wasn't so deadly serious, it'd be hilarious.

ask yourself the question: of what possible benefit was his presence creating? and ask yourself the question: would let your own father do what kember did? me? i'd have hidden his passport and told him to get a grip.

to insurgent fundamentalists he's just infidel hostage fodder, useful for good footage on al-jazeera and possibly as a ransom meal-ticket. to the coalition forces, he and his ilk are a needless security risk - more naive, bible-bashing muppets whose ***** our forces are duty bound to cover or save. if a bunch of leftie academic tub-thumpers want to wring their hands about how bad our behaviour in iraq is, why can't they do it here and stop getting in the way over there? out of their depth and out of their minds.

i find it deliciously ironic that he's been rescued, against his expressed wish, by the very people he went out there to discredit and besmirch for his own priggish, self-righteous and conchie ends.

there's no fool like an old fool ...

 

Do you think he will go back then?

What did he actually do out there or rather what were his plans before the rude kidnap interruption?