Chris Albritton on the kidnapping of John Martinkus

Chris Albritton is bailing out of Baghdad, at least. Considering the circumstances surrounding the kidnap and release of Australian journalist John Martinkus, that seems to be a wise move.

Saturday around 2 p.m or so, John was picked up about 500m from our hotel compound. He turned out of the front gate, took the first right -- as most of us do -- and a car stopped in front of him and a tailing car pulled in behind him. Four men with pistols jumped out and three of them managed to force their way into the car, putting guns to the heads of John, his driver and his translator. They then took him to western Baghdad, held him overnight and interrogated him.

We're not sure what all happened during his captivity, but he was able to persuade his captors that he was an Australian and a friend to the resistance and not to the Americans. It appears, by the kidnappers' statements and questions, that they were nationalists and not jihadis, lucky for John. Also, he was lucky for not being American, because the kidnappers said if he had been, they'd have killed him quickly. They had tracked him for three days, they said, and proved it by asking him why he had gone to the Green Zone and to the Palestine on two separate days. This was how they were able to pick him up so easily.
[...]
As frightening as John's experience was for him, it shows that journalists' plans for “security through obscurity” has been blown out the window. John's captors said they received a phone call that he was on the move and that the time for taking him was now. This fits in with our intelligence that there are kidnap teams up and down Jadirya Street looking for us. His captors said they had penetrated the staff at the Hamra Hotel, where many of us live. They have people in the compound watching us. They know who we are and they're looking for “soft targets” -- reporters moving around with little security or few precautions.

Oh, and on the subject of John Martinkus, Alexander Downer is an idiot. Wait...a lying idiot.

Comments

[indifferent_qed]

These Terrorists are the a prime example of the definition of hate crime; beheading Americans simply because the victim is American. I am not surprised.

[GA Rodgers]

Not just because they are American, but because they are Americans participating in a bloody occupation of their homeland. The Iraqis are acting in self defense, just as any normal American would if the situation were reversed.

[indifferent_qed]

I think everyone in the Middle East acts in self defense. Even if the victims are not armed, the terrorists act in self defence by killing their captives. War and strife in the Middle East is normal and business as usual. There is no justice and no end to the killing in the Middle East. I am definitely not surprised.

[jane grey]

alexander downer continues his smear campaign on martinkus

...still can't belive this nearly-totalitarian have been voted in again

http://www.adelaide.indymedia.org.au/newswire/display/7319/index.php

[AM]

Humanity begins and ends for me with your reaction to this:
From Aljazeera - ofcourse - by Lawrence Smallman - ofcourse - the only friends of the Arabs and Palestineans.
Quote:
For Australian journalist John Martinkus, seizing foreign nationals is an intelligent way of "fighting a war" when you are outnumbered and outgunned. And unlike Blair, Martinkus has first hand hostage experience.

Released unharmed over the weekend, SBS Television Dateline's Martinkus said his captors freed him after establishing his independence on Iraq coverage.

"These guys [are] not stupid. They're fighting a war but they're not savages. They're not actually just killing people willy-nilly. They talk to you, they think about things," he said at Melbourne airport on Tuesday.

"There was a reason to kill [British captive Kenneth] Bigley, there was a reason to kill the Americans; there was not a reason to kill me - luckily I managed to convince them of that," he said.

SBS executive producer Mike Carey said the journalist was freed after his captors used a popular internet search engine to establish he was an independent reporter who did not support the US presence in Iraq.
END QUOTE

[indifferent_qed]

Too bad for the next victim who isn't as articulate or is unable to 'prove himself worthy' of not being beheaded. Death in the Middle East is business as usual. I am not surprised.

[Harold Smith]

I've read Martinkus's book on Iraq, it was quite good. One this is sure, however. John was released, not because he is a journalist, but because he is an asset to the Iraqi nationalists, or ex-Baathists, or whatever you wish to call them. He is perceived to be on their side, and is he is therefore as much as a soldier in this sordid war as any other person picking up a AK 47 or an M16.