Sopposedly.

 

"DUBAI (Reuters) - A militant group led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi killed British hostage Kenneth Bigley in Iraq, Abu Dhabi Television said on Friday, quoting "informed" sources in Iraq.

 

Britain's Foreign Office said it was aware of the report. "We cannot corroborate the reports ... We are in close touch with Mr. Bigley's family at this difficult time," a Foreign Office spokesman told Reuters in London.

 

But Britain's Sky TV, quoting government sources, said Bigley had been killed.

 

The 62-year-old engineer was kidnapped in Baghdad on Sept. 16 by the Tawhid and Jihad Group which has beheaded two American hostages who were seized along with the Briton.

 

"We have learned from informed sources in the Iraqi capital that the kidnappers of Kenneth Bigley have killed him," an Abu Dhabi newscaster said.

 

The kidnappers had demanded U.S.-led forces in Iraq release women prisoners in Iraqi jails to spare Bigley's life. Washington says it holds only two women in Iraq, both top weapons scientists from the days of Saddam Hussein. The British say they are not holding any women.

 

Asked to comment on the report, Bigley's brother Paul told Reuters in London: "I have heard nothing at all. I have been optimistic and remain optimistic. I am praying this news is not true."

 

All chinese whisperes / rumours at present. Really hope this isn't true though. Can't even begin to imagine how his family must feel. 3 weeks + waiting for news, how distressing

Fucks me off that these people have to drag it out :@

Did anybody see in the papers about Billy Connolly getting heckled at one of his shows? He said "Am I the only one who wishes they'd just get on with it?"

 

Didnt go down too well to say the least

Oh well.

The family have had proof that he is deffinatly dead. :@

Terrible. What is to come of this situation in Iraq? It is distressing and upsetting that this has happened. We (the west) have created a nation of very dangerous people as they have nothing to lose anymore.

A few extremists killing very few westeners seems to have a lot of control over peoples opinions.

 

The moderates in Iraq are being ignored in favour of the head hunters.

I am sure there is a BIG difference between what happens, and what people are AWARE of happening.

 

QUOTE (AlexV @ Oct 8 2004, 18:32)

We (the west) have created a nation of very dangerous people as they have nothing to lose anymore.

I hardly think these extremists are representative of the majority of people in Iraq!

 

I certainly wouldn't call them a "nation of very dangerous people" just because of a few selective (albeit harrowing) news reports from Iraq.

All I was trying to say was that when people have nothing more to lose, they can become very dangerous. How could the situation of the Iraqi peoples lives get any worse?

QUOTE (AlexV @ Oct 10 2004, 06:23)

How could the situation of the Iraqi peoples lives get any worse?

Er, if the country was ruled by an evil dictator?

You know what is so bad in this country is that Newspapers will do anything to 'sell a story'. Its a fact that in this country a story will cover every paper for a few WEEKS - in most other countries (e.g. US) you would never have so much coverage.

 

Therefore these people will target us more and more knowing how much exposure they will get.

 

To sum I partly blame the newspapers and the way people are in this country for 'gossip' / 'news' - which is precisely why I dont read the bloody things. I watch news at 10 and I watch question time, and occassionally newsnight - thats it for me though and I dont believe in giving these people any more exposure than they already have. If the stories never got through to us they wouldnt have as much power over us.

 

When I told people a while back I dont read newspapers or watch the news they looked at me shocked saying "surely you want to know what is going on in the world" - my answer back then was "no, not particularly" - this may have been a bit extreme / selfish but I found my character and personality was changing into a very negative one and non-proactive - thinking "whats the point". OK so since that comment I do now watch the news each night but I wish to hell the mixture of stories was 50/50 of good and bad to give people some incentive to go and do something creative themselves.

 

I wont get onto my debate about soaps now .....

 

I guess in a way I shouldnt even be responding to this post as it gives these people more exposure but at least this is only viewable by members and I wanted to get my point across re: newspapers - the thing which angered me most was over those pics published btw

^ agreed.

 

Alex V, I can't believe you are so taken in by a few selective reports about the supposed state of Iraq. You make it sound like the whole country is in total anarchy.

 

I do not wish to trivialise the matter of Bigley et al, but these are a few isolated cases. I hardly think we can judge the state of Iraq by the actions of a small group of extremists. That is akin to condemning all Muslims on the basis of 9/11.

 

Ok, some bad stuff has happened recently, but I would be amazed if the situation is honestly worse than before the war. The point is, the West don't seem to be interested unless it's "one of our own" that is in the shit. We know Saddam had torture chambers and so on, but did the torture of innocent Iraqis make headlines over here? No.

 

Putting aside the separate matter of whether the war was justified, did anybody seriously expect Iraq to instantly make the transition from fucked-up dictatorship to peaceful democracy? Maybe mistakes have been made; maybe better measures could have been made to improve the security/policing of the country after Saddam was ousted; but I refuse to let a few sensationlist articles, published by papers with blatant agenda, determine my opinion of whether Iraq is worse or better off than before.

I watched the video with morbid curiosity and I can safely say it's the worst thing I have ever done I feel so guilty.