The Bulgarians are evidently made of sterner stuff than the Filipinos and Spanish. Or at least they know that appeasement only emboldens the aggressor. From AFP:
SOFIA — The Bulgarian government said Friday it would not give in to blackmail after reports that two Bulgarian hostages in Iraq would be killed unless US troops freed Iraqi prisoners within 24 hours.
“We have no intention of giving in to a diktat or blackmail,” Foreign Minister Solomon Passy told national radio.
Al-Jazeera aired footage late Thursday of a masked man reading a statement behind two squatting and handcuffed men that described them as Bulgarian workers. Two other armed and masked men stood by.
A banner bearing text from the Koran was hung on the wall behind. The kidnappers were from a group called Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War), reportedly led top Al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, according to the Qatar-based television station.