“Please, Mr. Chamberlain, give us peace in Europe! Give Herr Hitler what he wants!” From AFP, with thanks to Kevin:
THE family of a British hostage threatened with execution in Iraq has made a last-ditch appeal to Prime Minister Tony Blair to meet the kidnappers’ demands and save his life.
Kenneth Bigley was grabbed along with Americans Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong from their Baghdad home on Thursday by the Tawhid and Jihad group, headed by al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Armstrong was beheaded and video of his gruesome slaying by masked gunmen was posted on the internet early this morning (AEDT) when a 24-hour deadline was set for the other hostages.
That deadline is set to expire in the next few hours.
Al-Zarqawi has personally taken responsibility for Armstrong’s murder.
Bigley’s son, Craig, said Blair was the only person who could save his father.
“I ask Tony Blair personally to consider the amount of bloodshed already suffered,” he said on BBC TV.
“Only you can save him now. You have children and you will understand how I feel at this time.”
Bigley’s brother Philip made a separate plea.
“The death of the American hostage has proved to us that if nothing is done then the two remaining captives will die by the most horrific means.
“The only person we can now beg to help us is the Prime Minister.”
“We are begging you not to kill him,” he said.
“We are begging you to find a compromise that will help to save the life of my brother.”
This unfortunate man has virtually no way of knowing, because his press won’t tell him, about the lineaments of the jihad ideology. He almost certainly doesn’t know that no compromise is acceptable, only surrender.