Iraqi militants say they killed Japanese hostage (Reuters)

[foo_bar]

Insurgents holding a Japanese hostage in Iraq said on Saturday they had killed him and posted footage on the Internet showing what the victim's brother later confirmed was his corpse.

The video showed identification papers and a passport bearing the name of Akihiko Saito, 44, a former paratrooper and veteran of the French Foreign Legion, who had been missing since his convoy was ambushed in western Iraq on May 8.



"I saw the footage and confirmed that it was my older brother," Hironobu Saito said in a handwritten statement to media organizations, adding that he had conveyed his view to police and to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8632865

[Kipling]

1. RIP

Cue the laughter of Republicans.

[NNN0LHI]

2. Wonder how many innocent people this mercenary killed in his life? n/t

[foo_bar]

3. some background:

Akihiko Saito, a Japanese security guard believed kidnapped by militants in Iraq, is a combat-tested veteran with more than two decades in the French Foreign Legion, officials and media reports said on Tuesday.

He was working as a consultant for the British security firm Hart when he was reportedly abducted after a firefight in western Iraq as his convoy left a US base on Sunday night, the Japanese foreign ministry said.

“He was doing his job as a security official or security guard for various projects including providing security to American convoys,” foreign ministry press secretary Hatsuhisa Takashima told reporters.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/newsmakers/2005/May/newsmakers_May4.xml§ion=newsmakers

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. "Various projects including providing security to American convoys"....

Would the "various projects" have anything to do with the death squads Negroponte is building in Iraq?

[Moderator]

5. kick to combine

[Hissyspit]

6. Reuters: Insurgents Say They Have Killed Japanese Hostage in Iraq

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-05-28T221904Z_01_N28573883_RTRIDST_0_INTERNATIONAL-IRAQ-DC.XML

Insurgents say killed Japanese hostage in Iraq
Sat May 28, 2005 6:19 PM ET
By Andrew Marshall

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Insurgents said on Saturday they had killed a Japanese hostage seized in Iraq and posted footage on the Internet showing his bloodied corpse.

Japan's Foreign Ministry and the hostage's brother confirmed the video footage showed the body of Akihiko Saito, 44, a former paratrooper and veteran of the French Foreign Legion, who was captured on May 8 when insurgents ambushed a civilian security convoy.

Near the Syrian border, two suicide car bombers detonated their vehicles close to a base manned by U.S. and Iraqi troops near the northern town of Sinjar, killing at least five Iraqis and wounding dozens, hospital officials said.

MORE


On EDIT, CNN.com link:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/05/28/iraq.japan.hostage/index.html

Japanese hostage killed by captors

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Iraqi government has confirmed that Japanese hostage Akihiko Saito has been killed by his captors.

Saito, who worked in Iraq for a British security company, was among five foreign workers ambushed by insurgents in the Anbar province west of Baghdad in early May.

The other four were confirmed dead.

An Islamic Web site previously used to publish insurgent announcements posted a video showing Saito before and after his his death.

MORE

[Erika]

7. Bush/Condi/Rummy

will tell us this is proof that the "insurgents" are getting desperate and we are winning the "war". How many days before Bush and his administration is history?

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

8. Resistance kills five insurgents

That's how it reads from the other side of the coin.

The Invaders and Occupiers are doing the "insurging"--(instigating and initiating the violence)

Resistance just wants occupiers to leave.
As much as the U.S "leaders" want permanent bases in Iraq, it happens to be someone else's country and eventually the U.S. will be forced to withdraw.
Even if they change the flag and rename the place, they will be forced out at some point!

How many more must die before the troops pull out?
What reason is there for our military presence? Corporate protection???

Withdrawal is inevitable-
-Resistance is like the hydra- cut off one head, several more grow back-
-they could never kill enough resistors to ever stop the violence...Resistors are determined to take back their country.

We should be so determined to do the same with our own country.

[DrDebug]

9. French Foreign Legion?

They may call him a Japanese hostage, but isn't it a hired French mercenary?

"Living by Chance, Loving by Choice, Killing by Profession"
motto of La Lègion Etrangére

France stayed out of Iraq or did they stay out with their 'normal' army and only send the most ruthless and most competent soldiers?

[DrDebug]

10. Noam Chomsky: The Future of Iraq and U.S. Occupation

The following is an excerpt from a presentation by Noam Chomsky on January 26th at a forum sponsored by the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe, NM to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the International Relations Center:

(...)
What I’ve just read from the business press the last couple of days probably reflects the thinking in Washington and London: “Uh well, okay, we’ll let them have a government, but we’re not going to pay any attention to what they say.” In fact the Pentagon announced at the same time two days ago: we’re keeping 120,000 troops there into at least 2007, even if they call for withdrawal tomorrow.

And the propaganda is very evident right in these articles. You can even write the commentary now: We just have to do it because we have to accomplish our mission of bringing democracy to Iraq. If they have an elected government that doesn’t understand that, well, what can we do with these dumb Arabs, you know? Actually that’s very common because look, after all, the U.S. has overthrown democracy after democracy, because the people don’t understand. They follow the wrong course. So therefore, following the mission of establishing democracy, we’ve got to overthrow their governments.

I think that is going to be a last resort. The reason is the Vietnam experience. The Vietnam experience, I think, is the first time in the history of European imperialism that an imperial power tried to fight a colonial war with a citizen’s army. I mean the British didn’t do it, and the French had the Foreign Legion… In colonial wars, civilians are just no good at. too brutal and vicious and murderous. You just can’t take kids off the street and have them fight that kind of war. You need trained killers, like the French Foreign Legion.
(...)
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0203-22.htm

According to a recent article by Jane's Defence, the US has enormously increased is use of mercenaries, or 'Private Security firms' in the Iraq war. Use of these contractors is not new, and has a long precident, but never before have these mercenaries formed so much of a US military force.

According to the article, "out of a total US$85bn allocated by the USA for military operations in the Middle East this year, over a third will go to private contractors. A reality check: this figure is greater than the defence budgets of most countries."

"A US-based company is providing patrols throughout Iraq and its arsenal ranges from M4 assault rifles to 20mm cannons mounted on its own helicopters. The company operates firing training ranges in the USA and actively recruits for what, to all intents and purposes, is now a private army. It is all perfectly legal."

http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/fr/fr040609_1_n.shtml

So how many more Legionnaires are there in Iraq. They don't count in the statistics, they are the best and they have no mercy. And for the outside world it will still appear like the French aren't in Iraq as well, however saying 'non' to all those billions isn't very likely either.