I was just thinking about how I'd react to being taken hostage in Iraq when I saw this story by Mark Steyn, The Quality of Mersey. The column was spiked by the London Telegraph due to the fact that it deals with the recent beheading of a hostage in Iraq.
None of us can know for certain how we would behave in his circumstances, and very few of us will ever face them. But, if I had to choose in advance the very last words I’d utter in this life, “Tony Blair has not done enough for me” would not be high up on the list.I'd like to think I'd be a difficult hostage, not prone to be compliant with my captors demands, but I'm also hoping I never have the opportunity to find out. If I'm ever in Iraq I plan on taking this little piece of advice,
And, if you don’t want to wind up in that situation, you need to pack heat and be prepared to resist at the point of abduction. I didn’t give much thought to decapitation when I was mooching round the Sunni Triangle last year, but my one rule was that I was determined not to get into a car with any of the locals and I was willing to shoot anyone who tried to force me. If you’re not, you shouldn’t be there.An alternative to being a difficult, non-compliant hostage can be found in the old testament. When David was attempting to keep King Saul from taking his life he ended up being captured by a foreign king who also happened to be an enemy of Israel. David acted crazy. He drooled all over himself and said crazy stuff. His captors thought he was insane and released him. Would it work? Hopefully I'll never get the opportunity to find out. Posted by jdmays at October 12, 2004 07:12 AM | TrackBack