All’s Well, Thank God!

A good friend recently asked me if I was in favor of paying ransom for our kidnapped countrymen in Afghanistan and Iraq. I texted him that “a life’s a life and regardless of any government policies which tend to change with the prevailing political clime, any life is indeed worth saving”. Angelito Nayan is a good friend and associate of my wife in the United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA) and he was reportedly talking to her on the phone several hours before he was taken hostage together with 2 other U.N. co-workers in Kabul. When news of their kidnapping reached us over the radio while we were on the way to Manila, the initial shock kept me dialing my wife’s cellphone that even now is still hard to connect to! Our apprehensions however changed to relief when we got the names of Angelito and 2 other foreigners, although we still felt bad since another countryman was, no doubt, suffering the torment of an uncertain fate!

These kidnappings really have a way of forcing us all to look askance at all that’s happening in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East. The Western World’s treatment of the people from this part of the world has really been, not necessarily, inhumance but the discrimination has been bone-deep and been there ever since the time of the Crusades! The only EQUALIZING FACTOR that these Muslims have, aside from their Koran, is their abundant supply of that all-important, OIL! In fact, the Middle Eastern sheiks have long realized the great potential of owning their massive stock of oil. They know that they can affect, if not dictate, the outcome of almost every political world event if they really wanted to.

That terrorists are really, not only trying to get even with Uncle Sam, but, most probably, trying to crush his warmongering empire, is, perhaps, the reason why Iraq, Afghanistan, and maybe later on, Iran, will remain as political and military hotspots for many more years to come! An obsession not only with oil but also with money has been the strongest driving force for keeping up a a never-ending war! In all probability, Osama Bin Laden will still be hiding in the caves long after re-elected Pres. George W. Bush shall have retired in the privacy of his Texas ranch and resumed wading in his very profitable oil business!

So from all indications, it’s not only American Business that has been making a financial killing in Iraq, and, to a lesser degree, in Afghanistan, it has alos been a very profitable hunting ground for kidnappers who really want their quasi-political demands met, PRONTO! So let’s not waste our time fooling ourselves that not giving-in to their demands will blunt their hostage-taking passions because whenever and wherever they see potential hostages they will jump at every chance because, indeed, it hasn’t cost them much but the returns have really been fantastic, not necessarily in financial, but, most especially, in political terms. Besides that overriding FEAR FACTOR or intimidation has, perhaps, given these terrorists bizarre orgasms every time they cut the throats of their victims, because they know that the whole world would be watching and trembling at the thought that anyone of them or their close acquaintances could be next!

I am now trembling and praying that this terrifying kidnapping exercise stops and that these terrrorists find something else more “frightening” to do, like shooting each other on the head for one! My wife, no matter how brave she is, no doubt, has been shaking all over, ever since Angelito Nayan was taken hostage... but I’m sure, like the rest of us Filipinos, she’s breathing freely now that Nayan’s ordeal has come to such a happy end! Nothing is indeed impossible with the Lord!