Do you think its good or bad strategy to pay ransoms on the hostages.
 

The word is Italy paid $1 Million to get the two Italian girls released this week though they are officially denying it.

bad, just encouraging others to kidnap more.

if we do pay this hostagetakers a ransom . we just tolerate what they do. so its bad idea.

horrible idea.

Bad bad bad


No negotiations with terrorists.

Depends.
Bad idea when looking from outside, probably a good idea if you want your loved ones safe and have money.

It just encourages more. It effectively turns kidnapping foreigners into a business. Also, all the guys that don't have the guts to cut someones head off will now realize that they don't have to do that anymore, they just have to threaten to do that and CHA-CHING!

bad idea but....

It is like any game theoritic model...

it will always break down b/c it is best for the individual to PAY to get their loved one back.

Oh of course, but someone's got to make the tough decision and make an executive choice.

Stupid, stupid, stupid... Very bad!

Not only did they negotiate with terrorist, gave them reason to continue, but also gave them more funding to continue with these and more operations.

And any day now, Bush will put them in the "Axis of Evil" and bomb the shit out of them anyway. :1orglaugh

Even if they didn't pay the ransom this rumor would probably still be circulating.:2 cents:

do you pay the ransom to the hostages or the hostage takers?

Fight fire with fire. When they execute 1 we should do 100 who we have imprisioned. Then they will stop.

Worked for Starlin.

you watched swordfish one to many times

I will take it upon myself to add another "bad". It should never be done no matter if it were to be the President of the United States...being held hostage.

No they won't. Incase you missed it, they believe being Martyred is the greatest thing that can happen to them.

Start killing them by the hundreds and they will party like its 1999.

Zero Tolerance for Fuc*in* terrorist

:ak47: Terrorists

Glad the italian chicks got out but ........


Should not give in to any terrorist demands

US govt had been funding for decades the today's terrorist organizations, dictators and so on. 1mil more won't make much difference. If you or some of your family members ever being kidnapped we'll make sure to not endorse :-)

What's pathetic is the way Tony Blair was talking about the hostages, he was SMILING and saying we should not endorse blah blah.

Just keep this in mind, all the parties kidnapped in Iraq either had no security guards, or at best had Iraqi's watching them, that is akin to letting the coyote guard the chicken coop.

These people are soft targets for the groups that want center-stage in the world media, paying them off only perpetuates the problem.

i hope none of you ever get kidnapped

well then cover the bullets in pigs blood like that general did and throw the bodies in a pool of pig blood, then let one of them go to tell the rest what happened.

its a prudent and reasonable policy until you get a hostage that somebody cares about and does not want to lose

what would bush or blair do if one of his daughters got kidnapped?

very difficult situation

such a moral conundrum is not easily answered, depends on your values.

do we value people's lives, or money. what's worse, encouraging kidnappers or discouraging living humans.

who knows. that's why i do adult design. =)

its a bad strategy.

u are providing them with an incentive to kidnap more people.

Easy to say when it not your family members being held hostage...:glugglug

stupid idea . . . look for lots of Italians to start getting kidnapped

actually it's a cheap deal for Italy

italians getting kidnapped $1mil and they are out out
americans getting kidnapped, no money, hlap heads on the floor
italians getting kidnapped $1mil and they are out out
americans getting kidnapped, no money, hlap heads on the floor
italians getting kidnapped $1mil and they are out out
americans getting kidnapped, no money, hlap heads on the floor
italians getting kidnapped $1mil and they are out out
americans getting kidnapped, no money, hlap heads on the floor

end of the year

30mil cost for italy 0 dead
0 cost for states, 60 dead

What if the American ambassador or a top ranking officer of our military got kidnapped?

We would say "NO ransom", but I wouldn't bet against "secret channels" that get the money to them. At some point, you actually do have to say "We can't let them execute that person"!

or do we ever get to that point?

Some sort of tracking device should be implanted into everyone they send there. Why not? If I was in a zone like that I would opt for it, then just have them remove it when I'm back home.

I'm sure they could make something small enough and hidden.

you start paying ransoms, you had better expect to start getting more and more kidnappings

But that's like arguing NOT paying ransoms STOP the kidnappings and it hasn't.

All I'm saying is that I think the "important" people would get ransomed in some manner.

Dude, that is actually a damn good idea.

Or at least set a trap, get some CIA agents to pose as contractors equip them with some GPS and you have Zawaqualiiqwai (however the fuck you spell it, but you know who I am talking about).

Whats the worse that can happen, a few CIA agents wind up dead? Were better off either way. :thumbsup

Horrible idea to pay ransoms.... although, to be honest, I'm not sure if I'd give the same anwser with conviction if the hostage was a close family member.

The kidnappers would find some way to detect it, then they would cut it out with a knife.

the implanted device is good idea. Getting volunteers to be kidnapped won't be easy; at least not so easy like in movies.

Maybe they could get a hold of a handheld metal detector, but something small enough and deep enough (maybe coated with something) should be no problem.

They could hide them in teeth (where people have fillings, etc)...

Just an option, it's definitely better than nothing, especially for quick response teams. I doubt all "would be" kidnappers would have metal detectors readily available, there would be some inteveral between the actual kidnapping and when they get the victim to "safety" and can fully search them.

I guarantee we could nab a few of the higher ups before any of them knew what was going on.

I wouldn't try to find a volunteer, just give something to everyone incase :)

Before doing anything else, I would at least try to talk to the hostage takers. Maybe there is an alternative. Maybe they have a legitimate cause. Maybe someone had invaded their country unjustly and they just want the invaders out?

Letting innocent people die is not that different from killing them yourself, specially when there is an alternative. Bush told us he would go to war only as the last resort. Now everyone knows that was a lie. I would trade him for the hostages. That will solve EVERYONE's problems.

Is there a link re evidentiary support for the notion of a payoff?

good or bad strategy?!!!

wtf:

if yo ass be held hostage: im sure the "PAY MOTHERFUCKER" strat. would be awsome, to say the least.

foo.

Oh geeze, Lets give them some spending cash to buy some technology to do more crap with. I like the trap/GPS tracking idea. Offer it has an option to people we have on death row. If they make it out a live, they get to live longer.

When we catch the the hostage takers, give them a fair trial and then hang the MOFOs and put it on the web. Oh, we don't act that way. We have a secret trial and two years in secret captivity. While in secret captivity we dress in them in panties and make them do kinky shit.