Japan weighs ransom in Islamic State threat to kill hostages

[webfact]

Japan weighs ransom in Islamic State threat to kill hostages
By JON GAMBRELL and MARI YAMAGUCHI

CAIRO (AP) — The Islamic State group threatened to kill two Japanese hostages within 72 hours, demanding a $200 million ransom in a video posted online Tuesday that showed a knife-brandishing masked militant standing over the two kneeling captives.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was traveling in the Middle East, vowed to save the men. But with his military only operating in a self-defense capacity at home, Abe faces a hard choice: openly pay the extremists or ask an ally like the United States to attempt a risky rescue inside Syria.

Tuesday's video, released via militant websites associated with the Islamic State group, mirrored other hostage threats the extremists have made. In it, the captives, 47-year-old Kenji Goto and 42-year-old Haruna Yukawa, were shown in orange jumpsuits with a rocky hill in the background, a black-clad militant standing between them. The scene resembles others featuring five hostages previously beheaded by the Islamic State group, which controls a third of Iraq and Syria.

Speaking in English with a British accent, the militant demanded $200 million for the men's release and appeared to link the ransom to a pledge Abe made Saturday of nonmilitary aid to help the government of Iraq and to assist Syrian refugees who have fled the Islamic State's brutality.

"To the prime minister of Japan ... you willingly have volunteered to take part in this crusade," said the masked man, who looked and sounded like the militant shown in other filmed beheadings.

"And to the Japanese public: Just as your government has made the foolish decision to pay $200 million to fight the Islamic State, you now have 72 hours to pressure your government in making a wise decision, by paying the $200 million to save the lives of your citizens," he said.

"Otherwise, this knife will become your nightmare.

Japanese officials said they would analyze the video to verify its authenticity, though Abe offered no hesitation as he pledged to free the men.

"Their lives are the top priority," the Japanese leader told journalists in Jerusalem as he wrapped up a six-day visit to the Middle East. "Extremism and Islam are completely different things."

Abe and others in his government declined to say whether they would pay a ransom, though Abe dispatched his deputy foreign minister, Yasuhide Nakayama, to Jordan to seek the country's support in resolving the hostage crisis.

Agreeing to the Islamic State group's demands would run contrary to allies like the U.S. and Britain, which have a strict policy of not paying ransoms.

The State Department had no immediate comment on whether the U.S. was urging Japan not to pay. Secretary of State John Kerry planned to speak later with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on the hostage crisis, spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

In a statement, she said the U.S. "strongly condemns ISIL's threat to murder Japanese citizens," and called for the immediate release of all hostages. "The United States is fully supportive of Japan in this matter. We stand in solidarity with Japan and are coordinating closely," the statement said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also called for the immediate release of the Japanese hostages and all other captives.

Though Abe has said he wants a more-muscular Japanese military, he has ruled out sending troops overseas and Japan's constitution, drafted during the American occupation following World War II, commits the country to pacifism. That would put the onus on partners like the U.S. to attempt any hostage rescue.

In early July, U.S. special forces launched a secret raid into Syria to try to free American hostages held by the Islamic State group, killing several militants, but finding no captives.

The two Japanese hostages said nothing during the video.

Goto is a respected Japanese freelance journalist who went to report on Syria's civil war last year."I'm in Syria for reporting," Goto wrote in an email to an Associated Press journalist in October, before he was abducted. "I hope I can convey the atmosphere from where I am and share it."

Yukawa, the founder of a private security company, was kidnapped in Syria in August after going there to train with militants, according to a post on a blog he kept.

Nobuo Kimoto, an adviser to Yukawa's company, told Japanese television station NHK that he had worried "something like this could happen sooner or later."

Tuesday's video marks the first time the Islamic State group has publicly demanded cash. The extremists requested $132.5 million from hostage James Foley's parents and political concessions from Washington, though neither was granted, U.S. authorities say, and Foley was subsequently beheaded. They asked for a similar amount for two other American hostages, authorities have said.

The Islamic State group has suffered recent losses in U.S.-led airstrikes, and with global oil prices down, their revenue from selling stolen oil has dropped. The extremists also have made money from extortion and robbing banks during its August offensive in Iraq.

Before the oil price drop, the Islamic State group made as much as $2 million a day selling pilfered oil, and used the funds to pacify as many as 8 million people living in its self-declared caliphate, said Greg Ohannessian, an analyst at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis.

"Now with oil dropping by 60 percent, that is going to be cutting into their income," Ohannessian said. "That is definitely going to have an impact on their capacity to maintain the population."

The group released some 200 mostly elderly Yazidi hostages in Iraq over the weekend, fueling speculation by Iraqi officials that the group didn't have the money to care for them.

Besides Foley, the Islamic State group has beheaded American hostage Peter Kassig, Israeli-American Steven Sotloff, and British captives David Haines and Alan Henning.

The group has also shot dead hundreds of captives — mainly Syrian and Iraqi soldiers — and has celebrated its mass killings in graphic videos.

The extremists still hold British photojournalist John Cantlie, who has appeared in other extremist propaganda videos, and a 26-year-old American woman. U.S. officials have asked that the woman not be identified out of fears for her safety.

This is Abe's second Mideast hostage crisis since becoming prime minister. The first came two years ago when al-Qaida-affiliated militants attacked an Algerian natural gas plant, killing 37 foreigners, including 10 Japanese. Seven Japanese workers survived.

What Abe and others in Japan fear is a replay of 2004, when followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi beheaded a Japanese backpacker, Shosei Koda, over the country sending troops to Iraq to do humanitarian work. A video by al-Zarqawi's group, which later became the Islamic State group, showed Koda begging Japan's then-prime minister to save him.
___

Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington, Maamoun Youssef in Cairo, Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo, Daniel Estrin in Jerusalem, Razan Alzayani in Dubai, Diaa Hadid in Beirut and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-21

[Steely Dan]

It's about time Japan changed the restrictions on their military and helped to exterminate the Islamist vermin. IMHO they should not negotiate with them or pay a ransom, which only encourages more kidnapping.

[Dannyboy666]

Don't feed The Monkeys...

[steven100]

The US , UK , Aust, & EU should all put in $100 million dollars each then put a tactical force together consisting of some 100,000 troops including tanks, fighter jets, fighter helicopters, ATV, Hummers and various different military hardware, Hercules aircrafts to transport everything.

Then systematically go from country to country and kill and destroy completely every single one of them.

This would cost around $500 mill , but at least if you did this one time and wiped them all out then they are all finished and you wouldn't have these type of kidnappings again or any fighting in these countries.

Iraq - ISIL

Syria - ISIL

Africa - Boka Haram

Afghanistan - Taliban

Pakistan - Whoever

Philippines - Abu Saya group, Islamic liberation front ..

Somalia - Al Quada

That's my proposal and I think it's a good plan ........

Edited January 21, 2015 by steven100

[MJP]

Turns out one of the Japanese blokes is some sort of insurgent anyway.

So there's a 50% saving on the $200m right there.

[kotsak]

The US , UK , Aust, & EU should all put in $100 million dollars each then put a tactical force together consisting of some 100,000 troops including tanks, fighter jets, fighter helicopters, ATV, Hummers and various different military hardware, Hercules aircrafts to transport everything.

Then systematically go from country to country and kill and destroy completely every single one of them.

This would cost around $500 mill , but at least if you did this one time and wiped them all out then they are all finished and you wouldn't have these type of kidnappings again or any fighting in these countries.

Iraq - ISIL

Syria - ISIL

Africa - Boka Haram

Afghanistan - Taliban

Pakistan - Whoever

Philippines - Abu Saya group, Islamic liberation front ..

Somalia - Al Quada

That's my proposal and I think it's a good plan ........

Yes, you may kill the man but not the idea and that's the main problem.

[Seastallion]

I'm very sorry for the two men and their families, but it is VERY important that you don't negotiate with terrorists, and certainly never pay them a single satang.

On this matter anti-ISIS governments have to remain firm, even to the point of preventing any private attempts to save the men by paying.

[hansgruber]

Why have nuclear weapons if we aren't going to use them?

Turn that whole region into a sheet of glass.

Edited January 21, 2015 by hansgruber

[Mosha]

Turns out one of the Japanese blokes is some sort of insurgent anyway.

So there's a 50% saving on the $200m right there.

Listening to BBC this morning, although 1 is a journalist. They each took steps to put themselves in harms way.

[dexterm]

Why have nuclear weapons if we aren't going to use them?

Turn that whole region into a sheet of glass.

Because you will also kill millions of innocent children. Doesn't that bother you?

[steven100]

I'm very sorry for the two men and their families, but it is VERY important that you don't negotiate with terrorists, and certainly never pay them a single satang.

On this matter anti-ISIS governments have to remain firm, even to the point of preventing any private attempts to save the men by paying.

I don't believe that all governments have never paid ransom money to terrorists ..

Look at the Philippines ... I'm sure they've paid Abu Sayaf money to release hostages on several occasions ..

as in south america .....

[Seastallion]

I'm very sorry for the two men and their families, but it is VERY important that you don't negotiate with terrorists, and certainly never pay them a single satang.

On this matter anti-ISIS governments have to remain firm, even to the point of preventing any private attempts to save the men by paying.

I don't believe that all governments have never paid ransom money to terrorists ..

Look at the Philippines ... I'm sure they've paid Abu Sayaf money to release hostages on several occasions ..

as in south america .....

Yeah, and that's a problem because it sends the message that hostage taking is lucrative. Somali pirates learnt years ago that ships and crew can bring good rewards....result, more ships taken.

[mania]

The US , UK , Aust, & EU should all put in $100 million dollars each then put a tactical force together consisting of some 100,000 troops including tanks, fighter jets, fighter helicopters, ATV, Hummers and various different military hardware, Hercules aircrafts to transport everything.

Then systematically go from country to country and kill and destroy completely every single one of them.

This would cost around $500 mill , but at least if you did this one time and wiped them all out then they are all finished and you wouldn't have these type of kidnappings again or any fighting in these countries.

Iraq - ISIL

Syria - ISIL

Africa - Boka Haram

Afghanistan - Taliban

Pakistan - Whoever

Philippines - Abu Saya group, Islamic liberation front ..

Somalia - Al Quada

That's my proposal and I think it's a good plan ........

I think you are well short in $$$

Even Iraq which achieved nothing cost 1.7 Trillion USD

With expenses yet to be tallied for benefits etc it could end up over 6 Trillion

Besides the Industrial Complexes that profit from war do not want an end to wars

Where is the $$$ in that?

Lastly I think you overestimate military might against guerrilla warfare

Look at Vietnam or the Russians in Afghanistan or the US just about everywhere now + the economic burden to the US

& what it has done....then look at the results .....lack of results. Want to win this so called war? Go home...take care of defense there. That is all that is really needed

Edited January 21, 2015 by mania

[ttthailand]

Most of the people in that region are poor. If you put a $1,000 or even 10,000 dollar bounty on the heads of everyone involved with isis I am sure the bounty hunters will come out of the woodwork. Bounty hunters from around the world will be over there by the thousands. Let the games begin !!!

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and replies have been removed.

[Credo]

The problem with putting a ransom on the heads of ISIS members is that people will turn in people they don't like, whether they are ISIS members or not. The problem is figuring out who are members and who aren't.

A lot of the military strikes, especially drone strikes, have been based on intelligence information that is questionable. It is not uncommon in that part of the world to target someone from the wrong group. Retribution is common.

[hansgruber]

Why have nuclear weapons if we aren't going to use them?

Turn that whole region into a sheet of glass.

Because you will also kill millions of innocent children. Doesn't that bother you?

The children will be radicalised if the caliphate spreads through the region. Then what??

We need to put a stop to it all. Al queda, isis etc.

This poisonous religion won't stop until they conquer the world.

[MJP]

Why have nuclear weapons if we aren't going to use them?

Turn that whole region into a sheet of glass.

Because you will also kill millions of innocent children. Doesn't that bother you?

The children will be radicalised if the caliphate spreads through the region. Then what??

We need to put a stop to it all. Al queda, isis etc.

This poisonous religion won't stop until they conquer the world.

Do to others as they would do to you only do it first?

[MJP]

^^Hans, I wasn't agreeing with you. Please remove the 'Like'.

[hansgruber]

Why have nuclear weapons if we aren't going to use them?

Turn that whole region into a sheet of glass.

Because you will also kill millions of innocent children. Doesn't that bother you?

The children will be radicalised if the caliphate spreads through the region. Then what??

We need to put a stop to it all. Al queda, isis etc.

This poisonous religion won't stop until they conquer the world.

Do to others as they would do to you only do it first?

Correct. They would do it to us given the chance. That's why we protect Turkey and Pakistan as we don't want them to fall into the wrong hands.

[MJP]

Hans, a former CIA officer kind of agrees. And okay, I kind of agree with him. West needs to pull out of all of it and concentrate on homeland security.

http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/

Tuesday January 6th, part 4.

[hansgruber]

Hans, a former CIA officer kind of agrees. And okay, I kind of agree with him. West needs to pull out of all of it and concentrate on homeland security.

http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/

Tuesday January 6th, part 4.

That's very much my thoughts. Everyday that goes by they grow stronger due to our bleeding heart politicians. No diplomacy will stop them.

[mania]

a former CIA officer kind of agrees. And okay, I kind of agree with him. West needs to pull out of all of it and concentrate on homeland security.

His name is Michael Scheuer & I have been saying the same for years.

At least this guy admits it & that OBL predictions are coming exactly true.

So yes simple pull out defend our own lands better & I think many would also be

surprised of how much less overall terrorism there would be...well save for the "events" designed

to prod into more wars/spending/removal of citizens rights

[dexterm]

Why have nuclear weapons if we aren't going to use them?

Turn that whole region into a sheet of glass.

Because you will also kill millions of innocent children. Doesn't that bother you?

The children will be radicalised if the caliphate spreads through the region. Then what??

We need to put a stop to it all. Al queda, isis etc.

This poisonous religion won't stop until they conquer the world.

Perhaps if we stopped bothering them, they would stop bothering us.

We started it.

Look at the history of western nations interfering in the Middle East.

[Credo]

Japan hasn't really been much of a bother to the Islamic world.

[hansgruber]

Why have nuclear weapons if we aren't going to use them?

Turn that whole region into a sheet of glass.

Because you will also kill millions of innocent children. Doesn't that bother you?

The children will be radicalised if the caliphate spreads through the region. Then what??

We need to put a stop to it all. Al queda, isis etc.

This poisonous religion won't stop until they conquer the world.

Perhaps if we stopped bothering them, they would stop bothering us.

We started it.

Look at the history of western nations interfering in the Middle East.

What about the failed immigrants who are radicalised within our countries?

It's time to cleanse our countries of Islam. Ban it entirely and send them packing.

No such thing as a moderate Muslim, they don't condemn these atrocities committed in their faiths name.

[Ulysses G.]

We started it.

You mean back in the Crusades? The Muslims started that too. They were a response to Islamic aggression - a defensive action against the forcible expansion of Islam into territories that had been part of Christendom for centuries.

[dexterm]

We started it.

You mean back in the Crusades? The Muslims started that too. They were a response to Islamic aggression - a defensive action against the forcible expansion of Islam into territories that had been part of Christendom for centuries.

My goodness, your Islamophobic bigotry runs deep doesn't it.

I don't think the holding of Japanese hostages has much to do with the Crusades, but more to do with Japanese financial support for Western countries interfering in Middle East affairs.

[Ulysses G.]

Making excuses for kidnapping Japanese civilians and probably cutting their heads off does not say anything good about your agenda.

[steven100]

I say ' obliterate the SOB's ' ...... nuke them ...

they would not think twice about blowing someone up....