A man from Liverpool, Kenneth or Ken Bigley, has become the latest English hostage to be taken by the Iraqi Resistance. The group holding him is Tawheed Wal-Jihad, which translates as 'Unification and Holy War'. Two others, Americans, were seized with Ken. They are Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong. Now dead.(RIP) The 3 were captured in a dawn raid, well organised and not prevented by the troops who we hear control Baghdad. The Iraqis actually control Baghdad. The men all worked for 'Gulf Supplies and Commercial Services' - a Middle East-based general services and construction contractor. There 'armed 24 hr guard' was not apparently there and no shots were fired.

Ken, and his two work colleagues, appeared on a video which the hostage takers traditionally seem to take of late. The BBC has shown an edited version but the full version which appeared on an Islamic Website, has an opening credit with the emblem of the group and some Islamic verse being sung. The video, which has been converted for viewing on the internet, shows several armed masked men surrounding the 3 hostages who are sitting on the floor in a room. The men are all blindfolded and have there hand tied or handcuffed behind there backs, they do not look like they've been ill treated. All the men speak facing the camera and state there names and there purpose in being there. All 3 statements are the same except for the men stating there names, and Ken simply says.......

"My name is Kenneth John Bigley, Ken. My job consists of installing and furnishing camps at Taji base."

Taji Base

Taji is about 15 miles from the centre of Baghdad and is reported by Iraq resistance sources as being "a complex of facilities used jointly by US troops and their Iraqi puppet forces that serve the main US base in the area at occupied Saddam International Airport". The base itself, a former Iraqi Air Force complex, has seen several lethal attacks by Iraqis including a rocket and/or mortar attacks which killed 4 American troops, plus a suicide car bomb at the front gate which killed nine people and injured 30 others, including three US soldiers. This happened in June of this year (2004) . The group responsible for the suicide bombing or martyrdom operaton is reportedly the same group now holding the 3 hostages and they have been reported to be active in the area for a while. Once the workers actually get in the base, safety, even then, is not 100% depending which area they are working in. Outside the base, Ken and his colleagues are or were sitting ducks. Blair knows this yet does not issue any warnings. Tony Blair and the rest of New Labour are to blame for this kidnapping, not the Iraqis. The USA and UK itself has used kidnapping, torture and terror tactics for decades.

The video ends with a masked Iraqi asking that America releases all Iraqi women detainees from the Abu Ghoraib and Umm Qasr prisons, and gives 48hrs for the demands to be met. The statement was issued on the 18th of Sept 2004. Iraqis accuse the USA of ill treating women prisoners, this is correct and the Americans themselves have had to admit this. If England had the final say in this, releasing most, if not all of the women prisoners, would perhaps be something we'd look at. Many demands for the women prisoners to be released have been made and ignored. We dealt with the IRA and UVF situation this way with releasing prisoners. Even Israel releases prisoners in the odd deal.

Liverpool Echo's Advert For Work in Iraq.

On April the 20th 2003, a job advert appeared in the Liverpool Echo. The advert asked for 'Young Energetic Site Engineers to assist with upcoming work in Iraq after stabilisation'. Many other adverts popped up and thousands and thousands of Westerners headed over there, tempted by both the money and the lies that Iraq was a liberated Country were all Westerners would be welcomed. As the advert tells us, the jobs were for 'upcoming work after stabilisation', and the people going, if they believed our own prime minister, thought that the War itself was supported by Iraqis. They thought Iraq was 'stabilised'.

Iraq was honoured by UNESCO in 1981 for being the first developing country to eliminate illiteracy. They read more than us and Iraq was a developing Country with a great health care system and schools and universities until we bombed it to the stoneage. This didn't dumb down the Iraqis.

In Iraq today, the Iraqis, including the many Resistance Fighters there families and wide support, have access to the internet and read carefully the English websites which comment on the war and the struggle. Kirkby Times has a few Iraqi readers and readers from all over the World, I read a few Iraqi websites, most simple 'blogs', or some of the official websites of the various Iraqi Resistance groups out there and subsequent commentary on various Islamic forums. The Iraqi Resistance websites move around a lot. Many of these groups have treated there captives with humanity,(none have been sexually abused or tortured) but sadly, more and more people are being executed in what is a concerted effort to attack the Americans soft belly of civilian support and a tit for tat slaughter of innocents by both sides. The only real way to prevent civilians being kidnapped there is to not send them. Even journalists and aid workers are being held. Blair should call time on the whole damn mess before more people have to go through what the families of the three captives and of course the 3 men themselves are feeling right now.

The American Army should be using troops trained in various civilian skills such as cooking, building and all the other trades which Armed Forces used to actually use. In previous wars, cooks were catering corps, engineers, engineering corp and so on, the Army's 'workers' were in effect still trained soldiers and would be further protected by other soldiers trained in various combat skills. Everyone at least had a gun. The Army would use compliant locals, but cannot use many in Iraq as the USA and UK are seen as the Occupiers. Never before have we seen a war which is being fought on this scale using employment Agencies, many of which are linked to Rich Americans. Civilian contractors are, in effect, a shield for the Western Armed Forces, as the Iraqi resistance has not captured a British soldier. The soldiers sure as hell make sure they are not close enough to be kidnapped. The politicians who started this war, will only go there with a massive armed guard.

I will post an appeal on some Iraqi websites, a shot in the dark, but given the Iraqis are avid readers and read English and write it perhaps better than many of us; it is worth adding your pleas, especially if you are a Muslim or speak Arab. Kirkby Times has some credibility seems as the website has consistently opposed the war, even when idiots were e-mailing to say it 'was all over'. Ken is a non combatant, this is his main hope, and some of the Resistance groups in Iraq listen to Muqtada al-Sadr, who may well see that the Koran cannot justify killing a 62 yr old non combatant. England recently treated the Ayatollah Sistini for a heart condition, Liverpool is home to hundreds of Iraqis, we don't mind them working here. These points may or may not get across. Do what you can.

Don't Go To Iraq.

Kirkby Times would like to plead for anyone thinking of going to Iraq to give the place a wide berth until the Iraqis have some semblance of order there. It would help if British firms were totally banned from going there, but Blair still continues to lie and tell us it's a perfectly legal war which we'll win. It's not legal and we're never going to win it. We'd have to slaughter every last Iraqi (and Arab) to win, and the point of the war was to supposedly liberate them. So far, we, or our governments, have 'liberated' them of there oil, possessions, treasures, culture and then there lives.

The eminent Muslim scholar and renowned Da`i Sheikh `Abdel Khaliq Hasan Ash-Shareef states that:

"We, Muslims, have a religion that governs all our actions and reactions at all times and under all circumstances. All our actions are to be judged according to what Allah the Almighty dictates. In our present context, we must keep in mind the legal maxim, "There should be no retaliation except in reciprocity, and there should no punishment except through what Allah legislates."

Kirkby Times believes that the murder of simple workers who were lied to by there own Governments into going to Iraq, will not only bring the Wrath of Muhammad (PBUH) to those holding them, it will corrupt Islam and those who follow it just as Bush corrupts the principles of Christianity and Zionists corrupt Judaism. There can be no excuses for cold blooded murder of non combatants. Now is the time to hold the olive branch and hope.

This website offers sympathy to Kens family and friends, as stated I will post a plea to some Islamic forums and news websites and to some Iraqi 'bloggers' who run websites. Others are already doing so. Kens Family have already had exposure in the widely read Arab press, I hope there pleas get through to someone who can act. This is a time were working class people of Iraq and England should see the futility in workers being killed in a war the working class never started. Having read a great deal of Iraqi websites I can testify that they are mostly decent articulate people. Had we not invaded them, English people would be welcomed there. Had we not starved them and bombed them for a decade, Ken Bigley would be more safe in the streets of Baghdad than he would be in Englands capital London or perhaps Liverpool.

In Iraq, the saddest part of this war is seeing the Armed Services privatise war, and the numbers of foreign workers in Iraq and there utter vulnerability, means that the kidnappers can almost take there pick at will. Armed guards, unless they are well paid Western/Alliance Mercenary Guards, may well see there loyalties lying with Iraq once local Resistance Units ask for addresses of western workers. Many of the workers are living away from the USA bases and camps and there security is not going to be on the scale that perhaps Blair would get if he went wandering around Iraq. Our troops over there because the people of England and America are brainwashed enough to vote in Governments that wage wars for oil instead of buying the oil, investing in our own power sources, and living in peace. The Iraqis are fighting because IT'S THERE COUNTRY. England or Great Britain has no business there.

Tony Blair knew that a British worker(s) would be kidnapped months ago. Everyone interested in the war and looking at the kidnapping tactics were expecting this, and when I heard the softly spoken Scouse accent on the video, my heart went out to him and his family. The war comes home to you in a personal manner when its someone who lives just a few miles up the road from you, but this war was already personal when Iraqi children were bombed and there schools levelled by Americans who helpfully offered to then 'build schools for Iraqi children'. You could see it was going to get ugly. Sadly, the fear of being kidnapped is now rife among ordinary Iraqis, and for every Westerner kidnapped, there are dozens of Iraqis who go through the agonising and often fruitless wait. The Middle Classes in England who support this War would be horrified if they saw there counterparts in Iraq being kidnapped for ransoms. Doctors, Dentists and Business people, all have seen this 'freedom' Blair has bought Iraq. Children go through this also. You've got a decent chance if you're dealing with Tawheed Wal-Jihad, more so than a ordinary criminal kidnapping gang. Tawheed Wal-Jihad have released hostages in other kidnappings of workers. Politically motivated kidnappers are working to an entirely different agenda than the common thief.

Bad as it looks, there's always hope, a 48 hr deadline may well be extended and some of the Iraqi Resistance Groups, especially ex Iraqi Army blokes doing the real fighting against the troops, will perhaps feel that it will do Iraq or Islam no good if a 62 years old man is killed. British and American soldiers would do what they can.

Given that Tawheed Wal-Jihad are asking for women to be released, many of us may ask 'why not?' What have we got to fear from them? In December 2003, a woman prisoner inside one of the notorious jails, west of Baghdad, managed to smuggle out a note which claimed Iraqi women were being raped and subject to sexual abuse. A secret inquiry launched by the US military in January 2004, headed by a Major General Antonio Taguba, confirmed that the letter smuggled out was genuine. There are 40,000 known prisoners held by the USA Occupation Forces, they won't give figures for how many are women. Both the jails named by the group holding the 3 hostages, have been singled out as jails were women have been raped. The American POW's which were held then rescued all reported being treated with civility. America should comply with the demands. Under the circumstances, it would be an act of mercy. That's what we're calling for, but mercy, in the heat of war, may have to be given to be received.

Whatever happens there will be commentary here on Kirkby Times related to the outcome.

We hope its good news.

Our thoughts and the prayers of many will be with Ken and his two American work mates at this time.

To any Iraqis out there, our thoughts and prayers go also to you and your families and people.

The politicians also pray but still start a war. Both sides are using God to justify evil. They themselves are the evil which working class people from all religious persuasions need to be wary of.

Note: I use the term Iraqi Resistance in a broad sense of the word. The groups are not all connected but are co-ordinated to some extent if you look at the wider picture. Some are drawn from Sunni Muslims, including many of the former Iraq armed forces with a massive supply of weaponry, whilst the Shiites have a recognisable force in the making and have held back the might of the US Killing Machine. Millions of ordinary Iraqis have seen there Country and Culture stolen, and the combined efforts of all the forces involved is very much a Resistance movement. Whether it will turn out to in turn benefit the people there is another thing but its up to the Iraqis to determine there own future just as it is up to the English to determine our future. Under all recognisable military, religious, legal and moral protocol, a Country invaded then occupied has the right of self defence. This does not mean killing civilians in cold blood is ever justified.

Mercy is a rare currency in this day and age, but one which is precious. An act of kindness in the midst of War is a small mercy that we ask for right now. Liverpool People never forget an act of kindness.

Women Prisoners and why some Iraqi fighters want them released. Thanks to the Guardian. Link here

Updated 24 Sept 2004, more to come as events unfold.