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    Welcome to the World Watch Review. This weekly post will look at events around the world and discuss how they have affected news and the world.
Alls Well That Ends Well?
    The recent rescue of three peace activist hostages in Iraq highlights the complex dynamic of both the situation on the ground in Iraq and the international view of the situation in Iraq. The three activists, in Iraq to investigate allegations of abuse by Coalition forces against the Iraqis, were kidnapped more than three months ago. One of their number, the American Tom Fox, was executed by the kidnappers before the rescue.
    On the ground in Iraq, the rescue was evidence of the ever developing situation between Coalition forces and the Iraqis. According to the US military, the rescue was effected by using intelligence gained just hours before from the interrogation of prisoners captured in the area the trio were being held. This rescue shows both the effectiveness of interrogating prisoners- one of the things the peace activists were there to investigate- and the responsiveness of the Coalition forces.
    Around the world, the reaction to this rescue has been mixed. The organization to which the trio belonged refused to acknowledge that the trio was even rescued, instead characterizing the rescue as a ‘release’. Their official press statement pressed home their view that the ‘occupation’ of Iraq was ‘illegal’ and that the use of that illegal force was the real cause of the problems in Iraq.
    These two realities about this rescue show the ever-present divide over whether or not the conflict in Iraq is justified. Whether one agrees with the liberation of Iraq or not, such polarization three years after the fact helps fuel the problems in Iraq, whatever their real source might be. As long as the Coalition military forces there continue to be concerned about rescuing kidnapped peace activists, they will be distracted from accomplishing the mission they are in Iraq to perform, thereby prolonging the struggle and its debate.
DLH
Since when did it become the responsibility of the military forces to rescue civilians who should not even be there in the first place? I guess we can only hope that those activists may recognise who rescued them and have the courtesy and respect to say “thank you”. I won’t hold my breath though.
More commentary on the “All’s Well The Ends Well” article from TCS.
DLH