Jasmine Anderson
October 19, 2009
9: 34 pm
In Baghdad there has been a decrease in terrorism, but an increase in kidnapping. There isn’t an accurate number on exactly how many kidnappings there has been this year but, authorities predict that there may be at least one kidnapping a day. These kidnappings usually aren’t reported because the families don’t want to provoke the kidnappers. Most of these kidnappings target children. These gangs that are kidnapping are motivated by money. Since there’s been an increase in security in Baghdad, they’ve been cracking down on sources that fund terrorism; with this cut, they turn to kidnapping for money. Young children can’t go anywhere unaccompanied. They are not allowed to leave school without anyone except their parents; they have to be supervised while playing in their own yard and etc. There has been an increase in security and check points in and around schools. At the end of September, an 11 year old boy by the name of Muntadar was kidnapped. The kidnappers contacted the boy’s father, Yuseff and said they would release his son in an hour if he supplied them with a $25,000 ransom. Yuseff gave the money, but he never saw his son again. A week later, they found young Muntadar’s decomposing and disfigured (due to acid) body. These kidnappers were caught, and they actually lived across the street from the family.
I’m glad that the authorities in Baghdad are cracking down to stop terrorism, but now they need to crack down on these kidnappings. Because innocent children are being taken away from their families, some even killed. For reasons that they have no control over. These gangs are using the ransom money to fund insurgents; these innocent children have nothing to do with why they’re revolting. I think more could be done if these families actually reported the kidnappers. If some are caught, it will reduce the number of kidnappings. If I was a parent, I can’t imagine how scared I would be…I would watch my child’s every move. It’s bad enough there was terrorism, but now the children have to live in fear of being kidnapped. These children are trapped into their backyards and basically on total watch in school…it’s like they have a loss of freedom. But hopefully, these kidnappings will be reported so these people can be caught.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8311679.stm
2 comments:
This makes me so sad. I hate that we can't live in a world where our children can't go to school without some sort of a bodyguard. I know the Baghdad police are cracking down on it but I think they have a lot of other problems at the moment too. I hope they have enough resources to catch these child thieves.
I agree with you and Limon. This is pretty sad and makes me angry as well. Parents, teachers, etc. should not worry anything except for the well being of their child. Who cares if the kidnappers do not like that the authorities are called. As we can see very clearly, these disgusting people are going to do whatever they feel necessary in order to get the money with or without the police being notified (in fact whether the kidnappers have the police called on them or they are given the money they still will kidnap, harm, or even kill the child). Pretty sick and sad.
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