Now they go and tee off the Russians
 

Oh yes anger the people who gas terrorists (and their hostages) and bomb the cities they hide in off the map with FAEs. :dead: :roll:

I doubt gassing/bombing Iraq right now would go over well with the Americans.

The problem is August, who are they? Are they a gang of criminals seeking financial gain via a ransom? Could it be Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist organisation? Is it a Shia militia group? Or could it be Saddam Bathist loyalists? That is one of the problems with this insurgency in that it's composition and form is so vast and differing. All this event highlights to me is the continued poor security situation in various and crucial parts of Iraq such as Baghdad.

It will be interesting to see how Russia will handle this one?

It's not as if only US and UK diplomats and workers are at risk. If you read further down you'll see that an Emirate's diplomat were kidnapped and not released for 2 weeks as well as Algerian, one Egyptian and two Moroccan embassy workers abducted and killed.

I think in the context the title of the thread is misleading. I think you have an insurgency that targets US and UK troops and then common and garden criminal gangs who know how to extort money by kidnapping anyone they think can get them the dosh.

Feel free to suggest a better one and i will modify the title if possible.

I love Russia. None of that artsy fartsy negotiation. Flick the rack of big red buttons and be done with it ;)

You are right, it is all that, and maybe the faction of organized crime even is the biggest. but it is changing, and more and more the future rulers step onto the scene, helped by Iran emerging more and more as the real power in Iraq. I expect the diversity of fighting factions to reduce over time, and somewhat "unifying" under the banner of a religious cause, as hinted in this story:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...209866,00.html

This does not mean that Shias and Sunnis will not try to massacre each other.

These attackers either made a mistake in attacking the wrong Convoy. Or they're NOT as intelligent as I thought they were in purposely doing so.

Anybody here remember the bezetlan (sp?) school hostage crises? Remember how badly the Spetznaz screwed that one up? Or the theatre incident? Imagine if they came to "visit" Baghdad for a day.

Beslan seige I think Spetznaz had little to do with it. There were a few different units around that day so
It was the overall op that was screwed.

Spetznaz are on teh whole ruthless if not quite as efficient as the SAS. Anyone remember how the Soviets handled the kidnapping of one of their diplomats in Lebanon in the 80's. No pissing around with negotiations just kidnapped a terrorist and then sent him back in a many boxes each with a body part. Result, one released diplomat and no more kidnappings of Soviet personnel.

Good for Russia. Sad thing is that more people don't realize that this is the best policy to prevent these things from occuring.

So, it was just some bandits that kidnapped those Russian diplomats? Apparently not.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5095268.stm

Apparently, those that "teed off" the Russians are simultaneously sipping tea with them.

They have been teeing off the Russians for many years. Why do you think the Soviet Union invaded Afganistan? Personally, I am not sure the US help to the Muhajadeen was such a good idea in hindsight. Maybe we should have let the Russians squash them. Then again, this is what bankrupted the Soviet Union. Then again, it was almost better knowing exactly who your enemies are.

What you could do with a little hindsight if you could go back and change things.

-S