Easy bargain

Of course, there is absolutely no connection to the case of the German hostage Susanne Osthoff who has been released in Iraq recently: Hezbollah member Mohammed Ali Hamadi has returned to Lebanon after being secretly released in Germany, where he was serving a life sentence for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jetliner and killing of a US navy diver, Hezbollah and Lebanese security sources said Tuesday. (...) However the German Foreign Ministry denies any link between the releases of Hamadi and Osthoff. "There is no connection between these two cases," Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jäger said in remarks to Reuters. Yes, it is just a funny coincidence. The goal of the hijacking in 1985 had been to force Israel to free 700 Hezbollah-friendly detainees. It probably wouldn't have worked. Israel is not known for being an easy victim of blackmailing hijackers. Germany seems to be of a different kind though. Does anyone have any relatives or friends in German prisons? Then go and get yourself a hostage. It works. english / Politique / Mideast