The European Ransom Craze
It’s payday for the holy warriors again, as Spain finances a new batch of car bombs and suicide belts: Spanish hostage freed in Iraq: report.
An Iraqi-born Spanish businessman kidnapped in Baghdad several weeks ago has been freed after a ransom was paid, Spain’s leading daily reported.
El Pais reported that the kidnapped man, identified only by his initials, UAH, was freed on Tuesday, El Pais said, citing unidentified government sources.
The paper said the sources refused to give details of the ransom paid so as not to put people involved in the operation at risk.
Categories of people that Spain doesn’t mind putting at risk:
- women and children standing in line at medical clinics
- police trying to keep order
- future kidnap victims
- commuters at Spanish train stations
- Americans



