This seems a little cold:
Three Japanese who were held hostage for a week in Iraq were billed about $7,000 each to cover their plane tickets home and other miscellaneous expenses, an official said Monday.The three returned last week amid a storm of criticism that they behaved recklessly in going to a country that Japan had repeatedly warned civilians to avoid.
The government said aid workers Noriaki Imai, 18, and Nahoko Takato, 34, and freelance photojournalist Soichiro Koriyama, 32, were being billed in the same manner as other Japanese civilians who have been transported home after getting into trouble overseas.
Japan's reasoning seems logical and fair and consistent and yet so very, very wrong.
Posted by Justene Adamec at April 27, 2004 07:53 AM | TrackBackI dunno -- similar americans who did similar things are being fined $10,000 for their actions against their governments. I'm not entirely sure what these folks were up to in Iraq, but they were anti-war activist citizens who were told not to go there.
I think that bit was missing from most reports, oddly enough. I know that many artciles I read, especially when it began, managed to paint the picture to make you assume they were part of the official peacekeeping force there. But they were not.
They put troops in danger for their own political gain, just as some US citizens have.
I think it's horrible what happened to them, and I think the government acted quite appropriately to secure their release. I think they have been treated a bit harshly when they obviously were incredibly scared and had a horrible thing happen to them... but I don't think it was all that far off, honestly.
Posted by: Ceilig at April 27, 2004 11:11 AM (Permalink)If I understand this clearly, they were told it was too dangerous, warned not to go, went anyway, and then expected their government to bail them out when they got into the trouble they were warned they would get into if they went. hm.
I think simply because they put themselves in harm's way, and were then harmed, does not relieve them of being held accountable for their choice. To do otherwise smacks of the cult of special rights of the victim.
Like Super Chicken said: "I knew the job was dangerous when I took it. puck puck puck puck"
Posted by: Claire at April 27, 2004 01:20 PM (Permalink)I assumed they were there as peacekeepers, too. If they were there for some political agenda, fudge'm.
Posted by: Xrlq at April 27, 2004 02:00 PM (Permalink)If Michael Moore got kidnapped and released, I'd want his a** billed too.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the hostages were released. Just the same, I'll lose no sleep over them losing a few yen over their escapades.
Japan's reasoning seems logical and fair and consistent and yet so very, very wrong.
Why do you think this is wrong? Right now the US is advising all non-essential Americans to leave Saudi Arabia. Let's say 4 Americans enter Saudi Arabia next week despite this strong recommendation and get kidnapped by terrorists.
Do you think the rest of us should pick up the tab if our government can save them and fly them home?
For my part, I'd like my government to try to save them. But I certainly hope we'd bill these folks for at least part of the expense. Their foolhardy actions are wasting my taxes. The least they could do is cover a small portion of the costs they incurred. (I say small portion, because neither Japan or the US seems to ever charge the actual costs for rescuing foolish citizens. Even the time of just one high-level negotiator is worth many hundreds of dollars per hour and the efforts to rescue foolish folks involves many more than one person).
Posted by: Don Quixote at May 1, 2004 05:27 PM (Permalink)