"WE HAD INTENDED TO LOOK AFTER HIM"

From AFP:

Militants say they did not intend to kill Japanese hostage

A Japanese hostage held in Iraq died from wounds he received after opening fire on his captors who had not intended to kill him, the militant Sunni group which kidnapped him said in an Internet message seen Sunday.

...The group, linked to the Al Qaeda terror network, said Mr Saito died as a result of injuries incurred during his capture in Iraq on May 8. It warned people against working with US troops.

Captured during an ambush on his convoy, Mr Saito had fired a weapon at one of the mujahadeen fighters guarding him, "without hitting his target," the group said in a message on the website.

"The brother (mujahadeen) responded, firing several shots, wounding him but not killing him," the message continued.

After being moved "to a safe place" upon the arrival of US troops at the ambush site, Saito "was found dead following haemorrhaging," the group said.

"As god is a witness, we had intended to look after him and keep him alive to show the world an example of Japanese soldiers operating in Iraq while claiming to serve friendly forces," the group said in its statement, signed by the "military committee" and dated Saturday.

The statement did not explain why it had taken three weeks to announce the death of the hostage.

THREE WEEKS of agony for Mr. Saito's family.

May 11, 2005 — TOKYO (Reuters) - The fate of a Japanese man missing in Iraq is still unknown, officials in Tokyo said on Thursday, two days after a militant group claimed to have captured him, but his employer said he may have died of injuries.

...The group, called Army of Ansar al-Sunna, has issued no demands since posting a photograph of Saito on its Web site on Tuesday, saying it had captured him and he was seriously injured.

Of course, one cannot expect any decency from a group of terrorists. Nonetheless, their false claims about holding Mr. Saito hostage serve to highlight the complete lack of credibility of the Army of Ansar al-Sunna. They are lying, murderous thugs. They aren't soldiers. They are terrorists.

Isn't it ironic that there is such outcry about the Geneva Conventions applying to these terrorists when they do not abide by the Geneva Conventions?

According to the Geneva Convention, August 12, 1949:

The belligerents are required to inform the Information Bureau, established in accordance with Article 122, of the names of all prisoners of war who die during captivity, and as rapidly as possible.

The Army of Ansar al-Sunna said that there are "Japanese soldiers operating in Iraq while claiming to serve friendly forces." They claimed Mr. Saito was actually a soldier and not a civilian worker.

So, if he was a soldier, why is the Army of Ansar al-Sunna exempt from granting Mr. Saito the treatment he deserved under the Geneva Conventions?

Another question: Why do Amnesty International, the International Red Cross, other human rights organizations, Ted Kennedy, Al Gore, and assorted leftists and extremists express outrage over U.S. actions while not condemning groups like the Army of Ansar al-Sunna for throwing out the rules of war?

An unsubstantiated report that the Koran was ALLEGEDLY flushed down a toilet is enough to turn the world against the U.S.; yet these terrorists get a free pass on reporting the death of someone in their custody.

It is an unacceptable double standard that has been applied to the U.S. It is pure discrimination done for purely political purposes.