Jeffrey Ake

US hostage in Iraq makes TV plea

A US hostage in Iraq has appeared on a video tape urging his government to "open a dialogue with the Iraqi resistance" to save his life.

The hostage is believed to be Jeffrey Ake, a subcontractor who went missing on Monday, say US officials.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said they were working "very, very hard" to secure his release but they would not negotiate with his captors.

No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction.

Unlike in previous videos of hostages, there was no banner giving the name of the kidnappers.

In the video, shown on al-Jazeera satellite television, the hostage sits behind a desk with three armed and masked men standing beside him.

He is holding up his passport and driver's licence.

'Meagre security'

"I ask my family and friends to demonstrate and speak directly to the American government to open a dialogue with the Iraqi resistance," he says in the video.

Mr Ake was abducted by eight hooded men who drove up in two cars to the construction site near Taji, north of Baghdad, a security source was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

"They overran the meagre security at the site, went right to him and took him. They could have been observing him, he could have been betrayed by someone there," said the source, who asked not to be named.

Ms Rice told a news conference they would be continuing with their policy of not negotiating with terrorists as "it only encourages them".

"It is our great hope that working with those who have information we can resolve this in a way that is successful, and that means in protecting the life of the hostage.

"We are thoroughly engaged with the Iraqis, and with others, in trying to do this," she said.

More than 150 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq in the past year, either by insurgents fighting foreign troops or by criminals seeking ransom.
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What do the terrorists think they are accomplishing by this?

It's most likely a crowd-pleaser within the Islamic radical ranks, making them feel powerful and in control.

Although these kidnappings may be a psychological boost for the terrorists, those tactics reveal just how weak they actually are, resorting to preying on unarmed innocent civilians.

An individual is taken hostage, pleads for his life on film, then is executed.

Have we become desensitized to this? Has it become too routine to garner much attention?

I wish politicians and the media would be outraged by this brutality and express condemnation for the terrorists. Abu Ghraib was an obsession; yet this savagery is almost ignored.

That in itself is an outrage.

God willing, Jeffrey Ake will be spared.