Ransom money found on freed German hostage

[ECH1969]

Part of the ransom money alleged to have been paid by the German government to win the freedom of Iraq hostage Susanne Osthoff last month was found on Osthoff after her release, the German magazine Focus said on Saturday.

Without citing its sources, Focus said officials at the German embassy in Baghdad had found several thousand U.S. dollars in the 43-year-old German archaeologist's clothes when she took a shower at the embassy shortly after being freed.

The serial numbers on the bills matched those used by the government to pay off Osthoff's kidnappers, the magazine said.

Efforts to contact Osthoff for comment through her mother and a friend failed.

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-01-21T205008Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-233084-1.xml&archived=False

[Fenris]

1. Huh...

That's curious.

[leveymg]

2. Faked her own kidnapping? Kidnappers gave her some gas money to get home?

Makes one wonder how many of these things are what they appear.

[wake.up.america]

4. She has acted rather peculiar since her release, not revealing...

much about the details of her capture and subsequent release. Now she speaks of returning to Iraq.

[leveymg]

6. The Germanhostage thing was going on while the new RW PM was meeting Bush.

Did the German RW take a page out of the Ledeen-Rove-Murdoch playbook and stage this whole thing to distract from the fact that the new German gov't was leading the EU-3 into an Iran war crisis? Hmmm, indeed.

[rodeodance]

9. uuuu.mmmm INDEED

[Turley]

10. That's not correct

Osthoff was freed back in mid-December. Merkel met Bush in mid-January. It is also very unlikely that the Germans would cook something like that up in a coalition Gov't. There are too many SPD folks in ranking positions. I'd call it extremely unlikely at best.

[wake.up.america]

15. I would have to agree with Turley for the reasons stated. IMHO

[Canuckistanian]

3. Hey, it's HARD WORK being a hostage

There are expenses, you know.

[leftyladyfrommo]

5. Good idea for a new business - fake your own kidnapping

and then get paid for it.

[Submariner]

7. That's the Entrepreneurial spirit we like to see!

Chimpy is always proud of bidness savvy :rofl:

[leftyladyfrommo]

8. I was going to post that but couldn't remember how to spell

the big words.

Really, that is just the American way.

[henslee]

11. The fact she had 2 grand on her means nothing.

[PaganPreacher]

12. You said it!

I can't count the number of times I read that a hostage was given a cut of the ransom. Happens all the time!

:eyes:

I bet US$2,000 is just pocket money in the new Iraq. Those nasty kidnappers just wanted her to have lunch money for the trip home.

:eyes: :eyes:

The Pagan Preacher
I don't turn the other cheek.

[henslee]

13. Can't tell if you are joking but ifI were a hostage and a kidnapper,

giddy after justhaving received a ton of cash stuck 2 bills in my clothing, what do you do? Say no thanks, get perceived as ungrateful and then get shot? No you say thank you and get the hell out of there. I hardly think an archeologist would opt for a sudden career change like the one decribed.

[LisaL]

17. Those were very nice kidnappers then. I have heard of a lot

of things but kidnappers sharing ransom money with their victim-not one of those things.

[PaganPreacher]

19. Actually, I am having some fun with you.

Since it is Saturday morning, and there is a fresh dusting of snow on the ground, I am in a fine mood. I am enjoying an excellent cup of coffee, and having a bit of sport with you.

Seriously, though:

The Reuters report did not say anything about "2 bills"; it said, "...officials at the German embassy in Baghdad had found several thousand U.S. dollars in the 43-year-old German archaeologist's clothes when she took a shower at the embassy shortly after being freed. The serial numbers on the bills matched those used by the government to pay off Osthoff's kidnappers, the magazine said.

(Source: http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-01-21T205008Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-233084-1.xml&archived=False)

We are working with a poor writer's material: "several thousand U.S. dollars" (in other words, several thousand bills of US$1 denomination) would not fit within a woman's clothing, unless she was of exceptional size. We have no evidence that the "hostage" was of such size.

Since the US Mint stopped printing the $500 and $1,000 bills in 1945, a reasonable person would not think that the German government paid the ransom in $500 or $1,000 bills. Since the next smallest denomination is $100, the reasonable conclusion is that the woman was carrying a substantial amount of folding paper "in her clothes" (20 $100 bills or more, presuming that 2 is the same as "several") .

That sounds like much more than some giddy kidnappers giving the hostage cab fare home. That sounds like conspiracy to defraud.

But, you may reach your own conclusion.

The Pagan Preacher
I'm good to the last drop

[classics]

14. Perhaps its was a message.

Proof that the people who asked for the ransom were indeed the ones who kidnapped her?

[truthisfreedom]

16. i love how people in this forum speculate about the unknown with only a

handful of facts.

who knows why she has the money. for all we know, she may have stolen it to ID the kidnappers with their fingerprints.

[LisaL]

18. Very incompetent people, those kidnappers.

:eyes:

[PaganPreacher]

20. "Several thousand dollars" worth?

Riiiight.

She didn't turn the "evidence" over to the German government when she went to the Embassy. She was taking a shower, and Embassy personnel found it in her clothes.



The Pagan Preacher
I don't turn the other cheek.

[Moochy]

21. Reverse Stockholm Syndrome

Her kidnappers grew fond of her, and decided to compensate her for her ordeal.

:yoiks:

Lol, on edit, corrected stockholm.. I had Stockhausen.. which would be cruel and unusual punsihment for captive and kidnapper alike!