On the kidnapping of idiots

[giantlaser]

As some of you have heard, two Americans and one Briton were kidnapped from their Al Mansur, Baghdad, home yesterday.  Let me give you some important information about why these men were idiots, and why slownewsday and I are not.

• They had only one company guard.  When he didn't show up, they had none.
• Their guard was obviously local (didn't live with them

Comments

[z111]

Yes, I thought the same thing.

Glad you all are keeping safe.

[tlma0204114]

Loud and clear.

Hi, by the way.

[censorydep]

I am not particularly religious, but I pray/wish/think good thoughts/hope that you guys stay "hard targets" and are safe. I think this experience has been, literally, life-changing for you, and I am really glad that you are having it. However, I want it to be anything other than life-ending.

[thermalnoise]

Do you think it's not so much idiocy as not having the resources to run an operation like yours?

[giantlaser]

Not really, no. Any company that can operate in the U.A.E. with expatriate American and British employees can afford the minimum of security it takes to operate here.

The average salary of American office worker in Iraq is approximately $5000 / month cash. The average salary of a Kurdish guard is $150 / month cash. Incidentals like weapons and ammo are cheap - $150 for an AK-47, $0.50 per bullet.

However, doing things this way requires that you understand what it takes to operate in Iraq, including doing things "the Iraqi way". Which most companies here completely fail to do. At their peril.

[grumpy_sysadmin]

Leaving the building, at night, unarmed, to fix a generator mysteriously on the fritz when your guard mysteriously didn't show up? I think that's idiocy. These guys watched one two many war/horror movies and think that's the way reality is.

[jeffholton]

I feel safer in my Baghdad home than I did living in San Francisco.

That statement chills me.

Mostly because I'm only 40 miles from San Francisco.

Maybe I'll move.

[jeffholton]

I feel pretty safe from Baghdad kidnappings here, too.

I suppose I should thank Mr. Ashcroft and Mr. Ridge.

[lhoriman]

I doubt Tyler intended that to be taken quite so literally.

You may be reasonably protected from abduction, but here in SF we don't lose cars to IEDs and random sniper fire is rare enough to make headlines.

Are you at all afraid that "hard target" also correlates with "high profile target"?