Iraqi Hostage Puzzle

Posted on April 17, 2005

There is a confusing hostage situation underway in Iraq. USA Today describes reports that a large number of Shiite Muslims have been taken hostage by Sunni insurgents.

Iraq's interim government said Sunday that it had dispatched several battalions of security forces to a small village in central Iraq in response to reports of Sunni Muslims capturing and holding large numbers of Shiite hostages.
Jouwad al-Maliky, a member of the National Assembly's Shiite majority, claimed about 200 people were being held in the village of Madain. He gave no further details about the incident.

But then it gets weirder.

But an Interior Ministry spokesman, Sabah Khadim, said no hostages or militants were found after security forces surrounded the village. Security forces will continue to search the area, he said. Khadim said early reports of the hostage-taking, which emerged Thursday, were unsubstantiated and being exploited by politicians.

So what's going on? Is half a town being held hostage or is it just an "unsubstantiated" rumor? And is this Sabah Kahdim guy by chance related to the former Iraqi Information Minister? Maybe if CNN, Fox and the networks would spend more time on international news and less on the Michael Jackson case, we'd know.