Found: 3 More Bodies of Kidnapped American Contractors
Ransom Negotiation Experts Say Kidnapped Contractors’ Survival Chances Were ‘Slim to None’
By ANNA SCHECTER, LUIS MARTINEZ and JASON RYAN
March 25, 2008—
The remains of three American contractors kidnapped in southern Iraq have been recovered, according to U.S. officials, confirming ransom negotiation experts’ predictions that the contractors were executed.
“Their chances of survival were slim to none because we were not hearing from the kidnappers,” said Jack Cloonan, a former FBI agent, who now heads a crisis management firm that has handled ransom negotiations in Iraq.
“We are seeing captured U.S. citizens used for retribution and propaganda,” he said. “There is a way to successfully negotiate a kidnapping in Iraq, but when it involves an American citizen, particularly a security contractor or a member of the military, political retribution trumps kidnapping for ransom and the end game is not a pay-off.” (more…)
