Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Was Scott Taylor Really Abducted?

Scott Taylor, a Canadian who writes propaganda for al Jazeera, claimed last year to have been abducted by members of Ansar-al-Islam, then released five days later.

It's strange that not only did Ansar-al-Islam release Taylor, but they made no demands for his release and did not videotape or photograph him. I don't recall a similar hostage drama with so little corroboration. Could this case be like that of the US Marine who faked his own abduction?

In a story by the Associated Press on September 30th, 2004, it was stated that no group has claimed responsibility for kidnapping Taylor and his companion. Yet in a September 22nd interview Taylor claimed that Ansar al-Islam were his captors.

The veracity of the entire story rides on the word of Scott Taylor and his companion. I hesitate to take the word of a man who equates terrorists with Davy Crockett, or that of his traveling companion and possible accomplice, both of whom stood to profit from the publicity surrounding the supposed abduction.

Update: Reynald Doiron of Canada's Foreign Affairs department had this to say about the alleged abduction: "We won't comment, deny, endorse, do anything due to that no Canadian official was witness to the events he said he went through in northern Iraq." - (MSNBC.COM)

That's a lot of words just to say, "No comment".