Sunday, January 22, 2006

Hostage and Kidnappers in Collusion?

In December Germany was treated to the drama of it's own Iraq kidnapping victim, Susanne Osthoff, a German woman who had been living and working in Iraq for the last 10 years.

Since her release her behavior has been quite strange, firstly, she did not return back to Germany, but stayed in Iraq. Which I guess is not that strange for someone who considers Iraq their home, but strange that someone who had experienced something so traumatic wasn't in a hurry to see her family including her teenage daughter. Well, now the plot thickens:

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.

The possibility of criminal charges might explain her reluctance to return home.

3 Comments:

Blogger Day by Day said...

Hmmm... interesting. Some people will do anything for money...

4:23 PM  
Blogger nicole said...

No doubt! (to the above comment) This just proves that reality is stranger than fantasy...and it's getting more so by the day...

8:03 PM  
Blogger Stacy Kaye said...

Wow...it makes you wonder what led her to do this. It's sad, really, that someone would use something like a hostage situation-which causes such pain for so many families-for personal gain.

8:03 PM  

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