Canadian hostage John Ridsdel confirmed dead:
John Ridsdel, 68, was executed Monday night by his Islamist Philippine captors, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has confirmed.
Ridsdel, along with fellow Canadian Robert Hall, was kidnapped six months ago as he vacationed on the Philippine island of Mindanao. Tuesday, it was confirmed that he was executed by beheading. ...
... Ridsdel was being held for ransom by the Islamist terror group Abu Sayyaf. ... the group’s name is Arabic for Bearer of the Sword — is considered a terrorist organization by Canada, the U.S. and many other countries. For years aligned with al-Qaida, the group ...has more recently been kidnapping people for ransom in the name of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.For the record, the words "Islamist" and "beheading" were not uttered either by Trudeau or by any major Canadian media outlet other than the National Post.
Update: Brian Lilley is "sick of the 'outrage' "
The beheading was awful without question and certainly this should be condemned and yes they were Islamists. Although note since Philippines is a sovereign country we cannot intervene here unless they ask for our assistance. That being said Abu Sayyaf is a group that predates ISIS and whose main goal is to have the predominately Muslim areas in the South separate from the rest of the Philippines which is mostly Christian and form an Islamic state under Sharia Law.
ReplyDeleteold white guy says.........time to wring our hands and decry the evil Islamic jihadis all while importing them to Canada.
ReplyDeleteYes,the Philippines is a sovereign Nation,and they have been under the protection of the USA since the Spanish-American war,so Canada certainly can't offer any "help",which we aren't capable of providing even if we wanted to.
ReplyDeleteNowhere have I seen a comment on this event by a Leader who CAN do something about it, the American President,Obama the Saviour.
The Islamic rebels,four different factions,have been at war with the Philippines government since 1969. In all that time, if they,with U.S. help,can't dig 'em out and kill 'em off, Canada sure as hell can't help.
We are a third or even fourth rate Power,and we may one day find out just how incapable we really are if there is a terrorist attack in Canada,and I don't mean by a bunch of teenage jihadists in Toronto.