"Darwin" <darwin+usenet@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:opr62792wjapv6ta@news.cis.dfn.de...
> On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 08:58:41 GMT, Murgi <srindler@da2.so-net.ne.jp> wrote:
>
> [..]
> > I would have asked them to pay 1.9 million each...
>
> Why?
> They were in Iraq at their own risk, the Japanese government also acted on
> their own making all that fuss about the hostage, and after all it seems
> they (the Government)had nothing to do with their release, apart from
> offering large sums of money to the kidnapers, who allegedly refused them.


Well, nobody outside the inner circle of the government knows about the real
facts...
The cost is for airfare from Dubai to Tokyo and a chartered airplane from
Iraq to Dubai. These flights are charged according to the high IATA set
prices.


> I would not pay a penny to the Japanese Government, if I were the
hostages.


Of course, you may refuse, get a lawyer, and end up paying more than the
goverment asks for. After all the government's lawyers are "free", and they
have the stamina to outlast your financial resources.
The entire "rescue operation" - even without paying anything to the hostage
takers - has cost the taxpayer much more than the 1.9 million. The vice
foreign minister went there ina chartered plane or a commercial airliner
with First Class treat. He and some of his top brass don't stay in 5th class
hotels, etc.


The government should have asked the relatives of the three whether they
were ready to sholder the costs for bringing them back right away. I'd bet
that they would have agreed. Why should "I" pay for it... even if it is just
one single yen from my tac money?


Sigi