Fox guys freed, but why?

It's great news that Fox reporter Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig were released unharmed Sunday. As per usual the kidnappers remain free and the official bodies aren't talking as to how or why this was pulled off, leaving things wide open to blogospeculatation.

"We were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint," Centanni later told Fox. "Don't get me wrong here. I have the highest respect for Islam, and I learned a lot of good things about it, but it was something we felt we had to do because they had the guns, and we didn't know what the hell was going on."

Well, there's a ringing endorsement of the prophet.

In many ways their ordeal seems a condensed version of Jill Carroll's. In both events the kidnappers made unrealistic, un-meetable demands then allowed their deadlines to pass without recrimination. After receiving nothing they attempted to force feed Islam on their captives then pass them off as converts.

Such tactics might represent humiliation more than anything else, since their images end up broadcast all over the Arab/Muslim world. "Hey, look at the weak westerners. When it comes to their life they won't stand up for their own religion", etc. Plays well on al-Jazeera.

They don't seem to understand that westerners will say anything to get released, and fellow westerners watching on TV won't believe a word. Our culture is individually-centered, and was perhaps best summed up by Patton's famous quote, "The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.".

Centanni touched on another byproduct of the kidnapping:

I hope that this never scares a single journalist away from coming to Gaza to cover the story because the Palestinian people are very beautiful and kind hearted,"

Except when they're blowing themselves up or forcing conversions at gunpoint. We've already seen reporter intimidation in the north from Hizballah, so perhaps this was an attempt to similarly adjust attitudes in the south.

It's not rocket science. Defeating the IDF requires a victory of perception in the western press. They must convince people that Israel is a disproportionate bully picking on the poor weak, loving, kind Palestinian people. Fox News was one of the few MSM outlets not auto-broadcasting the Hamas/Hizballah propaganda feed, so we'll see if that changes. We'll also see if this affects Centanni's future role in the region. He was the epitome of fair and balanced.

MORE 8.27.06

Lot's of speculation here and here, including the fact that intelligence sources knew who had these guys from the get-go, and that factions of Hizballah might have been involved. Still seems like rank intimidation of the fair and balanced network. For example, why not kidnap Reuters reporters?