Iraq hostage crisis - No pleas can move these evil fanatics

THE appalling plight of British hostage Kenneth Bigley has touched the hearts of people everywhere but the stark reality is that British Prime Minister Tony Blair was right not to intervene in this gruesome situation.

There can be no question of negotiating with the militant terrorists who had already murdered his two American colleagues in a savage and brutal way. Obviously, any concession would lead to even more abductions and further killings in this barbarous scenario.

Realistically, despite the heart-rending appeal of the Bigley family to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to do anything appropriate that might help the hostage, whose 86-year-old mother is Irish, there seems little the Government could achieve.