Edwin Dyer is British Al Qaeda Hostage Beheaded

Edwin Dyer was a tourist in North Africa. He was returning home after a music festival and was taken hostage along with three others. It is reported that al Qaeda has beheaded this man.

Edwin Dyer

The kidnapping took place on January 22nd. Two of the captives, both females, were released on April 22nd along with two U.S. diplomats. Warens Greiner, the fourth captive, is still captive.

Dyer, who had been working in Austria and spoke fluent German, was on vacation in West Africa with German travel operator Oase Reisen. He was abducted, along with Warens and Gabriela Greiner, a Swiss couple, and Marianne Petzold, a German woman, near the border with Niger after attending the "Festival in the Desert," a celebration of music and nomad culture at Anderamboukane in Mali.

Al Qaeda demanded the release of radical cleric Abu Qatada, imprisoned in the U.K. and eventually demanded $142 million in exchange for two prisoners. Qatada is described as al Qaeda's spiritual leader in Europe. U.K. Prime Minister said this killing of Mr. Dyer "reinforces our commitment to confront terrorism. It strengthens our determination never to concede to the demands of terrorists, nor to pay ransoms." The truth is, British citizens are undersiege by Muslim terrorists on their own soil, daily, and the country is doing little to help, unless you see disgraced Homeland Secretary, Jacqui Smith's move to ban American radio talk show host, Michael Savage, from the country as combating terrorism. But wait...do we have a conspiracy here with America as the culprit?

There are dissenting voices about the true story behind the kidnap. Jeremy Keenan, the editor of the security bulletin Sahara Focus and author of The Dark Sahara: America's War on Terror in Africa, alleges that AQIM is infiltrated and directed by the Algerian security services, and that the leader of the kidnappers was taking orders from Algiers. He claims that the hostage-taking was orchestrated to give the impression that North Africa was in the grip of a terrorist uprising, justifying tough measures by Algeria and its American allies.

The British Foreign Office responded:

Today the Foreign Office admitted that the security situation in the region was complex, but denied that Algeria had orchestrated the kidnap. "There has been a lot of speculation and hearsay surrounding the case," a Foreign Office spokesman said. "The picture that [Mr Keenan] describes is confused and not one that we recognise.

Hmmmmm. Whatever the mystery of the politics, we cannot excuse such inhumane behavior. Mr. Edwin Dyer is the British al Qaeda hostage just beheaded, but Mr. Greiner, a citizen of Switzerland, may be next. The free world must join to take out, (as in ridding the world of them) in any way necessary, the murderous forces that are committing such obscenities. I support any and all means for showing the beheaders in this world that we will not tolerate them.