How to die

Mark Steyn has recently had a column pulled. It is availible online. I understand why his editor's pulled it, it is not very kind to Kenneth Biggley, the British hostage who was recently beheaded in Iraq, but I think he does express some ideas that need to be discussed. This bit here especially:

If the FCO wants to issue advice in this area, that’s the way to go: If you’re kidnapped, accept you’re unlikely to survive, say “I’ll show you how an Englishman dies”, and wreck the video. If they want you to confess you’re a spy, make a little mischief: there are jihadi from Britain, Italy, France, Canada and other western nations all over Iraq – so say yes, you’re an MI6 agent, and so are those Muslims from Tipton and Luton who recently joined the al-Qaeda cells in Samarra and Ramadi. As Churchill recommended in a less timorous Britain: You can always take one with you. If Mr Blair and other government officials were to make that plain, it would be, to use Mr Bigley’s word, “enough”. A war cannot be subordinate to the fate of any individual caught up in it.

I respect anyone who has the courage to be brave in the face of horrible adversity, to refuse to give in even though facing certain death. I have often wondered whether or not I would posess that courage myself. I would hope so, and I have immense respect for Fabrizio Quattrocchi for his bravery. I doubt many would disagree with me. The larger question though, of whether government should publicly advocate that sort of response, as Steyn suggests is a bit more complex. I certainly believe that to negotiate with terrorists and kidnappers is to invite more terror and kidnapping. The Mel Gibson movie Ransom seems to me to be the best response to kidnapping, at least on a large societal scale. For the individual though, a payoff is much more likely to result in survival. Governments though have a responsibility not only to the current victim of a kidnapping, but to the next victim should they allow the kidnapping to be profitable. Thus no negotiation. Advocating defiance of the kidnappers is another step beyond that though. I believe however it would be wise. Resistance and defiance will probably not save your life in such a situation, but it will make it harder for the kidnappers and will make the whole exercise less worthwhile for them. You won't save your life, but you might save someone else's. Let me say though, that while I greatly respect Fabrizio Quattrocchi's bravery that does not mean I dispise, or think less of Kenneth Bigley and others who have not shown such heroism. It would be a tough situation for anyone.