> US citizenship largely serves this purpose, at least if it's a high profile kidnapping (which any kidnapping in Iraq/Afghanistan/etc. would have been.) Seems

> US citizenship largely serves this purpose, at least if it's a high profile kidnapping (which any kidnapping in Iraq/Afghanistan/etc. would have been.) Seems it's a double edged sword being a US or indeed a UK or European citizen in places like Iraq/Afghanistan. On the one hand yes your government is a force to be reckoned with, on the other hand it makes you a huge target. I do however recall reading about the British Empire, where a British botanist was kidnapped by a tribe in Africa. The British army turned up and pounded the hills where the tribe were rumoured to be living with cannon balls continuously for a week. The botanist was let go. Things of course have changed now...I doubt the US or UK government could say to a kidnapper today 'alright we're going to drop artillery on your neighbourhood until you let our guy go'.