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Top 10 Most Intense Hostage Crisis
The evil practice of taking people hostages is ancient, and has been used constantly in negotiations with conquered nations, and in cases such as surrenders, armistices and the like.The Romans were accustomed to take the sons of tributary princes and educate them om Rome, thus holding a security for the continued loyalty of the conquered nation and also instilling a possible future ruler with ideas of Roman civilization. This top ten list examines the 10 modern examples of famous hostage takings.
10. Ingrid Betancourt Pulecio
Ingrid Betancourt Pulecio is a Colombian-French politician, former senator, anti-corruption activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Betancourt was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on 23 February 2002 and was rescued by Colombian security forces six and a half years later on 2 July 2008. The rescue operation, dubbed Operation Jaque, rescued Betancourt along with 14 other hostages (three Americans and 11 Colombian policemen and soldiers). In all, she was held captive for 2,321 days after being taken while campaigning for the Colombian presidency as a Green. She had decided to campaign in rebel controlled areas despite warnings from the government, police and military not to do so. Her kidnapping received worldwide coverage, particularly in France, because of her dual French citizenship. She has received multiple international awards, such as the Légion d’honneur. In 2008 she received the Concord Prince of Asturias Award.
9. Baghdad Church Attack
Our Lady of Salvation, a Catholic Church located in Baghdad, Iraq, was attacked on October 31, 2010 by an al-Qaeda-linked Sunni rebel group during an evening mass. The attack resulted in the deaths of 58 people, whilst more than 100 people were taken as hostages, 19 of whom were able to escape before Iraqi Special Forces entered the church to rescue them. U.S. Army spokesman Bloom believed that the entire incident was a “robbery gone wrong. We’ve seen them resort torobbery to get financed. It has been very challenging for them to get outside financing, so they are resorting to small, petty crimes to try to finance themselves.” Unfortunately, that was not the case.
8. Iran Hostage Crisis
The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States where 52 U.S. diplomats were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students took over the American embassy in support of the Iranian revolution. The episode reached a climax when after failed attempts to negotiate a release, the United States military attempted a rescue operation, Operation Eagle Claw, on April 24, 1980, which resulted in an aborted mission, the crash of two aircraft and the deaths of eight American service members and one Iranian civilian. It ended with the signing of the Algiers Accords in Algeria on January 19, 1981. The hostages were formally released into United States custody the following day, just minutes after the new American president Ronald Reagan was sworn in.
7. October Crisis
The October Crisis started on October 5, 1970 with the kidnapping of James CROSS, the British trade commissioner in Montréal, by a terrorist group called Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ). It quickly turned into the most serious terrorist act carried out on Canadian soil after another official, Minister of Immigration and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte, was kidnapped and murdered. The crisis shook the career of the Liberal Premier Robert Bourassa, who requested federal help along with Montréal Mayor Jean Drapeau. This help would lead to the only enactment of the War Measures Act during peacetime in Canadian history.
6. Munich Massacre
The Munich massacre was a hostage situation that took place during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 11 Israeli Olympic team members along with a German police officer were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian group Black September. Shortly afterthe crisis began, they demanded 234 prisoners jailed in Israel and the German-held founders of the Red Army Faction (Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof) be released. Black September termed the operation “Iqrit and Biram”, after two Palestinian Christian villages whose inhabitants were expelled by Israeli government and military in 1948. During the Cold War, Germany was left powerless, and thus had to seek the help of its Western Allies to deal with the crisis. If Geermany was more equipped, they would have been more able to deal with the crisis in a swift manner.
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