I was reading an article on the MSNBC website, regarding the plight of four Christian Peacekeeper activists taken hostage in Iraq by terrorists that are in league with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda’s terrorist chief of operations in Iraq.

They are now under the threat of execution, Zarqawi-style, if the U.S. and the Iraqi government do not release all the Iraqi prisoners they have under their custody. I would imagine that Christian Peacekeepers do not “appreciate it” when their workers are taken hostage.

However, guess whom this Christian peace activist group blame for their four workers being taken hostage? Not the terrorists, but, you guessed it, the U.S. and the U.K.! They blame the situation that their four workers currently find themselves in on the “illegal attack on Iraq and the continuing occupation and oppression of its people” (emphasis added).

The ones who are doing the most killing of innocent men, women and children are such terrorists like al-Zarqawi and his cronies: You know, suicide car-bombs detonated in the middle of marketplaces where lots of Iraqis densely congregate.

In fact, how many civilians have died as result of terrorists actions, which by the way, are deliberately targeted at civilians, unlike American so-called “collateral damage” where civilians are accidentally killed?

It is so bad that Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s second in-command, admonished al-Zarqawi in a letter that he sent to him, which was discovered on al-Zarqawi’s laptop after a U.S. Special Forces raided one of his safehouses. Al-Zawahiri rebuked al-Zarqawi for his ruthless tactics against the Iraq Muslim populaceand told him to stop his wanton acts of violence and terror against Iraqis and instead focus more on attacking Coalition forces.

Since it is clear that terrorists like al-Zarqawi are the ones that kill the most people in Iraq through suicide bombings, it begs this question: who are the ones really responsible for the “oppression” of Iraq and its people, then?

Furthermore, it just seems that this peace group refuses to take any responsibility for what has happened to their four workers in Iraq.

What exactly were they trying to do in Iraq? Please tell me they were not trying to convert a mass population of Iraqi Muslims into Christians now, were they? Talk about trying to impose your own values and beliefs on other peoples, which are what the U.S. and U.K. are constantly being accused of doing these days.

Also, Iraqi and Coalition security officials repeatedly warned them that they should not venture out of Baghdad without an armed escort, yet, they ventured outside of Iraq without such an escort. So should anyone really be surprised that they were abducted, and could now possibly be executed?

However, what really bothers me is the fact that this Christian Peacekeeper group does not seem to be upset with the terrorists who have taken their workers hostage. It is almost as if they sympathize with the terrorists’ cause by blaming the U.S. and U.K. instead.

So far, I have yet to see this group issue a press statement condemning the abduction of their workers, and I have yet to see them vociferously demand that their four workers be released; instead, they are simply “saddened” by footage of their workers taken hostage.

I wonder if they will still exhibit such an apathetic disposition if, God forbid, these terrorists execute these four workers?

These four workers knew the consequences of their actions, and the danger they were placing themselves in, but chose to carry out their mission in spite of the risks, so this Christian Peacekeeper group should not be blaming the U.S. and the U.K. for their own stupidity and the stupidity of their workers. They should accept responsibility for what may happen next to them, which I would rather not imagine.

Daniel Wurangian is a junior political science major. You can visit his blog at http://thevoiceofvirtualreason.blogspot.com