"We were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint"

"I'm just so happy to be free," says an emotional Steve Centanni, released this morning after two weeks of captivity by "Holy Jihad Brigades" kidnappers.

"We were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint" Steve Centanni is telling Shepard Smith as news breaks of the Fox News correspondent's and photographer Olaf Wiig's release by kidnappers in Gaza this morning. "This gentle and unassuming man, who has been with [Fox News] from the beginning," Brit Hume is saying, "embodies this idea of being fair and balanced that is Fox's trademark." In his phone interview with Shep, Centanni adds a little boilerplate:

Don't get me wrong here. I have the highest respect for Islam and learned lots of interesting things about it, but [regarding the "conversions"] we were at gunpoint.

They said what they had to say to stay alive. Jerusalem correspondent Amy Kellogg tells Fox & Friends anchors the forced conversions and anti-Western statements the two were forced to make -- Wiig was videotaped calling on leaders of the West to stop "hiding behind the 'I don't negotiate with terrorists' myth" -- should be seen as "a face-saving vehicle for their release."

Centanni's brother calls in, noting that this particular kidnapping had "one of the widest bases of condemnation around the world," including Hamas. Fox News CEO Roger Ailes explains:

The international community is becoming more aware that journalists should never be used as pawns . . . Protecting journalists helps THEM [potential kidnappers] as well as the whole profession. If you harm a journalist, it may be more difficult for them to tell your story.

Wishful thinking on Ailes's part? Were the kidnappers, indeed, persuaded by diplomatic pressure, or did money change hands behind the scenes as was rumored in the Jill Carroll case?

This just in: New video shows beaming Centanni and Wiig and his wife meeting with the Palestinian Prime Minister. So that was it. For international consumption the PM is denouncing the Holy Jihad Brigades, saying that journalists are the guests of the Palestinians and should be treated well. Is it too much of a crackpot theory to suggest the government was behind the whole thing, using the episode and its joyous denouement as a super-sophisticated, media-magnet photo op calling favorable attention to their cause? As Steve Centanni had reasoned to himself during the terrible days of captivity, "I'm worth more to them alive than dead."

Comments

[goomp]

Extremism must be extinghished else it destroys everything else. If Islam doesn't destroy its extremists the world will become a battle that will destroy Western Civilization or Islam.

[hNAV]

i share your cynicism about the entire affair Sissy...

but regardless, the Muslim Radical Militants continue to show such desperate, cowardly, disgusting, behavior...

it is pathetic...

[Teresa]

What a...ummm... compelling religion... when they're so desperate for new "members" that they stick a gun in people's faces and say "convert or we'll kill you". Oh yeah, real peaceful and serene that one.

How is it that telling someone what they want to hear when they point a gun at you, now defines you as "converted"? That's not conversion that's coersion. Conversion is a voluntary process. As a reporter I'm surprised he doesn't have enough of a grasp of the English language to make this distinction. Unless he's still in fear of his life while he's over there.

I will find it very disturbing if he really does consider himself to be a convert now. I would also consider any other news stories from him to be suspect if he continues to say he was "converted" in this manner.

[Edwin]

Centanni - in the few remarks he made in his first interview - was eager to describe 'the Palestinian people' as "...beautiful,loving,
kind-hearted people...". Both he and Wiig expressed concern that these people should get to tell 'their story' - as if that 'story' isnt all we hear from morning to night from Reuters, BBC,CNN International...
I was waiting for Centanni to tell us how Islam is a 'beautiful and peaceful religion' that has been hijacked by naughty men like his kidnappers...
But wait - maybe he includes the kidnappers among the 'beautiful, kind-hearted, loving ' Palestinians of which he is so fond.

Centanni will, I am sure, have many future opportunities to tell their story - Everybody knows that we wouldnt have murders and kidnappings by Muslims if only someone would tell their story...

[Miss Kelly]

Is that Cary Grant on the TV? What a gorgeous man! Turner Classic Movies showcased Cary Grant movies over the weekend. We watched "Gunga Din" and "Suspicion."

Rrgarding conversion to Islam under duress, I believe that the Islamic concept of taqiyya (lying is acceptable under certain conditions) came about because some Muslim (back in the Mohammed days) denied that he was a Muslim in order to save himself from non-Muslims who threatened him. It's OK to lie about your religion if the alternative is getting beat up or killed. (Unlike Christianity, which expects you to die for your faith rather than deny it.) So these reporters were, in a sense, operating within an accepted Islamic principle.

[Teresa]

Miss Kelly - I saw Cary too - we watched Gunga Din the other night - one of my faves. *grin*

As for the lying about converting - it sounded to me like once he was freed, he still considered himself "converted" - in other words, unlike Jill Caroll I didn't see him saying "I told them what they wanted to hear". Unless he has since made such a statement. I don't watch much news if I can help it - and so I miss later statements unless someone blogs it specifically and I catch it. Or unless I'm sufficiently interested to keep my eye on it. I was mostly offline this past weekend so I'm sure I missed follow-ups.