Positivity: Kidnapped Journalist Rescued by Chance

Nothing wrong with luck like this, reported last Saturday:

Kidnapped journalist rescued ‘in chance raid’

A British journalist kidnapped in Iraq was freed by chance after US soldiers raided the farmhouse where he was being held, it was disclosed today.

Phil Sands, a reporter for Dubai-based newspaper Emirates Today, was rescued after being held captive for five days last month on the outskirts of Baghdad, a Foreign Office official said.

“He was kidnapped on December 26, but was not reported missing and was found during an unrelated coalition military operation,” said a Foreign Office spokesman.

The 28-year-old journalist, from Dorset in England, was flown by US troops into Baghdad’s Green Zone and given a medical check up by British officials, before leaving Iraq, the spokesman said.

In an article published in Emirates Today, Sands recounted details of his abduction and said he felt “lucky to be alive”.

Sands said he was ambushed and captured after setting out with a local driver and interpreter to interview Baghdad academics.

“From the moment I was taken hostage I was certain I would be killed. A strange calmness fell over me. I thought ’what is the point in panicking – I am dead,”’ he said.

He said that he was not mistreated, but was forced to make a statement on video denouncing British Prime Minister Tony Blair and calling for foreign troops to leave Iraq.

The newspaper said Sands was discovered handcuffed and blindfolded by US soldiers as they entered the farmhouse on December 31 during an unconnected operation.

“This is frankly an amazing case,” US military Central Command spokesman Captain Eric Clarke told Emirates Today.