View Full Version : Hey, He just following Sharia Law.....
I love this guy. I just wish I had bought stock in blood pressure medication in Sweden before he got back.
The last line is a classic.
6/29/2005
Two down…
Filed under: Sweden Iraq- Billy (Stockholm, Sweden)@ 8:24 pm
Yesterday we noted that Ulf Hjertström, the sexagenarian Swede who survived a 67-day kidnapping ordeal in Baghdad, reportedly was paying professional bounty hunters a handsome fee to track down his erstwhile captors. Expressen, a Swedish tabloid, picked up the story and got in touch with Hjertström to get the lowdown.
Hjertström, an oil broker whose career took him to Iraq 25 years ago, makes no bones about the decision to exact revenge on his abductors. “I’ve lived [in Iraq] for a long time. This is how things are done there. It’s nothing new to me,” he says.
Hearty Hjertström “doesn’t want to go into detail” about the bounty hunters, but assures Expressen that they are “the best money can buy.”
“They’re not twiddling their thumbs,” declares Hjertström, revealing that he has “received confirmation that two of [the kidnappers] have already been taken care of.” When asked to elaborate on the fate of the purportedly captured men, the Swede says he “hasn’t inquired” but has his “suspicions.”
Many in Sweden have expressed shock and dismay at Hjertström’s eye-for-an-eye approach. But the plucky pensioner claims that revenge is not his primary motive. “I just want the people of Baghdad to feel safe on the streets.”
Giuliana Sgrena could not be reached for comment.
Spartan359
07-01-2005, 07:14
:eek: That is awesome.
The Reaper
07-01-2005, 07:50
You know, this guy may just be one of the few to have a drop of Viking blood remaining in him!
TR
EX-Gold Falcon
07-01-2005, 09:19
Good Lord!
That is Awesome!
I dated a Swedish girl once (yeah, all the stereotypes apply) and she had a nasty vindictive streak a mile-wide. Perhaps genetic?
T.
Spartan359
07-01-2005, 10:35
TR you sure it's not more than a drop?!!!
The Reaper
07-01-2005, 10:45
TR you sure it's not more than a drop?!!!
Well, if he was full-blooded, he would sail a longboat up the Euphrates, hunt them down, kill them, enslave their families, pillage, and then burn their villages to the ground.
TR
Spartan359
07-01-2005, 11:05
Well, if he was full-blooded, he would sail a longboat up the Euphrates, hunt them down, kill them, enslave their families, pillage, and then burn their villages to the ground.
That's putting it nicely TR!!!
magician
07-01-2005, 13:13
Well, if he was full-blooded, he would sail a longboat up the Euphrates, hunt them down, kill them, enslave their families, pillage, and then burn their villages to the ground.
TR
with a battle axe.
then he would sing songs.
:)
Peregrino
07-01-2005, 13:44
with a battle axe.
then he would sing songs.
:)
And consume massive quantities of alcohol and burnt flesh while entertaining himself with their wives and daughters!
Spartan359
07-01-2005, 13:55
And consume massive quantities of alcohol and burnt flesh while entertaining himself with their wives and daughters!
You can't forget about mumbling something to Odin about sacrifices!! :D
aricbcool
07-01-2005, 13:57
with a battle axe.
then he would sing songs.
:)
http://www.avacalbards.ca/SongBook/H54.html :D
Good for him! Thats my kind of Swede.
You know he could hire the "pilligers" from the Capital One commercials. They are looking for work.
brewmonkey
07-02-2005, 16:30
I'm curious about the whole thing though as the report I read on this a week or so ago said he only pid about $25K US. Having worked as a bounty hunter I can tell you that it would cost you a wee bit more then that for me to take the job. I can only imagine that he used local contacts to do the work? Perhaps then the 25K would make sense as well you would be able to get in and out easily. I would think 6' Swedes showing pictures and asking questions would draw suspicion... :munchin
alphamale
07-03-2005, 06:50
“They’re not twiddling their thumbs,” declares Hjertström, revealing that he has “received confirmation that two of [the kidnappers] have already been taken care of.” But the plucky pensioner claims that revenge is not his primary motive. “I just want the people of Baghdad to feel safe on the streets.” Casey I bet he's probably being completely honest with that last quip (re: what is primary). Because his experience is now in past tense.
FrontSight
I'd say $25,000 would be a good start in Baghdad. Average income is around $5 per day. I was paying my 2 locals on the PSD team I was on $60 a day. They were about the highest paid locals in the AO (doing PSD).
The flaw is in the quality of the guys who are doing the work. They might hit the wrong people or just take the money and run.
I would be a bit leery, would demend results before payment.
magician
07-03-2005, 14:53
that is enough to hire....the sort of folks who could actually complete the job, in that place.
got to say, though....you dance with the Devil....
here is another take on it:
http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=1679&date=20050629&PHPSESSID=1caca4a3758eb98e98dc6a6523183dbe
Published: 29th June 2005 15:23 CET
Iraq Swede vows to catch kidnappers
A Swede held hostage in Iraq for 67 days and released a month ago has vowed to take revenge on his captors and has hired bounty hunters to capture them, Swedish media reported on Wednesday.
"I want to take them out of the game," Ulf Hjertström, a 63-year-old oil broker who has lived in Baghdad for 14 years, told daily Expressen.
Hjertström, who shared a cell with another recently released hostage, Australian Douglas Wood, was even more categorical in comments made to the Australian media.
"I have now put some people to work to find these bastards ... I invested about 50,000 dollars so far and we will get them one by one," he told financial television channel Ten Network.
Hjertström declined to say what fate awaited his kidnappers, but told Expressen that two of them had already been captured.
"Vengeance is always important, but that is not my main motive. I want people in Baghdad to be able to walk in the streets again," he said.
The Swede's release was recently announced in Sweden but his kidnapping was never made public, in contrast to a long line of other high-profile hostage cases in Iraq.
The foreign ministry in Stockholm confirmed that a Swede had been kidnapped and released in the war-ravaged country, but refused to provide any further details.
Hjertström spoke out in the Swedish media however about his ordeal, describing how his captors had killed a number of other prisoners before his eyes and how they on several occasions subjected him to mock executions.
According to him, the motive for his kidnapping was money.
It is not known if a ransom was paid for his release, but Hjertström said he believed it had been.
AFP
Seen on a bumper sticker recently: "It may take a village to raise a child, but it takes a Viking to raze a village" just thought this might apply here