Keith - it may have been military but there was no force as the captors had already fled. And if you are a pacifist being freed by military force, what exactly are you supposed to do to prevent it?

Guest - they were there because they are courageous men who are dedicated to working for peace regardless of the risk to their own lives. I think they should be applauded for not accepting the inevitiblility of violence and actively working to try to prevent it.

Finally I think we should remember that the vast majority of hostages in Iraq are not westerners but Iraqis and that they don't have the media spotlighting their plight, or much hope at all of release. They too should be in our thoughts and prayers.