al-Dhari thinks they are being held by criminals

Muthana al-Dhari, a spokesman for the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, said that he guesses our friends are being held by a criminal group that has no relation to the resistance. Speaking to journalists at the committee’s headquarters in Baghdad’s Umm al-Qura mosque, he said he did not think they are dead “because the material gain from holding them is big. I had my doubts about the whole operation from the start because the style and method all indicate that the kidnappers are an organised gang with no connection to the resistance.”