Iraqi political scientist on reasons Russians were taken hostage in Iraq

The Russian hostages may be a political football in the political games before a new Iraqi government is formed, an Arab political scientist, who wished to remain anonymous, said in an interview with RIA Novosti in regards to the statement made by the armed group that claimed responsibility for taking the Russian specialists hostages. The armed group's statement was aired yesterday by Al-Jazeera, a Qatari television channel. The political scientist is a professor at Baghdad University.

The Iraqi expert also expressed his doubts as to the correctness of the head of Al-Jazeera's Moscow office's assertion that the main goal of the kidnappers was to get a substantial ransom from the Russians.

According to the expert, ordinary bandits (bandits demanding money) do not want to attract attention to themselves, especially on satellite television.

To demand ransom, it would be enough for them to contact the Russian Embassy or Interenergoservice's office in Baghdad (where the hostages worked), the Arab political scientist said.

In his opinion, most likely the goal of taking the hostages was to popularize the political goals of the organizers of the action.

The expert said that the statement aired on Al-Jazeera, which includes the demand that "all citizens of coalition countries leave Iraq," is either "mere stupidity" or reflects the actual political views of the people who support the taking of the Russian hostages.

He said that in the current political pallet of Iraqi society there are also forces that strive to come to power in Iraq by increasing total terror and thus creating a serious internal chaos in the country.

Apart from that, certain forces in Iraq and in the Arab world as a whole are against any Muslim countries having international contacts with the infidels. According to the expert, such views are shared in the Arab and other Muslim countries by the followers of the teaching of Salafits, who stand for the return to the initial sources of Islam, and of other extremist teachings that have developed on its basis.

The Iraqi expert called the present situation in Iraq a paradox because a considerable part of the so-called Islamic groups are the people who never visited mosques before and never observed main Islamic commandments.

"Their main work today is to kill foreigners, no matter what country are from, and also Iraqis themselves, including women and children, thus creating an atmosphere of a general fear and chaos in the country," underscored the Iraqi political scientist.