The Korean hostages.

No one but the most selfish and stupid can feel anything other than
compassion for the Korean Christian hostages held under imminent
threat of death in Afghanistan. Mostly composed of doctors and nurses,
their only crime appears to have been a misplaced confidence that they
were doing the Lord's work by coming to minister the sick and injured
of Afghanistan. Instead they fell into the hands of the Taleban,
believers in one of Islam's more evil perversions of the Prophet's
message, in particular that women, regardless of race or belief must
never be harrassed, hurt or murdered.

I have come to believe that killing other people achieves nothing but
retaliation, but in the case of the Taleban, this is a group which
really should be hunted down and destroyed. The kidnappers' demands
alone - freeing captured Taleban; cash for returning the kidnapped
civilians; and the threat of execution for the group - one has already
been murdered to make their point that they are serious - places them
well outside the tenets of Islam and marks them for what they really
are - criminals.

There can be few Scots who are not familiar with the name Eric Bogle.
http://www.ericbogle.net/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Bogle
On "I Wrote This Wee Song" (1994), Bogle says this is a song he wrote
about 20 years before about a young black man (unnamed) who was being
executed. As they came in to his cell, the man was crying. He was so
frightened that he couldn't stand on his legs at all, he couldn't
stand up.

So, they tied his hands behind his back and they dragged him out of
the cell towards the scaffold. And as they were dragging him along the
corridor toward the gallows, he was still crying and pleading with
them.

At that point, all the other black men from the cells in the prison
started to sing a freedom song, and they kept singing until the young
man died. And it must have been the last sound that he heard on this
earth as he died, the sound of his brothers in the cells singing to
him.

That story, which was a true story, made a big impression on Bogle,
and as a result, he wrote this song. Obviously it is universal in its
message, but thinking today about the now sick, and terrifed Koreans,
I feel it applies equally to them as to anyone awaiting execution.

http://tinyurl.com/26vw2t

Singing The Spirit Home
by Eric Bogle
They came for him in the morning, an hour before the dawning
The pale white moon was waning in the African sky
The cell door flew wide open, they stood looking at him
He saw no mercy in their hearts, no pity in their eyes

As they took him and they bound him, tied his trembling hands behind him
He felt his courage leave him, his manhood disappear
His legs would not support him, so from the cell they dragged him
He sobbed and screamed and cursed them in his loneliness and fear

Chains, chains, chains
How many souls have died in freedom's name
To some it is a way of life, to others just a word
To some it is a snow-white dove, to some a bloody sword
But until the last chains fall, freedom will make slaves of us all

With faces closed and hidden the white guards walked beside him
Indifferent to his pleading - they'd been down this path before
But other eyes were watching, other ears were listening
Other hearts beat with him in his final desperate hour

From the darkness of that prison came the sound of his brothers singing
Courage, their voices told him, you do not walk alone
From their cells beyond the shadow he heard their voices echo
As in love and pride and sorrow they sang his spirit home

Chains, chains, chains
How many souls have died in freedom's name
To some it is a way of life, to others just a word
To some it is a snow-white dove, to some a bloody sword
But until the last chains fall, freedom will make slaves of us all

And their song of hope and freedom, it rang inside that prison
It beat against the iron bars and crashed against the stone
As in their fear and hate they hung him, the last sound that filled his being
Was his brothers singing, singing, singing his spirit home

Courage, brother, you do not walk alone
We shall walk with you and sing your spirit home.

The Highlander
Tilgibh smucaid air do làmhan,
togaibh a' bhratach dhubh agus
toisichibh a' geàrradh na sgòrnanan!
.