In the cruel hostage game that is constantly being played out in the Middle East, a large measure of cool calculation always underlies the apparent madness. Western pawns are seized and sometimes killed in direct retaliation for unpopular arrests, military strikes or political slights against governments in the region. Those who are released have been quietly bartered either for tangible rewards -- weapons, cash -- or for subtle political and economic gains -- the enhancement of a regime's credibility, the restoration of diplomatic relations with a Western power, the exchange of prisoners.
So why was British journalist John McCarthy freed in...
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