TOKYO - Three Japanese who were held hostage for a week in Iraq were billed about $7,000 each to cover their plane tickets home and other miscellaneous expenses, an official said Monday.
The three returned last week amid a storm of criticism that they behaved recklessly in going to a country that Japan had repeatedly warned civilians to avoid.
The government said aid workers Noriaki Imai, 18, and Nahoko Takato, 34, and freelance photojournalist Soichiro Koriyama, 32, were being billed in the same manner as other Japanese civilians who have been transported home after getting into trouble overseas.
Well, Good! I wish that the US had a similar policy in place. These people traipse all over the world, against the good advice of people who know, thinking they are immune to the extreme danger that these areas of the world present. In doing so, they place the lives of soldiers in danger who often take action to save these idiots from their own folly.
Rachel Corrie was a similar fool (an American) who took it upon herself to stand in front of an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza that was in the process of destroying the home of a terrorist. Her arrogant stupidity cost her her life when she was run over by the bulldozer. She has now been turned into a martyr, and a useful PR tool of the murderous "Palestinian Cause."
These Japanese morons should pay the bill and be thankful they escaped with their lives.
