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In Iraq, 425 Foreigners Estimated Kidnapped Since 2003
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Iraqis pay an average ransom of $30,000 in each case, the official said, although some Iraqis have reportedly gone bankrupt trying to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The main insurgent bands involved in kidnapping are al Qaeda in Iraq, Ansar al-Sunna and the 1920 Revolution Brigades, he said.
"There is also evidence of selling up," he said, referring to the practice of some criminals who kidnap foreigners and sell them to insurgents. "It's something that people know they can do and have some confidence in getting away with it," he said.
Meanwhile in Mosul, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld served Christmas Eve dinner to dozens of U.S. soldiers, then addressed the troops about the war.
"We will win this war. It's a test of wills, and let there be no doubt that is what it is," Rumsfeld said, according to the Associated Press. Rumsfeld told the troops that "generations before you have persevered and prevailed, and they too were engaged in a test of wills."
Rumsfeld, winding up a five-day trip that began in Pakistan and included stops in Afghanistan and Jordan, said the battle for Iraq was part of a wider battle, which he called "this long war against terrorism -- and it will be a long war."
Repeating a theme he struck throughout his visit, Rumsfeld cautioned against an early exit from Iraq. He said that giving up would mean allowing terrorists to impose "their dark vision on the rest of the world.
Separately Saturday, Mowaffak Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, told reporters in Najaf that he expected all U.S. troops to be out of the country within two years.
"Next year, we shall see the departure of more than 50,000 soldiers, and the remaining 100,000 will depart by the end of 2007," Rubaie said. The statement on the withdrawal of all American troops goes further than any previous public statement by Iraqi or U.S. officials.
