Looks like hostage taking will thrive

Hostages for cash may take an upswing.

For as long as anyone can remember the Country's policy was to Not negotiate with Terror organizations and if someone paid a Terror organization to free hostages they would be charged for breaking Federal law.

In a new Presidential directive and an executive order enshrining the changes, president Obama also plans to make it clear "that while he is keeping with longstanding federal prohibition against making concessions to those who take hostages, the government can communicate and negotiate with captors holding Americans OR help family members seeking to do so in order to ensure their safe return".

The Government also announced that they will no longer threaten criminal prosecution of American families who attempt to pay a ransom.

I am not sure how you can keep the longstanding policy against concessions if the government is negotiating. It seems a contradiction to me.

It has always been a hard line that the country kept, harder yet on the hostages families and friends, but the reason for it was to keep terrorists from thinking they could get paid for their terrorist acts.

So it seems that the Government will now "negotiate" and the families can pay.

It may be cruel to disagree with this new policy but what is to keep every terror group out there from grabbing Americans wholsale now and "negotiating" a price with the government for the families to pay.