According to US government figures, 430 foreigners have been taken hostage in Iraq since the start of the war. Today, at least 40 foreigners from 12 different countries are believed to be held against their will in Iraq, including 10 Americans. The demands are sometimes for ransom, but most often for political purposes: demands include the release of Iraqi detainees or the withdrawal of US Coalition troops from Iraq. But America does not negotiate with terrorists. And we don’t meet the demands of kidnappers, either. Most times, the whereabouts and very fate of those abducted is completely unknown for months on end.

Even more alarming than the worldwide press-earning kidnapping of Westerners is the very commonplace abduction of Iraqis. 10-30 Iraqi citizens are kidnapped every day, mainly for monetary demands. A US official sets the average ransom paid by Iraqis to buy back a family member at $30,000. Since the start of the war, thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped by bands of criminals and terrorist cells. Just last month, 33 security guards from a private Iraqi security company were seized by criminals dressed as Iraqi policemen. It took a dozen trucks to carry out the mass abduction.

No two hostage situations are alike. Some deadlines are set and, when the demands fail to be met, the captors make good on the threat to execute the hostages. Other deadlines are abandoned, plots unravel, and the prisoners are released. The status of some will never be known. And sometimes, a daring rescue takes place.

A harrowing, four-month hostage crisis ended last month when US and British troops received information concerning the whereabouts of three Christian peace activists in rural Iraq. A fourth member of the group, the lone American, had been found two weeks prior: tortured, murdered, and dumped on a Baghdad street.

When US Special Forces and British SAS operators swooped into the area, they found the hostages bound in shackles. They managed to quickly extract the men and lead them to safety—surprisingly, without firing a single shot.