Give us a break

Although loathe to give him any more web time than he deserves, I notice that Australian Foreign Minister Downer has been attacking the Australian SBS journalist John Martinkus, who was kidnapped in Iraq and then released. (Martinkus claimed he was released because he is against the Coalition's invasion and occupation, and speculated why some were kidnapped and killed, and not him). Downer:

It's a terrible thing to have said. I was absolutely astonished when he said that ... suggesting that it might be okay to execute particular types of people or to take particular types of people but not others.

God help the guy if Downer is taking him on. In response, SBS news director Phil Martin said:

Look, I think people need to understand that the circumstances were John was taken from the streets of Baghdad, into custody, with a pistol held at his head for almost a day in circumstances where he didn't know whether he's going to live or die.
He was then bundled onto an aeroplane and travelled for a similar period, non-stop to Australia and emerged from an airport terminal to a media scrum and was expected to be able to give a coherent and detailed interview about the circumstances. Give the guy a break.

Point made. The full story is on the ABC's 'PM' website.