Beheaded Polish Engineer Piotr Stanczak's Body Returned From Pakistan

WARSAW, Poland — The remains of a Polish geologist beheaded by Islamic militants in Pakistan were returned Wednesday to Poland in a casket draped in the two countries' flags and covered in flowers.

Piotr Stanczak's body was flown to Warsaw's military airport on a Pakistani air force plane. In a short ceremony on the tarmac, a Roman Catholic priest prayed over the white casket.

Dressed in black, Stanczak's son and girlfriend stood briefly by the casket, their heads bowed.

The geologist was one of a handful of foreigners kidnapped in Pakistan in recent months as the country witnessed a deterioration in security along with a rise in al-Qaida and Taliban-led violence.

Stanczak was kidnapped Sept. 28 close to the Afghan border while he was carrying out a project for a Krakow-based geophysics company that surveys oil and gas fields.

He was held hostage for several months before his captors beheaded him in February, a killing that they videotaped.

On Sunday, a car dropped the casket near a paramilitary camp in Razmak, Pakistan. Officials then confirmed the remains were those of Stanczak.

Comments

[Horst]

That was certainly thoughtful of the Islamists...

[globalwarmingisafraud]

So is this Bush's fault? Why do they hate Americans-----no, westerners-----no wait, he was Polish right? Is it because he was a Christian/infidel? Maybe we could sit down and talk with them and see what they need/want. Maybe they will understand us better if we do that. Maybe they will treat other prisoners better since we as a country, have stopped torturing.

[kolorkin]

a prayer for Mr Piotr Stanczak...rest in peace.

[PlayTOE]

One religious group kills him.

The second religious group prays over him for gods help, apparently oblivious to the total failure of their god to help in any way when needed.

When are people going to realize that religion is a sham to take advantage of people, and there is no such thing as a god?

[liberal]

Well said.

[MyUserName]

Oh but there is a God, and every living human since the beginning of time have known it and tried to connect with God.
Jesus tore down the veil.

[Joethepauper]

It's about the oil! Put yourselves in the poorest, landmine-infested, war-torn, illiterate, religiously backward country in the world as a common citizen. When Western oil companies arrive, they take the oil and the proceeds, giving the governments which oppress their population more money to oppress them. It's not about religion, race, or fundamentalism, although those are factors. It's about inequality and exploitation of some of the poorest people on Earth while the richest people on Earth get more power and more wealth by plundering the resources of other countries..

Read about the region. Learn why the people are angry. The 'educated' people in America are about 80% ignorant about that part of the world, and that's not counting the uneducated, which accounts for about 90% of the public. I started my quest to understand why they hate us on 9-11. Y'all need to catch-up.

[landmine]

Nice to meet you, Joe.
I needed that.

I've been doing battle with cavemen all day.

[Solaris123]

Joethedufus,
No oil in Afghanistan, no oil in Pakistan.
There are plenty poor areas in the world where people live with dignity, despite having little.
Such areas are rarely in Islamic countries. members of this religion are whipped into frenzy by their leaders raising generation after generation of people committed to ideas of Arabic imperialism, totalitarianism and disregard for secualr education and human rights.

Try thinking contextually and critically. Avoid melodrama and slogans, especially those you haven't first idea about.. Don't quote numbers you invented out of whole cloth. Then proceed. With caution. Buy reading literature from unbiased and trained historians, not Chomsky.

[longtimegone]

The oil relevant to Afghanistan is in a pipeline, not underground; don't pretend not to know, it's disingenuous. West Africa is full of people living with little to nothing, yet possessed of a dignity, contentment and humility most here lack. In Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Senegal, the Gambia, it has been the teachings from within the Islamic nexus, jurisprudence, theology, sufism, as well as Qur'an and Hadith, which have inspired so many to live fully human lives, demonstrating through a life of work, prayer and simplicity what the human being truly is. So, please, "avoid melodrama and slogans, especially those you haven't the first idea about." You know, you don't necessarily have to act like this.

[Denversk]

"members of this religion are whipped into frenzy by their leaders raising generation after generation of people committed to ideas of Arabic imperialism, totalitarianism and disregard for secualr education and human rights."

This same statement will also apply to our own Right Wing as well; Don't you think so?

[enlightened cat]

Spot on. An Arabic/Islamic History 101 class will quickly put to rest any notion that this is about oil. And Chomsky, while interesting on occasion, seems more engaged in intellectual masturbation than dispassionate and critical thinking.

[landmine]

Completely uninformed comment.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have been explored for oil and gas for 50 years and there are abundant quanties of both (Afghanistan at least 29 fields). However, countries are largely unexplored, but believed to hold much greater reserves.

[Joethepauper]

I'm not an expert on Af/Pak, but could it be that a Westerner involved in oil prospecting for an oil company, might be seen as just another Westerner trying to take resources from one country for the benefit of an oil company? Why would they feel threatened by someone trying to see how much oil they have? Because knowing how much oil is there sets-up the means to deprive already poor people of the proceeds. I'm as apalled by the brutalityof this as I am the story of the UAE royal who beat, shot at, and ran over a grain dealer on video, but the roots of both problems need to be adressed. Western oil companies need to find oil in their own countries. Foreign fishing vessels and illegal toxic waste-dumping vessels need to stay out of Somali waters. Rich sheikhs need to be stripped of their wealth and crowns if they torture people. Corporations and wealthy people who are out of control need to be controlled. Let the people of country X decide how country X's resources are used, so they won't feel helpless and resort to extra-judicial means to fight for their own resources. Powerless fishermen became pirates. Powerless Afghans/Pakistanis become Taliban/AQ when they feel that is the only way to fight back. I'm not saying it's correct, but that's why they join.

[AurigaRa]

Yes but we never hear it that way.

Think of how much more we could have learned from 9/11 - other than they "envy our freedom"- if the MSM could be trusted to tell the whole truth. Why would those men go to all that trouble to ruin, kill and horrify people in a country all the way around the world from them? I mean really? Because the ruler of their own countries won't let them drink liquor? Because they don't have a WalMart on every corner? Of course not. But that's the kind of crap we are fed. Rather than the horrible things that American politicians and corporations who care only for power or money will do, without regard for their fellow Americans, or for the anger, poverty and resentment that results when they meddle where they do not belong.

The average person in America can never quite believe our government would do or support the doing of the evil things that go on in this world. Prosecuting Bush et al will go a long way to opening some eyes.

[kenergy599]

Well said

[MyUserName]

I suppose we are also to blame for the fact that a women is murdered by her family if she is raped.
Maybe prosecuting Bush will also stop them from murdering a women if she is caught speaking to a man not of her family.
Perhaps also they'll stop murdering couples in the street just because they caught them spending time alone before marriage.

You know...I'm surprised I haven't seen fault laid on Bush or his administration for the swine flu yet.

[Spiritof1982]

It's sad that people who already have nothing to offer deem it necessary to make themselves even more of a net negative to the world.

[Babysnake]

There's some blantant anti-semtism for you!
I guess since they are not Jewish semites, it's okay.

[Spiritof1982]

Um, reading comprehension? How about complete ignorance of your own argument (re: Semites). These people are from South Asia. There's no semitic angle here. Good try though.

[rizvisa1]

Finally the family and the loved ones will have some closure. RIP

[QuasiEgalitarian]

I can't understand why some people believe that they will get away with killing innocent people based on their sick ideologies or religious philosophies. I feel awful for Piotr Stanczak's family, no one deserves to die like that. How can society remain unmoved by all of the violence that contiues generation after generation? What we are all witnessing is the real impact of war and the nightmare of GW Bush leadership on this country.

[derrickhoyle]

So was he an engineer or a geologist? The headline doesn't match with the story. I realize he could have been both, but usually its one or the other. Engineering geologist? Geotechnical engineer? Whatever the case, may he rest in peace.

[Joethepauper]

Oil prospector. They have had bad experiences with Western oil prospectors and are trying to send the message that they would like some of the oil proceeds to stay in their country. Oil companys are notoriously greedy when pursuing resources on other country's soil. If a foreign oil company wanted to drill in America, they would have to get permission from our govt. If our govt. granted drilling rights on your land, and all the proceeds went to the oil company and the U.S. govt., but nothing went to you for the use of your land, that would be unfair. What if they had been stealing from you for years and wouldn't even provide any government services with all that money. You might not resort to beheading because death isn't part of your daily life, but in Af/Pak, death is a daily occurrence, and starvation­/disease/l­andmines/T­aliban thugs are a daily occurrence. The oil will stay underground without oil prospectors/oil companies, and that's where I think it should stay. We have technology to replace oil. Let them use their oil when they are ready. Stop trying to take what few resources those poor people have, and they will stop. If there are no Westerners in their countries to kill, they will just kill each other off and we can suck the oil after they are gone.

[derrickhoyle]

While I agree that we need to get away from oil, especially in dangerous corners of the globe, I cannot empathize with the murderers. The geologist was only doing what he is paid to do, and should not have lost his life over mapping activities. It's not like he was an oil executive, it was a geophysical company he was working for. Sure, an oil company probably hired his company, but still, he was most likely doing reconnaissance, not tapping oil himself. I guess that's what happens in a country trapped in the tenth century.

[WilliamL]

people need to stop justifying the cutting off of heads

[TJCole]

We lost the War on Terror at Tora Bora, when Bush let them all escape and then took us off to attack Iraq instead of fighting our real enemies...

This may have doomed America as a great power in the long run and wait till when we awake one morning and the Taliban have taken Pakistan and now have Nuclear Weapons, all because of Bush and Cheney cutting and running at Tora Bora...!

Tora Bora was key to our bleak future....

[Joethepauper]

Yup! Instead of sending Special Forces from our own military, someone had the bright idea of sending the Northern Alliance, who allowed him to escape. Imagine what the world would be like if one month after 9-11, our troops had captured Bin Laden and brought him to justice. The myth that Bin Ladin is immortal or protected by Allah would have vanished from the minds of all of the past 8 year's recruits. Al Zawahiri was probably at Tora Bora at the same time, and we could have gotten both of them. Every time Afghanistan is mentioned, I picture Bin Laden riding into Pakistan on a donkey, never to be seen again. If I spoke Arabic or Pashtun and could grow a beard, I'd hunt him myself for the bounty. Without the language skills, I wouldn't be able to find him, and without the beard, I wouldn't be allowed near him.

Here's an idea that might be helpful, though: If we want to truly smoke them out of their caves, just drop millions of army ants in the areas where we think they are hiding (there are several deadly species to choose from). That will make them abandon their safe hiding places for less safe ones (which we could already have booby-trapped in advance). Killer bees would work too.

[cycle3man]

WHY ?

[PoliticalAmazon]

He was working for a polish company assessing natural gas and oil fields. Perhaps the Pakistani didn't much care for yet another country planning to steal their natural resources from them.

But I agree--a geologist is a poor choice. Unfortunately, the leaders of the company that sent him there aren't available.

[Spiritof1982]

The Pakistanis own full rights with no other competing interests vis-a-vis their mineral reserves. This Polish company most definitely went through a bidding a process with the Pakistani government to develop mineral resources. If there was any theft involved, the Pakistanis were complicit.

[davidwayneosedach]

Kidnapping and beheading an archeologist? To what end?

[PoliticalAmazon]

He was a geologist employed by a foreign country to survey for oil and natural gas.

In a region where other countries have made it a habit of stealing middle-eastern country's oil, I can understand why they are a tad sensitive. If the same situation existed in America, I'd be right there beside my countrymen tryng to stop further theft of our resources.

If the Pakistani had more resources, they could have targeted the leaders of the company that sent the geologist. Now THAT would have been a message that would carry an impact.

[kenergy599]

To send a message to anyone else that replaces him.

[jamiso]

So then who is going to drill, extract, and process the oil?

You guys are weird, I've never seen so many people jumping around cheering for rampaging religious fanatics.

These governments hire western oil companies, they get paid by them. The process is legal, there is no "stealing"....its business. That is how the world is. What kind of crazy world do you guys live in?

[brandnewstuff]

I am sad for this man and his family.

Make no mistake people in Texas kill each other for property rights for oil gas and mineral rights
Victoria Texas has historical roots of this as well-

They may not behead others- But People are violent and hatefilled no matter what culture

People do kill for these items- BIG MONEY

[Spiritof1982]

Oil and gas are nationalized resources in every country not called "USA." So unless one of the sovereigns was somehow fighting Stanczak and his company for the oil and gas, this doesn't make sense. It's basic oil and gas law.

[Babysnake]

You have no idea what you are talking about.

[landmine]

Your comment makes no sense.
Oil and Gas companies compete for the rights to the resources.
Just like they did in Iraq.

[whoknew---]

Thoughts are with the family....just tragic....

These people don't want us there for whatever reason and I wish we could just get off the oil so there will be no need for some defenseless scientist to be there and then treated so brutally.

[Joethepauper]

Exactly! Instead of sending that scientists where he is not welcomed, send him somewhere to study solar or wind technology. The faster we eliminate the need to drill fossil fuels from foreign lands, the faster we can leave those backwards people in the dust. There's a line in the movie Syrianna, where Matt Damon is talking to a Saudi Prince, and he says something like: "A hundred years ago, your country was a loose collection of Beduoin tribes with no running water or electricity. We found oil and your counrty became rich overnight. You used that money to build huge palaces for yourselves while ignoring the needs of your people. A hundred years from now, when the oil runs dry, you will be a loose collection of Bedouin tribes with no running water or electricity". That is my vision for the M.E. Stop sending people to take the resources from foreign countries for the benefit of oppressive governments and greedy corporations. We can learn to harness other energy sources, or learn to live with less energy.