When people go into a war zone or any other unstable environment and are taken hostage do their governments owe them a rescue? I'm talking about reporters and those who go to help in a humanitarian way. Keep in my mind it was their choice to go there and that others would be risking their lives in an attempt to save them.
As an American citizen, I feel that the US military does owe them rescue attempts.
Military personnel risk their lives by the nature of their chosen profession, whether they're defending their country, assisting an ally, or attempting to rescue hostages -- goes with the territory. I think that rescue attempts in such cases are preferable to paying ransoms, thereby making hostage-holding a profitable enterprise and encouraging more of it.
Sadly, the US's attempts to rescue hostages held by IS in Syria have been altogether unsuccessful. I think that's largely because we have no intel in Syria; no embassy and no relationship with the government. We've reportedly engaged in complex operations trying to rescue western hostages there, but were always a day or two behind the terrorists.
Japanese citizens were unusually outspoken about two of their fellow citizens being held hostage by IS in Syria. While they mocked IS expertly on social media, there were also a lot of Japanese who expressed their opinions that Mr. Goto and Mr. Yukawa chose their own destinies and caused unnecessary problems for Japan and others in so doing.
One thing that gets comparatively little media coverage is the number of French hostages who have been held by terrorist groups in Syria and were later released. Like they've done with al-Qaeda affiliates many a time, I think the French paid ransoms that were negotiated outside of public view and that's why those former hostages are back in France today.
Anyway, I appreciate passionate journalists and humanitarians. I feel more positive about launching special ops to rescue them than I do military personnel risking their lives for tourists who ignore travel warnings to stay out of certain countries/territories and saunter into kidnappers' hands wearing Bermuda shorts, fanny packs and flip flops. But, I think we're obligated to do our best to rescue them all.