And in the statement i heard the troops who rescued them were the first ones mentioned.

they then went on to compare themselves to the soldiers, stating that since the soldiers were risking their lives for what they believe, they should do no less.
Stop it Mysic , don't you understand , these people didn't say thank you , even though they did say thank you they still didn't really say it .
If you carry on by pointing out that they did say thank you you will ruin the topic for those who want to say that they didn't say thankyou .

Try this line of thought instead .... They should be blaming the soldiers not thanking them .
If the soldiers were not there then there would be no peace protesters going there to complain about the soldiers being there .
If the soldiers were not there then wouldn't be insurgents kidnapping people because the soldiers are there .
If the soldiers were doing their job properly then the insurgents wouldn't be there and they wouldn't be able to kidnap people .
So it is all the fault of the military .