Gunmen Kill Iraqi Ex-Judge; Hostage Freed

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen on Wednesday killed a former judge whose name once was on a list of Sunni Arabs joining a parliamentary committee to draft Iraq's new constitution, officials said. Separately, a Filipino hostage was released after almost eight months in captivity.

Former judge Jassim al-Issawi, whose candidacy to join the 55-member committee was later dropped, was a law professor at Baghdad University and the former editor-in-chief of Al-Siyadah newspaper, said Salih al-Mutlak, secretary general of the Sunni National Dialogue Council

Al-Issawi, 51, and his son were killed in Baghdad's northwestern Shula neighborhood, said Abdul Sattar Jawad, current editor of Al-Siyadah.

The core of a violent insurgency plaguing most of Iraq is thought to be composed of Sunni Arabs fighting to overthrow the U.S.-backed, Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Some militants have begun threatening fellow Sunnis because some of their leaders have expressed a readiness to join the political process.

"The assassination of professor Jassim al-Issawi comes within an organized campaign aiming to liquidate all Sunni figures who will play an important role in the upcoming political process," said al-Mutlak. "Many threats were directed toward Sunni figures in order for them not to take part in the constitutional committee."

On Monday, Sunnis submitted a list of 15 candidates for the Shiite-dominated committee drafting the constitution, but were having second thoughts about a demand by legislators that they first win the backing of a larger Sunni group.

The names of the Sunni candidates have not been announced, but al-Issawi was not on the most recent list. He was dropped in earlier negotiating rounds, officials said.

The latest snag in efforts to give Sunnis a bigger say in drafting the constitution will likely take days to resolve, further eroding the little time remaining for the charter to be drafted by mid-August. Iraq's government wants to hold a referendum on the charter ahead of December elections for a full-term government.

Filipino accountant Robert Tarongoy, who worked for a Saudi company that does catering for the Iraqi army, has been released, Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced Wednesday. Tarongoy was kidnapped Nov. 1 along with American Roy Hallums from their office in Baghdad after a gunbattle killed an Iraqi guard and an attacker. Hallums' fate is not known.

In a telephone interview with GMA television in Manila, an emotional Tarongoy thanked Arroyo and others who worked to secure his freedom. "She did not neglect me," he said.

Asked how he was treated, Tarongoy replied, his voice cracking: "You know how long I was kept there. It was difficult."

At least four people were killed in separate attacks Wednesday. A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi police patrol that included a special operations unit, killing two policeman and wounding two others in Madain, about 14 miles southeast of Baghdad, said police Maj. Raed Falah al-Mehamadawi said.

Separately, a group of children on bicycles ran over a bomb planted beneath the ground east of Baqouba, killing a 9-year-old boy and injuring two others aged 6 and 7, Army Maj. Fadhil al-Timimi said. Baqouba is 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

In the third attack, a roadside explosion meant for a U.S. military convoy killed an Iraqi civilian and wounded three others west of Ramadi, Dr. Abdullah al-Dulaimi said. There were no reports of U.S. casualties in the city, 70 miles west of Baghdad.

A U.S. soldier was killed Tuesday by small arms fire during combat operations in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, the military said. At least 1,725 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The number of attacks blamed on Islamic extremists has escalated since al-Jaafari announced his government on April 28. Nearly 1,200 people have been killed since then, according to an AP tally based on military, police and hospital reports.

On Tuesday, al-Qaida in Iraq said it has formed a unit of potential suicide attackers who are exclusively Iraqis, an apparent bid to deflect criticism that most of the bombers are foreign.

The U.S. military has said foreign fighters make up only about 5 percent of the insurgents. They do a disproportionate amount of killing, however, in part because they are more likely to carry out suicide bombings.

Analysts in the U.S. and elsewhere say the foreign fighters are primarily Islamic militants waging what they regard as jihad or holy war, while the much larger homegrown, mostly Sunni Arab, insurgency has tended to be motivated more by political grievance and factional rivalry.

Egypt, meanwhile, will become the first Arab nation to send an ambassador to post-Saddam Iraq, said Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari in an address to an international conference in Belgium on Iraqi reconstruction.

Arab nations withdrew their ambassadors from Baghdad under Saddam Hussein. Some, including Egypt, have diplomats in Baghdad, but none at the ambassador level.

The terrorists were paid 1.4 million in ransom. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) was caught on a 3 hour CD stealing the last election in the Philippines. It is vote fraud on a massive scale. They are calling it "Gloria-gate". Ransom was paid to get her scandals out of the headlines.

http://www.malaya.com.ph/jun23/news1.htm

Tarongoy freed; $1.4M paid to Iraq militants?
‘Get him back at all cost and immediately’ was Palace directive

PRESIDENT Arroyo yesterday announced the release of Robert Tarongoy who was kidnapped by Iraqi militants seven months.

Tarongoy was in the custody of the Iraq crisis team led by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, Arroyo said after hearing Mass at the Convent of Adoration in Cebu City.

Gilberto Asuque, foreign affairs spokesman, said no ransom was paid.

But sources said the crisis team paid $1.4 million to Tarongoy’s kidnappers following instructions from Manila to secure Tarongoy’s freedom "at all cost and immediately."

The sources said the crisis team members were puzzled by the instructions which reversed a long-standing no-ransom policy, the reason negotiations had dragged on since the abduction of Tarongoy on Nov. 1, 2004.

The instruction to get back Tarongoy at all cost, given 10 days ago, was seen as part of Malacañang’s attempt to push the Gloria-gate issue out of the headlines.

The sources said the ransom money came from the government, not Taronggoy’s employer, Saudi Trading and Contracting Co.

The sources said SATCO refused to share even a part of the ransom money because that would also commit it to pay for the release of Roy Hallums, another employe who was kidnapped with Tarongoy.

The sources said that as of last week the Philippine team was still bargaining for $1 million, which was the amount reportedly paid to get the latest French hostage back. But the kidnappers sensed that the Philippines wanted Tarongoy back badly so they took a hard-line position. They eventually settled for $1.4 million. Their original demand was for $10 million.

Arroyo talked briefly over the telephone with Tarongoy’s wife Ivy. The Tarongoys are from Davao.

"Sa wakas si Robert Tarongoy ay pauwi na pagkatapos ng mahabang panahon. Kausap ko si Ivy Tarongoy ngayon… at umaapaw ang kanyang pagpasalamat at kaligayahan. Itong araw pa namang ito ay third anniversary nila na mag-asawa kaya talagang ang Panginoon, alam niya kung kailan ang tamang panahon," the President said.

Arroyo said details on Tarongoy’s release will come from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

"Ang masasabi ko lang ngayon, salamat, salamat sa Panginoon, mabuhay ang OFW," the President said.

Asuque said Seguis took hold of Tarongoy at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday (shortly after midnight in Manila).

Asuque said Seguis received a call from a person who said Tarongoy would be dropped off at a certain location in Baghdad.

"They met him there and collected him and brought him to the Palestine Hotel where Seguis is staying," he said.

Jose Brillantes, undersecretary for migrant workers affairs, said arrangements were being made for Tarongoy’s early return.

He said Tarongoy was in "relatively good health but a little bit thinner."

It was not clear what kind of assistance the Philippines asked from these countries.

Tarongoy reportedly sneaked into Iraq on July 23, 2004, a day after truck driver Angelo dela Cruz came home.

Dela Cruz was abducted by Iraqi militants on July 8, 2004, and was released after Manila capitulated to his captors’ demand to pull out its humanitarian contingent from Iraq. – Ellen Tordesillas, Jocelyn Montemayor and Marilou Jumilla

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