HANDED OVER TO HIS ‘DOOM'

NY Post ^ | January 26, 2003 | BRAD HUNTER

[Norman Arbuthnot]

An Iraqi man ran to U.N. officials in Baghdad yesterday, begging them, "Save me!"

But the multinational troops dragged the desperate man away and turned him over to Saddam Hussein's security police, leaving him to face an uncertain fate.

The incident was just one of several troubling developments in Iraq as the drums of war continued to beat.

[Movemout]

The UN team has clearly made their point. Asking to be saved will not result in your safety from the thugs of Saddam's regime. It is a huge cloud hovering above their efforts. Why should any Iraqi be forthcoming after this perfidous example of treachery? It's time to pull the inspectors out and give Iraq a makeover. I don't believe that the Iraqi people are inherently evil but their leaders are due for a dirt bath.

[ConservativeLawyer]

The UN doesn't WANT to find anything. When presented with evidence, they look the other way.

If they were to really find something, that would mean they would actually have to do something about it.

[CindyDawg]

As someone posted on another thread ,"look at the notebooks" These are bound manuals like you are given at inservices. There may be a few pages but you don't print these up blank. I wish I could find out who this inspector is and what country he is from. As I have previously posted, he looks irritated and western to me.

[P.O.E.]

Caption: "Sorry, I'm on my lunch break right now"

[hotpotato]

I'll just repost what I posted on the other "fact finding" thread and then I'm done with this witch hunt...( http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/829283/posts?page=134 )

That thread is full of the same misinformation and imagination as has been flying around on this one. Try exercising some critical thinking.

Assumptions: the inspector is a mindreader (or psychic, you pick) and knew the guy had valuable information and "didn't want to look at it for fear the inspector would have to act on it."

Assumption: the inspector in the car was in the driver's seat and could have driven to safety with the man (wherever "safety" is)

Assumption: the _inspectors_ turned the guy over to the Iraqis

Assumption: the inspector wasn't concerned that the guy who suddenly jumped into his vehicle yelling and resisting the Iraqi (or UN.. you pick) guards didn't come with a C4 bodywrap with intent to blow him and everyone within 15 feet into small portions.

Assumption: the guy was yelling in English (the original Foxnews report I saw claimed the guy was yelling in Arabic). Regardless the next assumption is...

Assumption: the inspector *speaks* English.

Assumption: the guy has a "smoking gun"

Assumption: they are in the compound

Assumption: they are outside the compound

Assumption: the guy with the knives was sent in to assassinate the guy with the "smoking gun" (this one is a real gem)

Assumption: the UN security people are prepared to put inspectors and the inspection process at risk for a guy who may or may not be a plant by Saddam to start a mini war by having UN folks offer assylum therefore, justifying Sadam in kicking them all out.

And finally this offering from one of the conspiracy buffs (a good example of how playing the guessing game suddenly morphs from "a theory" into "THE fact")... "I'm going back to the theory that this man was trying to defect, and that the man with the knives was sent to assassinate him. The fact that they sent an assassin after him tells me there is probably a good guy or two in the compound or on the inspection team; otherwise, they could have been certain that he'd be turned back over to them."

What scares me is that some of you may actually sit on juries when you are over 18.

End of repost.

[CindyDawg]

I would have rathered that no one had done any assuming and the inspector had stood up like a man and said "until I get to the bottom us this he isn't going anywhere".

[Right_in_Virginia]

...the U.N. handed him to Iraq troops,...

----

Add the UN to the Axis of Evil.

I agree with you, friend. ~ If these inspectors are so hell-bent on protecting and helping Saddam...may I respectfully suggest we give them a courtesy three minute warning before we attack.

Throwing this man into Saddam's murderous hands should generate a global outrage. With the travesty in the "human rights commision" and this action...the UN is becoming an enemy to democracy and freedom-loving people everywhere.

Someone should tell the UN the dustbin of history awaits.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Assume this: ~ The inspectors could have taken him to their compound to figure out what he wanted.

If we have reached the point where it's okay for an international body to turn a man who is pleading: "help me" over to the very butchers he's seeking help from ~~ well, what's left to say?

[keats5]

bttt

[ConservativeLawyer]

You say you indended to leave this thread, but I though I would reply anyway for the benefit of others still here. Most of what you discount as "assumptions" come right from wire reports.

Assumption: the inspector in the car was in the driver's seat and could have driven to safety with the man (wherever "safety" is)

I never wrote that the inspector was in the driver's seat. From the photograph it is clear that he was not. According to the AP, however, "U.N. security men then arrived and took him inside the fenced compound, the journalists said."

Also from the AP: "The man was taken into the compound, a hotel where more than 100 inspectors and other U-N staffers have their offices."

Assumption: the _inspectors_ turned the guy over to the Iraqis

Not an assumption. According to another report, "Ueki said the man was turned over to Iraqi authorities at a government office adjacent to the compound, but the spokesman had no further comment on the man's identity or purpose."

Assumption: the inspector wasn't concerned that the guy who suddenly jumped into his vehicle yelling and resisting the Iraqi (or UN.. you pick) guards didn't come with a C4 bodywrap with intent to blow him and everyone within 15 feet into small portions.

You have a point. Initially, the inspector might have been frightened of this. But the inspector in the photograph is not cowering in fear or leaping from the vehicle. Furthermore, the UN security guards took the man into the UN compound (as established above). I'd be surprised if they'd do that if they thought he was carring explosives. The again, nothing the UN does surprises me.

Assumption: the guy was yelling in English

Again, this is not an assumption: according to the AP: " 'Save me!' he shouted in Arabic and English, after which he was allowed to enter the vehicle"

Assumption: the inspector *speaks* English.

I infer that someone at the compound speaks English. Otherwise, they could hold the man until someone who speaks English (or Arabic) arrives.

Assumption: the guy has a "smoking gun"

I don't know what he has. It appears to me that a human being feared for his life, and the UN turned him over to those who he feared. I want to see ALL the Iraqi people free, not just scientists with something to offer in exchange for freedom.

Maybe this guy is just a common criminal, and was running from the cops after committing a bank robbery. If so, then he should be returned to the Iraqi authorities. But if that is the case, then why doesn't the UN say so. All we get from the UN is "no comment."

Again, from the AP "There's been no comment from the U-N and no explanation of the incident."

Assumption: they are in the compound

Assumption: they are outside the compound

Already dealt with above: they were outside the compound, and then he was brought into the compound.

Assumption: the guy with the knives was sent in to assassinate the guy with the "smoking gun" (this one is a real gem)

That wasn't an assumption; that was someone's theory based upon the facts as they are reported by the UNbiased press. The theory, like all theories, may prove to be right or wrong. No one represented it, to my knowledge, as fact. You are free to accept it or reject it.

And finally this offering from one of the conspiracy buffs . . . .

Do you honestly believe if a scientist were trying to defect with information about WMD programs, that it would be beyond belief that Saddam would try to kill him before he turned over the information? Maybe that is not what happened here. The two incidents could be completely unrelated. But any reasonable person can see that is not impossible.

Assumption: the UN security people are prepared to put inspectors and the inspection process at risk for a guy who may or may not be a plant by Saddam to start a mini war by having UN folks offer assylum therefore, justifying Sadam in kicking them all out.

The UN resolution dealing with inspections contemplates granting asylum to those who give information about WMD programs. That's the whole point of taking scientists out of the country along with their families. So I find in incredible to think that granting this man asylum puts the inspection process at risk.

And if he is a Saddam plant, then he should be taken into custody for questioning anyway. Finally, for your first point:

Assumptions: the inspector is a mindreader (or psychic, you pick) and knew the guy had valuable information and "didn't want to look at it for fear the inspector would have to act on it."</>

There is no way the inspector could have known one way or the other when the man first entered the car. But I was under the impression the inspectors were trained investigators. Shouldn't he at least look at the man to try to discern whether he has something important to say? Whether they speak the same language or not is immaterial. I'm thousands of miles away looking at a photograph and I can look at the man's body language and conclude that more investigation is warranted. The inspector isn't jumping out of the vehicle in fear. He isn't focusing on the man trying to determine what he is trying to convey. He is sitting there completely uninterested.

You might be right and the whole incident might be nothing. But to me, it sure looks funny and the UN hasn't attempted to clarify the issue or justify their actions.

[Inkie]

The useless UN is up to its old tricks again. They always support the bad people. Like when they did nothing to stop Palestinians murdering Israelis. Or when they did nothing to stop the slaughter in Rwanda, lest they get their uniforms dirty.

[CindyDawg]

The same post is on the other thread. Maybe, you should post this there too? CD

[Theo]

They didn't turn him over to the Iraquis. The Iraquis dragged the poor man from the UN vehicle.

Hm. Read post 30. I'm not sure why you've got a chip on your shoulder. It really seems like you've got a chip on your shoulder for some reason. Just consider what this situation truly looks like now that almost 2 days have passed: a scared man yells, "Save me," and he's turned over to those that he wanted to be saved from.

Are you really more moved by our concern over what happened than you are about this terrified man's fate?

[FairOpinion]

I would have rathered that no one had done any assuming and the inspector had stood up like a man and said "until I get to the bottom of this he isn't going anywhere".
------

THAT would have been the correct response.

[keats5]

So why do you think none of the media is questioning the U.N.'s actions? Frankly, I'm amazed. The silence is deafening.

[FairOpinion]

This mishandling of the situation should be grounds to get all the UN inspectors, including Hans Blix to resign.

We'll never know what potentially valuable information that Iraqi guy may have had. He wouldn't have been clutching the notebook, if he were just someone asking for asylum. Of course, even if it had been "just" someone asking for asylum, the inspectors should not have turned him back to Saddam.

Here they are supposed to be moving heaven and earth to get info, then when someone shows up, they don't even want to find out what he has.

The media is covering up for the UN and Saddam, as usual.

[mware]

I wonder if the President will mention this in the State of The Union Address Tuesday???

[DoctorMichael]

Bumping the Thread.

[okie01]

"You might be right and the whole incident might be nothing."

It might, in fact, have been a demonstration "arranged" by Saddam and his security forces.

After this event, what Iraqi scientist would entrust themself and their extended family to the discretion of UNMOVIC?

The incident sent a compelling message of indifference/powerlessness on the part of the UN inspection regime.

[GilesB]

A dying mother handed her young child to the UN inspectors with the plea: "Save him from Saddam." The UN inspectors decided the boy belonged with his father, in Iraq, and turned him over to Iraqi officials.

Oh wait! That was a different story and a different country wasn't it???