Mutilated body found in Iraq appears to be Hassan's

Asia News ^ | November 18, 2004

[NYer]

Sydney (AsiaNews/Afp) - The mutilated body of a Caucasian woman found in the Iraqi city of Fallujah earlier this week appears to be that of missing aid worker Margaret Hassan, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Thursday.

Mr Howard told parliament that there was every indication that Hassan was also the woman who appeared in a video received by Al-Jazeera on Tuesday showing an armed man shooting at a blind-folded woman.

"The body found in Fallujah appears to have been Margaret's and the video of the execution of a Western woman appears, on all the available information, to have been genuine," Mr Howard said.

The body of a blonde-haired woman with her legs and arms cut off and throat slit was found on Sunday lying on a street in Fallujah, a notorious Iraqi enclave for hostage-takers.

Hassan, 59, head of CARE International's Iraq operations, was seized in Baghdad on October 19 while on her way to work. She was married to an Iraqi, held British, Irish and Iraqi citizenship.

Mr Howard extended his sympathy to Hassan's family over the "despicable" killing.

"The inhumanity of Margaret Hassan's killers passes description. Such people are to be condemned without the slightest hesitation or qualification," he said.

Britain's Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor has spoken of his "sadness and horror" at the execution of Iraq aid worker Margaret Hassan, whom he described as a "martyr".

Shortly after he heard the news, the cardinal called her sister, Deirdre, who lives in his diocese of Westminster.

"I can't tell you how sad I feel for you and your family," he told Deidre. "Margaret is a martyr for goodness, truth, and generosity. She dedicated her life to others, she will always be remembered for this."

[NYer]

Britain's Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor has spoken of his "sadness and horror" at the execution of Iraq aid worker Margaret Hassan, whom he described as a "martyr".

Catholic Ping - please freepmail me if you want on/off this list

[Diogenesis]

She was MURDERED, not 'executed'.

She did nothing wrong, but was taken by the MSM's-idols
to Rather and Brokaw her to death.

[foolscap]

Are the Arab cable broadcasters showing the video of her murder now that it has been confirmed? I thought it was odd they were all over everyone else's tape and not this one.

[carumba]

Marines doing their duty is big news. Murdering innocents is understandable because these guys have been disenfranchised.

[shibumi]

Equal Time!!!

Al Jazerra should be forced to play the tape every 20 minutes - that goes for their affilliate stations in America - MSNBCBSABCNN.

[Robert Drobot]

....and she converted to that pagan insanity.....but then, they do delight in beating and killing their women.

The punishment for adultery is a stoning death.....of the woman.

[Robert Drobot]

....and she converted to that pagan insanity.....but then, they do delight in beating and killing their women.

The punishment for adultery is a stoning death.....of the woman.

[LiberalBassTurds]

Anyone else notice that she's never had blonde hair in a photo?

Thanks for the logo Safrguns!

[Route101]

This is beyond pathetic...a woman with her arms and legs cut off.....in the name of what religion is this???...These pyscho killers would have been hard at work along with Josef Mengele in the death camps.....

[ThirstyMan]

This is beyond pathetic...a woman with her arms and legs cut off.....in the name of what religion is this???...

How this barbaric savagery is overlooked as the face of our enemy, is just flabbergastingly unbelievable!

Evidently we must get used to this irrational double standard without being able to comprehend it.

And yes, LBT, I noticed the same thing, she's NOT blonde by our standards.

[sarasota]

Yeah, what's up with that? Blonde?

[Aquinasfan]

In some descriptions of the video I've heard that she was tortured. Others describe her being shot in the head. Anyone know the truth?

[BunnySlippers]

I believe the early videos "suggested" torture. The last video had her head with a bag over it ... and she was shot.

[OXENinFLA]

Timesonline

DNA test will find if mutilated body is murdered aid worker
From James Hider in Camp Fallujah and Richard Beeston

THE mutilated corpse of a Western woman found by US Marines in Fallujah is being DNA tested to see if it is the remains of the murdered aid worker Margaret Hassan, The Times has learnt.

The disembowelled body, with hands and lower legs cut off, was found near the bridge over the Euphrates River in west Fallujah on Sunday, wrapped in a white, brown and red striped blanket and a blue robe. The Marines who found it said it was a Western woman.

First reports indicated that the victim had been blonde, but photographs seen by The Times yesterday showed greying brown hair. “The Americans recovered the body and are now DNA testing it. It is too early to say whether it is Margaret Hassan,” a British official said.

The body is believed to have been flown out of Iraq for the testing. The woman photographer who took the pictures while with the Third Battalion of the Fifth Marines Regiment said that her unit was “80 per cent” convinced that the body was that of Mrs Hassan, 59, the Iraqi director of the charity CARE International. “Her hair was brown with grey strands,” said the photographer, who also found the bodies of an Iraqi man and woman nearby, shot to death and locked in a last embrace.

Diplomatic sources who have seen the video of Mrs Hassan being shot with a pistol at point-blank range said that the damage to the face and skull of the body found in Fallujah was consistent with that form of murder. “She had been shot in the head. That’s why half the head was missing,” the photographer, who asked not to be identified, said. The body was clothed in a similar garment to the dark-coloured robe that Mrs Hassan was last seen wearing. The corpse was found in a dead-end street after the 3/1 Marines battalion had made a rapid push south from the northwestern edge of the city. It was found by a second force that was clearing houses in a more methodical manner.

The body appeared to have been carried from one of the houses in the Jolan district, the heartland of the Fallujah insurgency, and dumped in the street. “They put her right on the street to be found,” the photographer said.

Reports that the victim was blonde led many to believe that it may have been a 54-year-old Polish-Iraqi woman abducted from her house in Baghdad soon after Mrs Hassan.

The body is to be taken outside Iraq for DNA tests. The results are expected to be completed soon.

[Guenevere]

#15...From this, can we assume the dismenberment took place after the head shot, which would seem merciful in a macabre sort of way.

[GrandEagle]

How this barbaric savagery is overlooked as the face of our enemy, is just flabbergastingly unbelievable!
I guess in order to feel like big men they feel the need to pick on women, children, and the defenseless.
These guys are the true meaning of cowards. They hide behind women and children.
They are animals and should be treated as such.
The only thing they understand is raw, brute force applied without mercy.

[tob2]

Bless her soul! She had a good heart and will be remembered for it. Her killers, on the other hand, should have a very special place reserved for them in everlasting HELL. May God be with her family at this time.

[Walkin Man]

This is beyond pathetic...a woman with her arms and legs cut off.....in the name of what religion is this???

ISLAM, TROP!

And the mainstream media howl when a wounded Marine shoots one of these satanic butchers!

KILL THEM ALL!

They are the enemy of all mankind!

[BrynS728]

This is beyond pathetic...a woman with her arms and legs cut off.....in the name of what religion is this???...

The idjits probably thought that she couldn't be identified without fingerprints (and/or footprints?) - Ignorant scumsuckers.