Posted on 12/01/2004 6:51:48 AM PST by dead
Dental records have shown a mutilated body discovered in the besieged Iraqi city of Fallujah was not kidnapped Irish-born CARE Australia worker Margaret Hassan.
The findings cast doubts over the fate of the 59-year-old head of CARE International's work in Iraq, a position funded by CARE Australia, who was kidnapped by insurgents on her way to work on October 19.
No group admitted holding Mrs Hassan and no contact was made with her kidnappers, but a grainy video received by al-Jazeera television in mid-November showed a blindfolded woman in an orange suit being shot.
US marines found the body of a woman in in her fifties with her limbs severed and her throat cut two weeks ago.
Mrs Hassan's husband Tahseen Ali Hassan told British newspaper The Times he did not know if she was dead or alive.
"In my mind she is still alive," Mr Hassan told the newspaper, which reported the findings of the dental tests today, quoting British sources in Baghdad.
"Maybe I'm wrong, but I was with Margaret for 33 years. I cannot believe she has been abducted and killed."
Care Australia confirmed the results were accurate, The Australian newspaper reported.
AAP
I don't know; and agree.
Rather than 'almost hell' we should be making this a 'total hell' for these people.
They surely have no qualms in bringing a total hell to their victims.
Any evidence of this? I was wondering what happened to them
On the one hand. . .ål Jazeera did not release the video or the complete version - do not know what is available now.
OTOH. . .I remember reading from those that did see it (more of it?); that in it's fnality - it was obvious Margaret was being subjected to severe 'emotional and physicalldistress' ; and other comments alluding to the tapes gruesomeness . . .
I know these things can be arranged; but am inclined to believe that Margaret was picked up by a 'lesser group' wanting to make an impact. Which they did; just not the one they wanted. As I recall the first Iraqi response was one of disgust and a sickening of what these terrorists had done to 'one of their own' whom they all loved and respected.
But bottom line; we know we can be sure of one thing; and that is we cannot 'reason'. . .much less fathom, the mind of these people. . .
A couple of questions though, on the "execution tape", was her face ever shown? And did the people who provided the tape claim it was her, or was that speculation on the part of the media?
Seen a few reports here on FR, but can't find them now. Some info on this link:
http://www.iwpr.net/archive/ipm/ipm_196.html
You misspelled "was".
WAR: Woman's Torso Found In Fallujah UPDATE: Body May Be That Of Polish Captive Teresa Borcz
U.S. Marines in the city of Tallulah have found the limbless body of a women in her 60’s. Her throat was cut and its unclear at this time if she is a foreigner or an Iraqi. The corpse appears to have been there about 2 days. An embedded photographer indicated that the grey haired woman’s face was completely disfigured.
http://www.atsnn.com/story/97254.html
Ah, yes, sadly you are right.
Teresa Borcz was released and has since returned to Poland, so it wasn't her.
Couldn't they have phrased that differently?
It seems only the portion not covered by the blindfold - although this tape was edited - and so there may be existing tape with more info; but all 'our reports' are of a woman 'blindfolded' who was shot in the back of the head.
Now as to that other report I saw re Margaret being in a distressed condition - emotionally and physically; I found it on Google (it has never, to my knowledge been mentioned on our Media, unless we have watered it down somewhat); it reads (italics/bold mine):
........................................................................................................
'Distressing' new video of Iraq hostage Margaret Hassan: Irish PM : AFP: 11/2/2004
DUBLIN, Nov 2 (AFP) - Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern told parliament on Tuesday that Arabic television channel Al-Jazeera had received a "disturbing" new video of Margaret Hassan, the British-Irish aid official kidnapped in Iraq.
"Around lunchtime yesterday (Monday) the family of Margaret Hassan were made aware that there was a further video from the captors of Margaret. It was in the hands of Al Jazeera," Ahern said.
Hassan, 59, the head of Iraq operations for leading charity CARE International, was snatched from her car on the way to work in the Iraqi capital on October 19.
"It is a distressing video which was decided by the station, on humanitarian grounds, not to show this. But they did make available early this morning the text of what was on the video," Ahern said.
Ahern told MPs the text of the latest video warns of "dangerous and serious timescales".
Opposition Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny was briefed by Ahern on the video and he revealed further details to the Dail (lower house of parliament).
"Margaret Hassan is not sitting in silence in her cell," Kenny said. "Far from it."
"This video is quite disturbing and it shows Mrs Hassan being subjected to severe physical and psychological pressure in which she is shown to suffer severe emotional and physical distress." Earlier on Tuesday, Ahern and three of Hassan's sisters had made a joint new appeal for her release after they met in Dublin.
Members of the family travelled from London and from Counties Cork and Kerry in the south of Ireland for the meeting.
Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said the family had requested the meeting in an effort to emphasise that Hassan was Irish.
"They felt that in their contact with people in Baghdad this wasn't getting across as it should be," he said. "They felt that in the recent past the Irishness of Margaret needed to be emphasised more and more."
"She (Hassan) is in a very difficult situation," the foreign minister told RTE radio. "These people (the kidnappers) are clearly upping the ante in relation their demands."
Earlier on Tuesday, Hassan's sister, Deirdre Fitzsimons, made an emotional appeal to the kidnappers to set her free and not to harm her.
Referring to her captors demands to British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the release of women prisoners and not to move British troops from Basra to the Baghdad area, she said, "But we are Irish and we have no influence on the British government.
"Our sister is a friend of Iraq and we beg you to please let her go back to her husband who loves her. Please don't hurt her," she said.
Standing beside her, the Irish prime minister said he was making a direct appeal to those holding Hassan.
"Margaret is an Irish-born woman who has spent the last 30 years in Iraq. She has made her home there, marrying an Iraqi man and becoming a proud Iraqi citizen herself.
"During her time there Margaret has devoted herself to the welfare and support of all the Iraqi people. Through her humanitarian work she has helped countless numbers of Iraqis. She has worked tirelessly and selflessly on their behalf.< P> "Since Margaret was abducted some two weeks ago her husband and her family have endured enormous distress. I cannot imagine the trauma that Margaret herself has experienced. Margaret has no political associations. She represents no one except the vulnerable and the poor.
"Your quarrel is not with Margaret. Nor is it with the Irish people who have been a firm friend of the Arab nation."
Hassan last appeared in a video aired on Al-Jazeera last Wednesday appealing to London to withdraw its troops from Iraq and not to deploy around Baghdad.
She also asked for the release of Iraqi women prisoners.
No group has come out to claim responsibility for her kidnapping Hassan, who is married to an Iraqi, but has dual British-Irish citizenship.
11/02/2004 19:57 GMT - AFP Copyright © 2004 Agence France Presse
It is a report from Ireland; but copied in the Turkish Press. . .(Turkish Press.com)
I had no idea. Thanks!
From: Britain: Body Isn't Kidnapped Aid Worker
Hassan was among nine foreign women hostages abducted in Iraq this year. Eight, including two Italian aid workers and Polish-born Teresa Borcz Khalifa, have been released.
Maybe her kidnapping was part of a semi-elaborate scheme to cover-up her ordered assassination.
Maybe "important" people don't want her to be alive to testify to the deprivations Iraqi children continued to suffer at the very time the UN's oil-for-food program was supposed to be helping them.
Her testimony could whip up some powerfully angry anti-UN feelings.
Maybe she was marked for gang-style execution, but someone realized her execution could be camouflaged among all the other kidnappings.
Did any important papers disappear from her office around the time she was kidnapped?
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