Posted on 01/29/2005 11:31:32 AM PST by ijcr
Ahmed Resain has his back to the door, so he does not see the gunman alight from a car outside his rudimentary Al Pasha hairdressing salon, in Baghdad's dusty Al-Salam quarter.
The assailant strides deliberately into the shop and coldly turns to face Ahmed. He presses a pistol to the stunned barber's lower lip, carefully angling the weapon to ensure that the bullet exits through his left jaw.
Ahmed, 37, is still standing - but three shots to his legs as the gunman makes his getaway drop him to the floor in a pool of his own blood.
His survival is deliberate. The attack is intended to silence a critic of Iraq's Sunni-backed insurgency, but also to ensure that he stays alive as a warning to others in a predominantly Shiite area on the eve of tomorrow's national elections.
Days later, in a chilling interview, the chunky, Western-dressed son of a Palestinian refugee family in Baghdad informs me that it was he who sent the hit man for the hairdresser.
He sips a can of Pepsi as he talks of his victims - most of whom die. As he swings in a revolving chair, he condemns them all in the name of the insurgency and Iraq's displaced Sunni powerbrokers: "That hair-dresser says 'f---' the Islamic resistance and he says 'bulls---' to the Sunni people."
"Abdul" refuses to reveal his real name. But he identifies himself as a mid-level leader who acts on orders from a more senior figure who still operates from Falluja, the Sunni city west of Baghdad.
The Al Pasha is like barber shops the world over - Ahmed clips and snips, talking politics and sport with customers and friends who drop in. Regrettably, he pays little attention to a stranger who turns the debate to Falluja and the terrorist tactics of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
When I visit his home, Ahmed's bed has been brought into the sitting-room.
Ahmed cannot talk, but his brother Fadel, 30, explains: "The stranger was a Sunni spy and Ahmed talks too much."
The attack on his brother took place two weeks ago, Fadel says. Since then Abu Ali, a carpenter in a nearby street, was executed because he had pictures of the Shiites' spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in his workshop and he too spoke ill of the insurgency when he chatted with customers.
Confirming the attack on the carpenter, "Abdul" nonchalantly rattles off other victims: "There was Nasir, another barber on Haifa Street, who we shot three times in the face; Naji, the head of a local council was calling in US tanks - so we killed him and his son, Firas, by setting their car on fire; we kidnapped and set fire to a woman who was an American spy; and I sent gunmen to kill another woman who was going in and out of the green zone too many times."
Fadel, the hairdresser's brother, says doctors are confident that Ahmed will be able to talk properly when his jaw heals. And in the face of the insurgency's attempts to frighten people away from the polls, he declares for the family: "We are not afraid - we'll still be voting."
So tomorrow, will this devout Shiite family vote for the Sistani List, a coalition of the key Shiite religious parties devised by the reclusive grand ayatollah?
Actually, no. Fadel reveals the family's political stance: "The religious men don't have the solution to Iraq's problems - maybe later. But now we need [interim Prime Minister] Iyad Allawi because he is strong and he knows how to deal with the terrorists.
"If we wait for the likes of Sistani who tells us 'wait, wait, wait' when we are attacked by the Sunnis, all the Shiites will be dead. The terrorists think we are weak because we do not respond, but Allawi knows what to do - kill, kill, kill."
considering it's McGeough I'm shocked no overt American bashing.
"Days later, in a chilling interview, the chunky, Western-dressed son of a Palestinian refugee family in Baghdad informs me that it was he who sent the hit man for the hairdresser."
I'm sure the reporter didn't turn him in.
That's the most horrible thing about this interview. That the reporter, first of all, obtained an interview, and secondly, did not turn him in.
A generation of vipers.
Notice that the goon wasn't an Iraqi.
The reporter should at the very least be given the bum's rush out of Iraq. Or perhaps he could be driven down to Basra and thrown out of a vehicle in a neighborhood that suffered under Saddam's persecution - a day after copies of the article are posted there.
But he gave a very good description that narrows the list down significantly. When the Sheites decide it's time to settle scores, (starting next week I'd bet) they'll know where to start.
I think it's time for the good residents of Iraq to form some "Vigiance Committees" and start cleaning up their neighborhoods themselves, istead of waiting for someone else to do it for them.
Oh no, they have to remain "impartial". They are like the animal scientist observing in Africa--they can't interfere when the lion is ripping the throat out of the gazelle. They have to let nature take it's course. "Guerrillas in the mist". Of course, I'm being sarcastic but that's what it reminds me of.
Sounds like this POS "reporter" is blaming it on the victims instead of the terrorists - he doesn't recognize a murderous scumbag even as he interviews the slimer...
paul mcgeough is a known terrorist sympathiser. he lives in australia and to the best of my knowledge has lived in australia for some time. apparently he refuses to apply for australian citizenship because the queen is still head of state. what a loser
Exactly. Call 'em the al-Capones.
}:-)4
Serious question about Iraq:
What's the RKBA situation there? All I hear is unarmed civilians being shot like dogs.
Can't they defend themselves?
We call them GANGS in the US, or mafia, but over there they are called terrorists.
They take on names, like CRIPS,BLOODS,IRA,AQ,PLO,etc.
According to Sen. Kennedy and other Democrats, it's people like "Abdul" who are winning the battle for the hearts and minds of the Iraqis.
nice psot. thanks.
"Thanks for the interview, you son of a bitch. BANG!!!!"
We all know what has to happen here. The Shiites have to get well and truly pissed off...........and they need to start taking things into their OWN hands.
Turn the hunters into the hunted.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.