Posted on 01/25/2003 11:22:47 AM PST by ConservativeMan55
Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Vanishes
NewsMax's correspondent at the United Nations, Stewart Stogel, says Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohammed Aldouri is missing.
Aldouri decided to take an "overdue" home leave during the week of Dec. 15.
He told NewsMax it would be the first time to return home and visit relatives in more than a year. The ambassador said he would return to New York and his U.N. post on Jan. 15.
He hasn't.
Inquiries to the Iraqi mission have resulted in "moving dates" as to just when Aldouri will return.
At the beginning of this past week, a senior Iraq diplomat explained the ambassador would return "by Wednesday." On Thursday, another Iraqi diplomat said it could be any time "between now and Monday." He could offer no explanation to account for the delay.
UNMOVIC and the IAEA must submit their latest update on Iraqi cooperation and inspections analysis to the Security Council on Monday.
Aldouri was last seen in public in Baghdad about two weeks ago. He was present at a factory site being inspected by UNMOVIC. The U.N. froze the site for several hours.
Aldouri voluntarily elected to remain at the site while the inspections were in progress. Afterward, he complained about the "conduct" of the inspections and the inspectors. Since then, he has not been heard from.
In his absence, Iraq's deputy U.N. Ambassador Mohammed Salman Ali has assumed Aldouri's duties.
As previously reported in NewsMax, Ali is regarded in U.N. diplomatic circles as the New York station chief for Iraq's intelligence service.
A little over a year ago, Iraq's No. 2 and No. 3 diplomats defected to the U.S. just as their tours of duty at the U.N. had ended.
In 1991, Iraq's ambassador to the United States defected shortly before the start of the Gulf War.
In March 2002, a high-level group of Iraqi officials visiting the U.N. on the possible resumption of arms inspections were approached by the U.S. to defect.
One was Gen. Amir al-Saadi, Saddam's chief scientific and senior military weapons adviser. Another was Saeed Hassan, Iraq's former U.N. ambassador and Aldouri's predecessor. None accepted the U.S. "offer."
However, all of this happened on Aldouri's watch.
Aldouri was also believed to be close to former Iraqi oil minister Gen. Amir Rasheed, who unexpectedly "resigned" last month.
The ambassador's influence at home is regarded by U.N. diplomats as "decreasing."
The fact that Aldouri remains at home while the suspected intelligence chief runs the show in New York (just as UNMOVIC and the IAEA prepare critical reports) has led to speculation among numerous diplomats as to what Baghdad is up to.
It was 3 knives; I think he just felt bad that the inspectors couldn't find any weapons on their own. :)
Confirmation of the "resignation" of Gen. Rasheed, Dr. Germ's husband.
By the way, I think Al-Douri was the Iraqi ambassador that made the statement on Tuesday the 28th. So he seems to have made his way back to New York. By the way, what did he say Colin Powell was lying about? I didn't catch that.
Everything, I'm sure :)
I don't know. My blood pressure doesn't allow me to watch the Iraqi "press conferences". They're like the PRC- you know what they are going to say before they say it:
"The imperialist aggressors are lying" :)
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