Mystery remains over who killed Margaret Hassan

[Englander]

Rory McCarthy in Baghdad
Thursday November 18, 2004
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1353695,00.html

Iraqi authorities yesterday admitted they still had no clear idea about who killed the aid worker Margaret Hassan. Investigators are being hindered by the uniqueness of the case, and the complexity of the insurgency.

In previous kidnappings, Iraq's several insurgent groups have been quick to identify themselves and claim responsibility, using videos to make their demands. From the moment Mrs Hassan was seized her case was different.

Mrs Hassan, who had Iraqi nationality and spoke fluent Arabic, was taken from her car as she drove to work at the Care offices in Baghdad on October 19. Two videos emerged, showing her in an increasingly desperate state pleading for her life and asking for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.

Unlike previous incidents her kidnappers gave themselves no specific name and used no banners or flags to identify themselves.

[Stunster]

1. Robert Fisk has his doubts

See his story here:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/story.jsp?story=583686

Maybe John Howard knows---see below. Did he unwittingly let a dirty little secret escape? Something not right, in my mind, about all
this. Al Jazeera says they got the tape several days ago. Then
British officials viewed it before it was made public. Then a body
carefully noted to be 'mutilated' and 'of a Western woman' just
happens to turn up in the path of US troops rampaging through Falluja.
What a lucky coincidence. The execution video made days earlier
supposedly shows a non-standard MO. Margaret Hassan spoke fluent
Arabic, one presumes. She had no problem calling for an end to the
withdrawal of UK troops. But the insurgents shoot her anyway,
scoring what they would have to have known would be a massive own
goal. Just at a time when the US needed to show how barbaric their
opponents were. It wouldn't surprise me if Hassan was kidnapped by
insurgents, was then released, but was then held in the custody of
Special Forces, and having called for an end to the occupation, was
deemed an 'enemy sympathiser', thus justifying her killing and use of
her body as a psyops prop.

This from AP:

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Thursday a body found in
the strife-torn Iraqi city of Fallujah was likely that of Hassan —
repeating the belief of British officials and Hassan's family.

"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," Howard told Parliament.

Howard did not say which body he was referring to but on Sunday,
Marines found the mutilated body of what they believe was a Western
woman on a street in Fallujah during the U.S. assault on the insurgent
stronghold.

Hassan, 59, director of CARE International's operations in Iraq, was a
British citizen born in Ireland and married to an Iraqi man.

The body, clothed in what appeared to be a purple, velour dress, was
wrapped in a blanket, with a blood-soaked black cloth nearby. As of
Thursday, the U.S. command said the body had not been identified.

When questioned outside Parliament about his comments, Howard did not
confirm which body he was talking about and said no remains had been
yet returned to authorities.

"This latest example of cruelty and brutality reminds us that there
can be only one answer to terrorism and that is the completely
uncompromising and unconditional one," he said.

The Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera said early this week it had
received a videotape showing the murder of a woman believed to be
Hassan, a British-Irish national who had lived in Iraq for three decades.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041118/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[xchrom]

3. my attitude: why not?

it fits -- with the theft of the election in 00 -- the expansion without {official dem leadership} resistance to voter fraud in 02 and 04, the illegal war{i.e. where are the wmd's}, no clear victory and seemingly not looking for one in afghanistan, etc.
not much is seeming beyond the pale for any of the parties in iraq and in the u.s. and the u.k. seeking to expand and consolidate their power.
for them, there is an awful lot at stake -- a single life is would certainly be expendable in the face of all the money, power, and business deals currently laying on the table.

[saigon68]

5. Maybe they did this

[Just Me]

41. Well,...fascists are the ones consistently guilty of killing off,...

,...humanitarians, the knowledgeable/intelligent, public servants and dissidents. As desperate as insurgents may be,...an act of violence against this woman simply does not serve their interests in any way.

[RebelOne]

6. You have to pay to read Fisk's article.

[Minstrel Boy]

7. Here's a free link for the Fisk story:

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=336&fArticleId=2303751

[Minstrel Boy]

8. From Fisk:

In the background of these appalling pictures, there were none of the usual Islamic banners. There were none of the usual armed and hooded men. There were no Quranic recitations.

And when it percolated through to Fallujah and Ramadi that the mere act of kidnapping Margaret Hassan was close to heresy, the combined resistance groups of Fallujah - and the message genuinely came from them - demanded her release.

So, incredibly, did Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Al-Qaeda man whom the Americans falsely claimed to be leading the Iraqi insurrection, but who has very definitely been involved in the kidnapping and beheading of foreigners.

Other abducted women - the two Italian aid workers, for example - were freed when their captors recognised their innocence. But not Margaret Hassan, even though she spoke fluent Arabic and could explain her work to her captors in their own language.
http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=336&fArticleId=2303751

[Minstrel Boy]

2. The neocons wanted CARE out of Iraq

Kurt Nimmo has some important things to say about Hassan today:

It’s no secret the Bushcons hate NGOs and believe they are casting a negative light on the Strausscon plan for Word War IV. As Naomi Klein writes, the Strausscons are keen “to sweep up those pesky non-governmental organizations that are helping to turn world opinion against U.S. bombs and brands,” for instance CARE, the organization Margaret Hassan worked for.

...

Is it possible the Iraqi resistance would attack and organization dedicated to saving Iraqi lives? Does it makes sense for the resistance to kill CARE workers and attack them “without any further notice,” especially if they are working to save the lives of Iraqi children?

However, the NGO-hating Strausscons in the Pentagon—the same people who bomb hospitals in Fallujah because they want to shroud the number of people killed by the recent U.S. assault—may very well be interested in attacking CARE, especially after the organization writes things such as this:

Military action in March and April <2003> resulted in an unknown number of civilian deaths and injuries, and huge damage to vital infrastructure, which continues to cause a lack of clean water, electricity and basic health care. CARE remains deeply concerned about the current situation.... As the only international non-governmental organization to have worked continuously in central and southern Iraq since 1991, CARE is well positioned to provide a rapid and co-ordinated response to the conflict and to scale up activities to meet needs. Along with other aid agencies, CARE is calling for security issues to be addressed and for restoration of public services, so that civilians can start to rebuild their lives.


http://kurtnimmo.com/blog/index.php?p=420

[Just Me]

43. The "strausscons" (eg neocons) are our 21st C. fascists,...

,...in the worst way.

They have gambled away the future of this country, both economically and in their quest for world dominance. Their reckless high-stake risk-taking,...and an arrogant willingness to gamble the human capital of their own people in order to advance their own incredibly delusional fame is so appalling that there is absolutely NO possibility human history will look upon them as anything other than the danger to life that they present.

LOL,...maybe they will force us to prevent shit from rising to the top ever again!!!

[Cooley Hurd]

4. And why was she shot, instead of beheaded?

Have the insurgents shot anyone in the head before, or were they all beheadings?:shrug:

[NewYorkerfromMass]

11. Yes. They shot the soldier from Ohio who was captive for months

Nobody will take responsibility for this. It made no sense.

[Minstrel Boy]

15. "It made no sense."

It did. But you're right, nobody will take responsibility for this.

[sattahipdeep]

23. US Hopes to Divide Iraq Insurgency-Bodine-Bremer

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?Category=24&ID=190231&r=0
Canton Repository (subscription), OH - Oct 31, 2004
... “We don’t understand when someone kills a brother, it calls for revenge killing,” said
Barbara Bodine, a State Department official.

Valerie James
There were a handful of people in D.C. that were out to get John O'Neill.

"He was fighting terrorism, and he was fighting his own people too."
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/knew/interviews/james.html


DoD Inspector General Lauds Bremer
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2004/n11152004_2004111508.html
ARLINGTON, Va., Nov. 15, 2004 -- Former Coalition Provisional Authority administrator L.
Paul Bremer stopped by the Defense Department's inspector general headquarters today to
receive the 2004 Joseph H. Sherick Award. :puke:

[sr_pacifica]

36. Because the captive was woman

I talked to a muslim friend of mine who said beheading a woman would be very unlikely in a muslim culture.

[sr_pacifica]

37. Delete--dupe

[sr_pacifica]

38. Delete--dupe

[NorthernSpy]

9. Cui bono?

Who benefits from her death?

She opposed the war, and she criticized as inhumane the sanctions that preceded it.

Wasn't there a journalist kidnapped earlier who was let go after his captors looked up his credentials and his articles on the internet? There never was any mystery about who Hassan was or where she stood. If she had been taken by so-called insurgents, why wasn't she released also when they learned just who they had?


If the moral of this story is that anti-war NGO personnel are at risk of being "disappeared" and shot, then who really benefits from making an example of Margaret Hassan?

[Englander]

13. Absolutely....this is a signal to other NGOs,

"get out,or we kill you",as Fallujah is a lesson to other cities,"don't support the rebels,or we will destroy your homes".

And it is clear who the "we" is...

[tuckessee]

24. The kidnapped then released journalist was Scott Taylor

The resistance checked his credentials by googling him.

Here's his story. http://www.espritdecorps.ca/new_page_243.htm

[pinniped]

10. al-Zawqawi dun it, this man of mystery gets the blame for everything,,,

else on the damm planet. Why the hell are they suddenly having a problem with not blaming al-Zarqawi?

[__Inanna__]

12. you've got guts Englander

I just finished watched a video put out by the BBC about very interesting items, along these lines. I agree, I always ask myself...who stands to benefit from this? Please keep us informed. You know we only get the Internet, a couple of alternative news sources, but that's about it over here. Quite frankly, I am really sick of the spin. Thanks.

[Englander]

17. What was the BBC video? When Negroponte was appointed..

ambassador to Iraq, the el Salvador,Honduras disappearances & death squads would not be far behind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Negroponte

[RaleighNCDUer]

21. Just have to hope there aren't any nuns in Iraq. n/t

[gWbush is Mabus]

14. i'm going with the CIA psyops

i think they did all the beheadings in the orange jumpsuits too.

[liberalmuse]

16. I'll stand with you guys. This stinks.

The only ones who benefit from Hassan's death are those who stand to profit from this war. I hope there is a special justice for those responsible. This woman was close to being a saint. I hope that counts for something in this universe.

[KansDem]

19. I have to agree...5, 10 years ago I'd have my doubts...

But now, in light of the election thefts, the fact that the Bush Family has been so prevalent in national politics the last 40-plus years, the lies and deception that got us in this war, the bought-and-sold US media, the secret US government...I have to go with the notion that forces friendly to the Bushistas are responsible

I hate to think we have sunk this low, but I see no other explanation.

I really hate to have to believe this, but there is no choice...

There is a criminal mob running this country, and its interests, as well as its loyalties, do not lie with the American people...

[lynx rufus]

22. The US killed her. This is the simplest explanation.

By far.

[Reverend Smoothfield]

31. Simple, yes. Unlikely to be, you know, "true," though.

As much as the US may have found Hassan an annoyance, the US cause was hardly advanced by the spectacle of a weeping, universally respected woman begging Tony Blair to withdraw British troops. Surely the most likely explanation is that whoever precisely it was who killed Hassan, they are somehow affiliated with the only side in this conflict that makes a habit of kidnapping civilians and offing them on video.

[Nihil]

32. BS

> the US cause was hardly advanced by the spectacle of a weeping,
> universally respected woman begging Tony Blair to withdraw British
> troops.

Actually, when associated with the various headlines, talk-overs and
hate energy directed at "those Iraqi barbarians", it *did* help the
US cause - at least in the eyes of those who have limited reasoning
faculties.

> ... they are somehow affiliated with the only side in this conflict
> that makes a habit of ... offing <civilians> on video.

That would be the US armed forces then?

> Surely the most likely explanation is that ...

... you like the taste of billy goats?

[Chicago Democrat]

40. Karma will get the murderers....

sadly I suspect Allawi's goons.

[Minstrel Boy]

18. kick for an important thread n/t

[Cocoa]

20. it was Clinton's penis

no mystery here.

[Blue_Tires]

25. coughcough*blackwater*cough

[freemarketer]

26. Negroponte had the women killed on orders from the Vulcans. No

question about it. Course, the average American would say: "Who was killed? What's a Negroponte? Where is Iraq?

[Stunster]

27. Margaret Hassan

See my dkos diary on the subject, including my reply to William Martin
as you scroll down:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/11/18/8650/2757

[happyslug]

28. What if she was killed by a US Bullet? Not intentionally but Killed by US?

Remember under the Geneva Convention you have to keep Prisoners in the same condition as your own troops. For example if your troops are on half rations, POWs can be put on half rations. When it comes to "Security" of POWs you have to make sure their are as safe as your own men. For example if you have trenches for your men, you have to provide trenches for POWs. If you require your men to walk 50 miles a day, you can force your POWs to hike 50 miles a day. If you provide concrete reinforced bunkers for your Troops, the POWs must equivalent protection. Please Note this assumes the POWs are in the combat area. Any one with POWs has a duty to remove them from the combat area if possible. Once removed the above protections and requirements are not needed (For example once the troops are removed from a combat area, you can put a WWII type POW camp a mile from a Concrete reinforced Command center without having to provide a reinforced Concrete bunkers for the prisoners. This all assumes the POW camp is sufficient distance NOT to be hit if an attack is made on the Concrete Command center).

My point here is in Iraq the Resistance has a limited ability to provide protection to any POWs they have. She might have been kept in one of the "safe" houses maintained by the Resistance. That would be sufficient under the Geneva Convention (provided it is the same protection the Resistance is providing their own troops and it appears it was). Thus when the US attacked, she might have been killed in a US attack on such a "safe house". This would explain why no one claimed her death, she was killed with her guards as part of the attack. The US may want to make a big deal out of this but given where she was held, and the intensity of the Attack, I would not be surprise if you find a M16 bullet in her not an AK-47 Bullet.

[daleo]

29. This particular kidnapping and killing does have unusual features

It is well to keep an open mind. It doesn't really make sense, other than:

- a pure rage/retaliation killing by the resistance/insurgents during the Fallujah assault. This could have been motivated by the carnage that the U.S. assault was creating on both Iraqi fighters and civilians. But why no identification, then?

- a black op by any of a number of shadowy organizations, including western intelligence agencies. They certainly scored a propaganda coup out of it, which is hard to explain otherwise.

[progressivebydesign]

30. Actually, I think the poor woman was shot in the head in revenge..

..for the video of the wounded Iraqi being shot the same way. I had a feeling that her killing was probably a statement about the wounded Iraqi shot by our soldier. A statement, that hasn't been mentioned here before. The timing seems right for that.

Now SHE should be considered for some type of sainthood, somewhere. Or else, what point is there of organized religion???

[daleo]

42. The media (Al-J) was supposed to have had the tape a couple days

So, the Hassan murder was supposed to have happened before the marine shot the fighter in the mosque. The tape was not released (or at least described in detail) until after the marine shot the fighter, though. This has supported the theory that the release of the Hassan killing tape was useful as propaganda, at any rate.

[Englander]

33. kick

:dem:

[RBHam]

34. Black Ops Psychological Warfare...

Domestically and internationally - arranging incidents and events to manipulate the American public into a state of emotional paralysis...

"I know the war is wrong...but we have to do SOMETHING about those terrorists! We can't cut and run!"

[sr_pacifica]

35. Sounds very suspicious

Killing a humanitarian was meant to inflame the world against the insurgency.

[SmokingJacket]

39. Important story. n/t

[neomonkey]

44. Well shit

The other day I ventured to guess out loud whether or not Mrs. Hassan was in fact really killed by Iraqis and I got shouted down by some "reasonable" DUers for daring to question the common consensus.