Thousands attend requiem Mass for murdered aid worker

[bin.dare]

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=592350

More than 2,000 people joined the family of murdered aid worker Margaret Hassan for a requiem Mass in Westminster Cathedral, London yesterday.

The Mass was led by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster and England's most senior Roman Catholic, who again described Mrs Hassan as a martyr.

The Irish-born director of CARE International in Iraq was kidnapped by gunmen in October on her way to work in Baghdad. Despite a lack of physical evidence, it is believed that the 59-year-old was shot after being forced to plead for her life in several harrowing television appearances

In the service, Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor said: "The word martyr means witness. Margaret witnessed, in both her life and her death, to the act of loving. She was a peacemaker in a time of seemingly endless wars. She hungered and thirsted for justice for the Iraqi people. She was persecuted, brutally slain, because she was working in the cause of right."

The mourners included Mrs Hassan's sisters Deirdre, Geraldine and Kathryn, and her brother Michael. Mrs Hassan's family said: "Margaret was against war and sanctions. She tried to make a difference. She was a force for good. Children, the sick and poor were her concern. Those without food and clean water. Margaret gave her life for the vulnerable and disadvantaged."

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Sad.......

;(

[KoKo]

2. I thought the body they found was in question as to whether it really was

Hassan? I read that last week...I think.. Anyone remember that or know the link? It's very sad and makes NO SENSE!

[bin.dare]

3. you are correct ...

As of now there is no definite confirmation of Margaret's death. The Mass was organized a few weeks back, and in any event it became a celebration of her life and not her death. I think everyone is resigned to her death but there won't be closure until proof. very sad. very very sad.

[NEOBuckeye]

5. They may never find her body.

The situation in Iraq has deteriorated so badly, her body could be just one of many now left to decay in the streets. It's among the ugliest aspects of war.

It is truly sad that she had to die, and suffer the horrible, humiliating and lonely death that she did, while the actual warmongers and vile criminals like Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz and the Neo-Conservatives continue to live and thrive from her bloodshed, and the bloodshed of much better people. It's even more sad that the image of this contrast and comparison between Hassan, who lived and worked for the good of humanity, and the likes of Cheney, who profits from the same humanity's murder and bloodshed, will be lost on the vast majority of Americans.

[PunkPop]

4. I remember. Don't have a link though

But you are right. Her body has NOT been found as far as I know. I thought the story I read said definitively that the body found was not Margaret Hassan's.

[KoKo]

6. Well, thanks for you DU'ers who read what I did...we don't know and

won't know the truth of Margaret Hassan's death..it seems. But a "Memorial Service" for her seems in order. I've not read any article which "trashed her" and so therefore..whether her body if found or not or there is "controversy" over it...I'm glad her "Memorial" was a BIG EVENT...

These day's with or without a body...shouldn't mean that those of us who honor "Principles over greed/valor...etc...in times of "Invasion" give up and don't honor those who tried to stop us ever getting into this in the first place.

Enough..to know that Hassan wasn't in favor of the "Iraq Invasion," to understand whatever the circumstances of her "capture" or "death" we who are for "PEACE" owe this woman a debt of gratitude. :shrug:

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Scairp]

8. I don't understand

If there is a chance she is still alive, then why have a service now? They could have waited for a little while longer to see if other information either confirmed her death or indicated she might still be with us. I don't get what the rush was to have her declared dead.

[bin.dare]

9. it wasn't a rush ...

like i said above, i think her family and friends are resigned to her death. they saw the video. it's not proof, i know, but proof may never come, and that is sad for them. remember, anyway, that funerals, wakes, requiem masses, and so on, are for the living and not the dead.

[Maple]

10. Might be nice to discover

if she is actually dead first.

[belab13]

11. Margaret and her efforts will hold a place in my heart forever.

I'm burned, I'm cynical, but never unforgiving.