Canadian hostage said killed in Iraq

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N1573907.htm

Canadian hostage said killed in Iraq

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug 15 (Reuters) - A Canadian citizen taken hostage in Iraq on Aug. 2 has been killed by his captors, Prime Minister Paul Martin said on Monday.

A short statement released by Martin's Ottawa office identified the man as Zaid Meerwali, but gave no other details on why he was in Iraq or how officials learned of his death.

[VegasWolf]

1. One question, who the hell would want to be in Iraq????? nt

[HEyHEY]

2. He was a Canadian of Middle Eastern decent

WHich is why he was there - as a merchant. His brother thinks he was kidnapped because he was a merchant, and they thought his family would have money. When they didn't have money the bastards just decided it was easer to kill him.

[ConcernedCanuk]

3. more to this than meets the eye methinks

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Mr Meerwali, who held dual Iraqi-Canadian citizenship, returned to Iraq from exile after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in April 2003.

His kidnappers demanded a $US250,000 ransom, according to his family.

His nephew offered them $US200,000, but after not hearing back from them, he circled area hospitals and made the grim discovery that his uncle had been killed.



It's that word "exile" that has my alarm bells going off

well,

THAT

and the fact the kidnappers didn't go for the $$$

[NYC]

4. I once read that

most often, by the time the ransom note has been delivered, the victim is already dead.

Can't remember where I read it, but think the FBI said it. That was years ago.

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. BUT . . . they never even TRIED to get the ransom

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and the exile thing . .

was it self-imposed,

imposed by the "coalition" after the invasion,

or by Saddam before the invasion ?

More questions than answers here

or

was it some group that is REALLY pissed at Canuks for not JOINING the invasion??

Of course,

we realize that the US will destroy a city or two to catch the culprits

OH

reminds me

that Fallujah thing,

Did the American Military Geniuses ever CATCH the people who did them hangings that was the "justification" for destroying Fallujah??

or just ruin a few hundred thousand Iraqi lives for . . .

what exactly ??

[NYC]

6. That's true.

Makes no sense unless something went awry.

On the other hand, the whole story does not make sense.

[enigma000]

7. He left a decade ago

http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=6c4d659d-94f6-4de3-aae4-495d351bc11f

After a decade in Canada, Zaid Meerwali returned to his native Baghdad six months ago to help rebuild his tattered country. Yesterday the Prime Minister's Office announced the Canadian is dead, the latest victim of Iraq's wave of kidnappings.

-snip-

(Zaid Meerwali's brother)said that whenever a foreign professional arrives in Iraq, kidnappers are notified through a network of informers placed at airports, borders and telephone companies.

"Anybody come, they call those people in these places. They call the people in the intelligence, so they follow him until the right time and they kidnap him."

-snip-

More than 200 foreigners have been abducted in recent months. Many are dead or missing.