Thursday, November 18, 2004

About Margaret Hassan

I'd been meaning to write something about the Margaret Hassan atrocity, but better you should read Robert Fisk and Kurt Nimmo.

Here's Fisk:

Who killed Margaret Hassan? After the grief, the astonishment, heartbreak, anger and fury over the apparent murder of such a good and saintly woman, that is the question that her friends - and, quite possibly, the Iraqi insurgents - will be asking.

...

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.

There was one mysterious video that floated to the surface this year - a group promising to seize al-Zarqawi, claiming he was anti-Iraqi, politely referring to the occupation armies as "the coalition forces". This was quickly nicknamed the "Alawi tape" - after the American- appointed ex-CIA agent and ex-Baathist who holds the title of "Interim Prime Minister" in Iraq, the same Alawi who fatuously claimed there had been no civilian deaths in Fallujah. So if anyone doubted the murderous nature of the insurgents, what better way to prove their viciousness than to produce evidence of Margaret Hassan's murder?


And some good observations from Nimmo regarding possible motive:

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.


There are many people shaking their heads sadly about Hassan's murder, muttering "It makes no sense." Well, no; it does make sense. The kind that compounds the sadness, and horror.

Hassan's execution, attributed to the Iraqi resistance, demonizes "insurgents" as savages needing to be put down. It buttresses the wobbly morality of those who say the war may be wrong, but America's in it now and has a job to do, so had better "finish what it started." And, perhaps most importantly, it removes a pesky NGO from the scene.

And the target is not CARE alone. "Relief agencies fear staff targetted deliberately," says yesterday's headline from AFP. "'What's new is that we're being treated as targets in a deliberate, non-accidental way,' said Christian Captier, director-general of the Swiss branch of Medecins sans frontieres."

And so on we go, deeper into the dark.

16 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

A agreeable (at least to BushCo) side effect of the murder of Hassan is that it pushed away from the headlines the deliberate killing of a wounded Iraqi by an American soldier.

They all make a fuss about this killing, which seems to me very hypocritical, because, in my opinion, the incident was only reported because accidentically a tv team was present. It is certainly not far fetched to assume that this kind of situation (a wounded Iraqi who might be a danger) and this kind of reaction (shoot him to be on the safe side) occurs very often in Iraq -- but goes unnoticed by tv teams and is thus nonexistent.

gandalf

12:47 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's interesting how our seemingly more objective commentators, like Juan Cole and Phillip Carter, have jumped on the bandwagon to use the Hassan killing as a way of whitewashing the destruction of Fallujah. The 'we're good, they're evil' mantra is so comforting.

3:11 p.m.  
Blogger spooked said...

This reminds me of the Nick Berg execution. Wasn't that awfully convenient timing for the coalition? Right when the Abu Ghraib story heated up?

And Hassan's death comes at a convenient time for the coalition too-- right during the horrors of Fallujah.

And I don't hold much regard for Juan Cole, who has bought into the Al Qaeda/terrorist legend way too much.

9:02 p.m.  
Blogger spooked said...

True enough bin'dare. You're right about Cole. I've learned a lot from him, and I'm sure he does get a lot of crap for his positions.

He seems like a smart guy but I find his take on Al Qaeda to be very simplistic.

11:29 p.m.  
Anonymous enemy territory said...

The home of the infamous european toxic clan, psycho urban fraggers that pawn the virtual return to castle wolfenstein enemy territory battlefields.

10:45 p.m.  
Anonymous justpub said...

Just Pub, a dumb return to castle wolfenstein enemy territory comic strip by feuersturm.

10:45 p.m.  
Blogger ekstrakalam said...

selangkangan anda terasa gatal silahkan hubungi 085 647 928 789 insya Allah manjur

1:22 a.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

cara yang alami menyembuhkan penyakit wasir ambeien secara alami dengan menggunakan daun ungu serta mahkotadewa aman untuk ibu hamil tanpa operasi cukup dengan menggunakan obat wasir herbal ambeclear terbuat

2:37 p.m.  
Blogger Cara Mengobati Wasir Ambeien said...

sugeng ndalu sedoyo obat kadas insya Allah Allah berkhasiat dan manjur untuk kudis kudi kurap panu herpes .............. amin....

5:18 p.m.  
Blogger Unknown said...

Penyakit kencing nanah bisa disebabkan oleh beberapa faktor seperti seks bebas, penularan, virus hpv, lingkungan, gaya hidup dan lainnya, Maka dari itu kita harus waspada dengan penyakit kencing nanah ini, karena penyakit kencing nanah sangatlah berbahaya, Namun untuk anda yang menderita penyakit kencing nanah, maka anda tidak perlu khawatir,

10:00 a.m.  
Blogger Unknown said...

Bukan hanya pengobatan medis saja tapi ada juga pengobatan rumah alami yang dapat digunakan untuk menyingkirkan penyakit kutil kelamin ini. Intinya, karena kutil ini muncul di daerah yang sensitif, maka anda harus mencari pengobatan yang terbaik pada kulit Anda dan jika diperlukan juga dibantu dengan tenaga medis yang professional. Sebab dokter akan menjadi sumber informasi yang baik untuk mengobati penyakit ini.

2:40 p.m.  
Blogger Unknown said...

Kadang disertai
dengan sakit saat kencing, perih, organ intim terasa panas menyiksa,
gatal,..

2:25 p.m.  
Blogger obar herbal manjur alami said...

1111111111111111111111111

4:50 p.m.  
Blogger kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

111111111111111111111

1:51 a.m.  
Blogger kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111

1:21 a.m.  
Blogger obar herbal manjur alami said...

Cegah Wasir ambeien anda bertambah parah dan segera untuk melakukan pengobatan yang cepat dan tepat dengan obat terbaik apabila sobat sedang mencari obat Ambeien yang ampuh dan cepat sobat sedang berada di web yang tepat karena kami ini menjual obat Ambeien yang aman cepat dan ampuh segera kontak kami di 0823 2528 0340

12:33 p.m.  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Google