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| Iraq |
| This is NOT good PR! |
| 2004-01-08 |
| Via Zeyad - Healing Iraq In the name of God, the most Compassionate, the most Merciful. Mr. George Bush president of the United States of America, Mr. Tony Blair prime minister of the United Kingdom, Mr. Jacques Chirac president of the republic of France, Dr. Adnan Pachachi president of the Interim Governing Council, Mr. Paul Bremer American civil adminstrator of Iraq, Mr. Kofi Anan general secretary of the United Nations, The Director of the Red Cross Organaziation, The Director of the Human Rights Organization, Dear Sirs, I write to you in a very distressed state of mind and that may burst my emotions and passions because of the weighty calamity that struck me and my husband after losing our oldest son who was at the tender age of nineteen years. He was looking forward with eyes full of hope and optimism to a bright and eventful future, especially after being engaged to marry a relative of his very recently. He moved forward with all his energy to build their future life with firm and confident steps. But Fate stood in his way and seized him unexpectedly leaving a bleeding wound in the hearts of his parents, his fiance, and his friends and family. Please allow me to tell you my story... On Saturday the 3rd of January 2004, my son and his cousin were travelling back to our residence in Samarra, they were driving a small cargo truck belonging to a third party from which they earn their livelihood in a country torn by wars and sanctions. Yes, they were back from Baghdad yet misfortune followed them from the beginning, their car broke down on the road which caused a delay in their arrival to Samarra when the curfew hour was just about to start in the city...And this is where the first chapter of the tragedy takes place. An American army patrol stood in their way, and after they went through the whole procedure of searching my son and his cousin, and inspecting the cargo load, they tied them up both and led them to an area about three kilometres from the scene and...in front of one of the gates of the Tharthar dam where water flows at its strongest rate and to my son and his cousin’s horror, they ordered them to jump into the water, it was midnight and the cold was unbearable, when they hesitated, they were pushed by the soldiers. Unfortunately my boy cannot swim, even though swimming at this time of the year wouldn’t have helped. Yet my sons cousin survived miraculously after he got stuck in a tree branch to give us his account of this tragic event which could have went untold. He tried saving my son, but the water current was stronger than him...After days of search we found my sons jacket floating with the stream, it shall remain with me as a memory and a symbol of the injustice brought against him by soldiers of the United States of America’s army, who came to our country under the banners of human rights and democracy only to send my son to his demise on his wedding days... To document the incident, my son’s name is Zaydun Ma’mun Fadhil Hassun Al-Samarrai, born in the 1st of June 1984...Yes, they killed him and they broke my heart, try to imagine that dear sirs and ask your wives how hard it is for a mother to see her fruit ripen only to be thrown by sinful hands and to be swept away without any mercy or humanity. Those soldiers have turned everything America has ever stood for into one big lie. I was a victim, and there are and will be many more. And that is why I turn to you all and to your respected ladies. And especially to Mr. President George Bush to look into my case and order an investigation of the event. I know that anything you may do will not bring me back my boy, but I wish that the procedures may put an end to the suffering of Iraqi mothers, we are reaping misery every day from actions of American soldiers with no regard to our human life, our dignity, and our culture and values. Maybe the procedures will help me trust (again) the validity of those banners and mottos that fly high in American skies, those which we do not perceive in our country, but instead find their opposites. Maybe such an investigation will support the power of law and justice so that day may not come when the conscience of one of the murderers awakens and confesses to its deeds, which will make it then a responsibility on your great nation. I am assured that you know terrorism and what is regarded as a terrorist act. Pray tell me have you ever seen or heard about a terrorist act that is considered any uglier than this crime, which was followed by crushing the car and levelling it to the ground by American military vehicles? This is a question I put to you all and to the international community, and I await a peremptory answer. Yours sincerely, In grievance for her son, The mother of Zaydun Ma’mun Fadhil Hassun Al-Samarrai. Samarra, Iraq. --- We’re investigating. And this is an update: A creepy coincidence is that just this afternoon I heard that a friend of mine was badly injured by another American unit in Baghdad last night during a wedding when people started to celebrate iraqi style by shooting in the air. It was a mistake yes but the doctors say my friend may not be able to walk again. I am at the moment too overwhelmed with bad news so I may sound incoherent to you. I will post more updates as soon as I get them. --- Long, Fred, I know, but I thought it’s best. |
| Posted by:Anonymous2U |
| #19 And just to let everyone know where I stand, I don't believe for a second that the above letter is authentic. |
| Posted by: fatbags75 2004-1-8 10:10:56 PM |
| #18 That's one less person that I and every other taxpaying American have to pay for. I say too bad the tree branch didn't brake and didn't take away the other jerk who was violating curfew. |
| Posted by: fatbags75 2004-1-8 10:07:53 PM |
| #17 As to Zayed command of English,hesays hec spent several years in England growing-up. |
| Posted by: raptor 2004-1-8 7:47:17 PM |
| #16 I think it's an urban myth/disinformation ploy for all the reasons listed over at Instapundit. On a related note; did any of you catch CNN showing the mooks let out of jail today? One punk, mid-20's, was complaing, saying the US wrongly picked him up on suspicion of "killing a general". Yeah, our Generals have been dropping like flies over there. I can promise you though that when that prick gets back to his 'homies', he'll be braggin' that he did bust a cap on a US general and fooled the stupid Americans. It's an honor/shame thing... |
| Posted by: JDB 2004-1-8 7:11:58 PM |
| #15 I've been reading Zayed's blog for some time and his willingness to believe this surprises me. My guess is that it follows the more realistic wedding injury so he is, as he points out, being incoherent. |
| Posted by: remote man 2004-1-8 6:56:10 PM |
| #14 Walking 3 clicks from their area of responsibility, and waving a flashlight around in the dark, in a combat zone? Unlikely. |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-1-8 6:30:29 PM |
| #13 Check out the arabic version of the letter. Its clearly printed, while the iraqi blogger gives the impression he has seen the original letter. This strikes me as a propaganda exercise. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2004-1-8 5:12:08 PM |
| #12 Instapundit just pointed out that the main Samarra/Bagdad road doesn't come within 50 km of the Tharthar dam as shown on this map. This and other inconsistencies that others have found would indicate a hoax. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2004-1-8 5:11:04 PM |
| #11 JFM's got it. We've been trolled b4. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-8 4:56:20 PM |
| #10 very clever; it is obviously untrue and yet has the kind of emotional stuff to fool Zayed |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-1-8 4:21:08 PM |
| #9 Sigh... even if investigated and exposed as untrue, remember the old saying, about a lie going halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its' boots? |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2004-1-8 3:31:10 PM |
| #8 To me the urban-legendish embellishments -- like it being his wedding day, finding the jacket, the crushed car (originally a truck) -- make it seem like this is just a story. It needs to be investigated, if only to expose it. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-8 3:16:43 PM |
| #7 Is this an Iraqi Blogger or someone from DU? JerseyMike had the correct description....BS! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2004-1-8 3:03:54 PM |
| #6 I'm looking for a word to describe this....Ahh there it is BULLSHIT. |
| Posted by: JerseyMike 2004-1-8 2:56:17 PM |
| #5 There's a lot of doubt about this over at instapundit. The story doesn't make much sense to me either, and I'm gullible enough to have believed that lady's claim about the 'lost' lottery ticket. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2004-1-8 2:47:04 PM |
| #4 I wouldn't want to dampen some people's enthousiam but I have my doubts over this and a few other Iraqui blogs. They live in a non-English speaking country, their country has been isolated for years and however they seem to know many details about America (Medicare), about its media people (Martha Stewart) and their English is far too good. One of them alleges he is 23 and a dentist meaning the he has had not that much time to improve his high school English and that he is in a profession where being fluent is in English isn't essential. However his English is far better than mine despite being in computers (where English is a requiremnent) and having had much more time to tune it than him. Could be that I am bad but he is also more fluent than any of the (French) programmers I have met. I am wondering if it could not be a leftist pasing for an Iraqui. First he establishes his credentials by scorning the old regime and once he has got an audience he proceeds to demoralize it through histories of friends passing to the "resistance" or of people being shot by US soldiers. |
| Posted by: JFM 2004-1-8 2:44:41 PM |
| #3 While I agree this has to be investigated, it sounds to me like the cousins were up to no good, of whatever variety, and the surviving cousin thought he would dodge some family flak by making up a story about the big bad Americans. What I particularly liked were some of the commenters on Zayed's blog who gleefully ran off to report to the Guardian message boards. You know damn good and well the thing could be investigated and found baseless tomorrow, and in two years some Guardian-reading drooler will still be bringing it up. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2004-1-8 2:38:49 PM |
| #2 There has been a long and animated discussion on his blog. Some of the salient questions: 1.) Why would the troops have walked 1.5 miles to throw two guys into some water? 2.) If they were cuffed, how did the jacket come off the guy? If they weren't, why would the troops have removed the cuffs? 3.) Why would the "official" have refused an investigation and, then, a week later change his mind? There are policies for handling complaints pertaining to the occupation, they would have been followed. This letter looks like an attempt by someone familiar with Baathist oppression (but unfamiliar with the US military and Occupation Authority policy) trying to make the US look bad and sow dissnension. |
| Posted by: mjh 2004-1-8 2:08:10 PM |
| #1 What was the cargo? I take this sort of letter with a large grain of salt. |
| Posted by: flash91 2004-1-8 1:46:25 PM |
