What's everyone worried about? Freedom is on the march!!
by Steve Mastro
CARE chief in Iraq abducted; mortar attack hits guard base
Margaret Hassan has lived in Iraq for more than 25 years. The mortar strike killed four.Inquirer Foreign Staff
BAGHDAD - Kidnappers yesterday grabbed the Iraq director of CARE International, a humanitarian group dedicated to poverty relief that has operated in Iraq since 1991.
Margaret Hassan stopped her car on the way to work in Baghdad, and the kidnappers reportedly called her name and told her they needed to speak to her about business matters. She walked over, and they took her.
The abduction of one of the country's leading humanitarian workers occurred in the midst of evacuations by journalists, humanitarian workers, even security personnel, who said the threats were increasing.
Elsewhere yesterday, a mortar attack killed at least four Iraqi national guard soldiers and wounded 80 at a base north of Baghdad. An unidentified American contractor also died when mortar shells crashed onto a U.S. base in the Iraqi capital. And three car bombs exploded in the northern city of Mosul, killing two Iraqi civilians and wounding three.
Hassan has lived in Iraq for more than 25 years, spending much of that time as a humanitarian worker. She is married to an Iraqi and holds British and Iraqi citizenship. CARE said she was born in Britain, but the British and Irish foreign offices said she was born in Ireland, where she also has citizenship.
She was seized amid a sharp uptick in violence that began last week, coinciding with the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Kidnappings, car bombings, ambushes, church attacks and mortar fire are all part of insurgents' plans to disrupt security in Iraq before elections in the United States on Nov. 2 and Iraqi parliamentary elections scheduled for January, military officials have said.
Many foreigners working here said the room for any security error was decreasing by the day.
Hassan, who is in her mid-60s, was briefly shown on a videotape delivered to Al-Jazeera television, but the tape did not make clear who had kidnapped her or what the kidnappers wanted.
On the tape, Hassan was seated alone on a couch. An editor for Al-Jazeera said the tape contained no audio.
No one else appeared on the tape, and Hassan had no visible injuries. The video showed copies of her identification, credit cards, and CARE business cards. She appeared distressed.
"As of now, we are unaware of the motives for the abduction," said a statement from CARE International that was released in London, where the group is based. "As far as we know, Margaret is unharmed."
CARE representatives would not say whether Hassan had any security guards. She was aware of how the eroding security situation was affecting the nation, in particular the effort to rebuild.
In May 2003 she told a Knight Ridder reporter: "The whole place will explode if we don't have security... . It's a very, very serious situation, and I can't see anything moving forward until this is right."
In November, CARE Australia received death threats, prompting the group to leave at Hassan's suggestion, CARE's chief executive officer, Robert Glasser, told the newspaper the Australian.
"I spoke to our Iraq country director, Margaret Hassan, and she has grave fears for the safety of our staff - it is simply too dangerous for our people to stay," Glasser told the newspaper.
Although kidnappers have seized at least seven other women over the last six months, all were released. By contrast, at least 30 male hostages have been killed, including three Americans beheaded by their captors. Hassan's abduction occurred less than two weeks after a video posted on an Islamic Web site showed the beheading of British hostage Kenneth Bigley.
Part of the Iraqi police unit that investigates kidnappings will help with the inquiry, said Sabah Kadhim, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. The British Embassy here also is investigating, he said.
In the mortar attack north of Baghdad yesterday, a barrage killed the four Iraqi national guardsmen and wounded 80 as they lined up for training, U.S. military officials said.
Insurgents fired up to six rounds in the attack on the Tarmiyah national guard base just as recruits assembled, a senior official with the Iraqi Defense Ministry said.
The official said the attack appeared to be revenge for recent arrests and weapons confiscations in the area.
