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Author Topic: Iraqi minister and 19 bodyguards captured
unionist
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 11323

posted 04 July 2006 10:28 AM      Profile for unionist     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
From BBC.ca
quote:
Gunmen have kidnapped Iraq's deputy electricity minister and 19 bodyguards.

Raad al-Harith was pulled from his car by men in camouflage uniforms after at least seven vehicles blocked the path of his convoy, police said. [...]

It is the second high-profile abduction in four days - a female Sunni MP and seven guards were kidnapped on Saturday and are still missing.[...]

Security forces could give little detail of the kidnap, but one report suggested the deputy minister's bodyguards did not resist because they believed the ambush was an official operation.[...]

The deputy minister's kidnapping comes days after Iraqi officials announced a review of their three-week-old security plan for Baghdad after a bomb on Saturday killed at least 66 people.

The massive explosion ripped through a busy market in Sadr City in the worst incident in the capital for weeks.


Remember how the new Iraqi government (which has taken 3 years to democratically assemble) was going to stop the insurgency and provide security?

Remember America's nanosecond of glory after they killed Al-Zarqawi and several others?

Well, the insurgency lives!

Sink, U.S., in this muck of your own making. Just let's pray that as few Iraqis as possible suffer and die before this evil is expelled from their land.


From: Vote QS! | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged
rici
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2710

posted 04 July 2006 01:24 PM      Profile for rici     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Here's a story which probably won't get much coverage outside of Perú. It seemed worth mentioning, though.

Peruvian who died in Iraq is buried

The link is in Spanish. Here's a translation:

quote:
Peruvian who died in Iraq is buried

His body was in the Callao morgue for three days

Luis Serrano Huamán (33) died after receiving a bullet in the abdomen while working as a security agent. He was in Iraq 8 months.

by Alberto García M.

Eight months ago, he left for Iraq, tempted by a salary impossible to achieve in our country. Last Saturday, he returned in a casket. Luis Serrano Huamán died while working as a security agent in Baghdad on 18 June. He left a widow, two daughters, and once again this question: Is it worth it to risk everything for a salary of US$1,000?

The corpse of Luis Serrano was in the Callao morgue until noon, yesterday. A problem of documentation had delayed the removal of his remains. Sources in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they had intervened to speed up the paperwork necessary, but added that they couldn't do more because it was a private employment contract.

In the afternoon, Serrano's remains were taken to the community centre Asparen de Los Olivos, a few metres from his house. The velorio took place behind closed doors at the request of the family, who refused to talk to the press. At 4 p.m. the funeral procession left for the Puente Piedra cementery where the burial took place.

Ministry sources say that Serrano worked for the US business MVM. It is to be remembered that Martín Jara, another peruvian employed by the same company, died under similar circumstances in Afghanistan last December. The presence of peruvians in Iraq has caused controversy from the beginning.



From: Lima, Perú | Registered: Jun 2002  |  IP: Logged
siren
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 7470

posted 04 July 2006 01:48 PM      Profile for siren     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I wonder if the deputy electricity minister will be held for a ransom -- of electricity. Just googled to update the electricity situation in Iraq and see that, Oops, guess he's already returned.

quote:
Gunmen release Iraq electricity official
Staff and agencies
04 July, 2006

22 minutes ago

Gunmen in camouflage uniforms kidnapped Deputy Electricity Minister Raed al-Hares, along with 11 of his bodyguards in eastern Baghdad, but he was released after several hours, officials said.

The kidnapping occurred three days after gunmen seized female Sunni legislator Tayseer al-Mashhadani in a Shiite area of east Baghdad. She and seven bodyguards are still missing.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


rici, are you alerting us to the presence of opportunists from Peru working in Iraq and Afghanistan or is there something else? Is it worth the paycheque as far as Peruvians are concerned, I wonder.


From: Of course we could have world peace! But where would be the profit in that? | Registered: Nov 2004  |  IP: Logged
rici
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2710

posted 04 July 2006 01:58 PM      Profile for rici     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by siren:
rici, are you alerting us to the presence of opportunists from Peru working in Iraq and Afghanistan or is there something else? Is it worth the paycheque as far as Peruvians are concerned, I wonder.

An "opportunist"!!?? -- working in a war-zone for a thousand dollars a month?

No, I was mourning for one of the forgotten soldiers of the war. And observing that the third world is a source of cheap cannon fodder -- Serrano was working for about 10% of what a first world mercenary would earn.

Is it worth losing your life for a thousand dollars a month (which is paid to your family, by the way)? Some peruvians think that it is. I think that it is terribly sad that peruvians have to resort to that in order to earn a pathetic wage, and unconscionable that companies like MVM can get away with discriminatory pay policies.

The fact that MVM paid for the funeral does not in any way make me appreciate them any more.

ETA: Sorry for the thread drift. I was reading the paper and this thread was handy. I should have started a new one, probably.

[ 04 July 2006: Message edited by: rici ]


From: Lima, Perú | Registered: Jun 2002  |  IP: Logged
siren
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 7470

posted 04 July 2006 02:06 PM      Profile for siren     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
"opportunist" was a poor choice of words and "mercenary" seemed harsh in light of the man's death.

Should have read more closely re. the pay scale.

It's nice that your on this site as I am slowly learning more about Peru. It also makes me wonder just who, how many and from what countries are in Iraq. What a mess.


From: Of course we could have world peace! But where would be the profit in that? | Registered: Nov 2004  |  IP: Logged

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