A GOOD WOMAN GONE ( Margaret Hassan)

[Zlatko Waterman]

All:

Margaret Hassan, whose devotion to the poor of Iraq made her conspicuous and a nonconformist among some western cadres, was shown being executed in a video, following her recent capture.

The madness of war often seems to kill the best people first.

I was made aware of Margaret Hassan's fine work from reading dispatches about C.A.R.E., which she headed.

While the US Marines "conquer" Fallujah, meaning they have destroyed it,


http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dy ... ge=printer



DUBCO's ideas of "bringing freedom and liberty" evidently do not include preserving workers for good like Margaret Hassan.


( story pasted in below)

Kidnapped charity worker
in Iraq believed dead
Al-Jazeera says video shows woman being slain


The Associated Press
Updated: 1:30 p.m. ET Nov. 16, 2004LONDON - Al-Jazeera television said Tuesday it received a videotape showing the slaying of a woman believed to be Margaret Hassan, a charity worker kidnapped in Iraq last month.

Hassan’s family in London as well as her employer, the charity group CARE, said they believed she was dead.

"It is with profound sadness that we have learned of the existence of a video in which it appears that our colleague Margaret Hassan has been killed," CARE said in a statement. "Mrs. Hassan was an extraordinary woman who dedicated her life to the poor and disadvantaged in Iraq, particularly the children. The whole of CARE is in mourning."

The station initially said it would air parts of the video, but then a spokesman said it would not. “We don’t show acts of killing,” said spokesman Jihad Ballout. “We’ve never done it before, outside war.”

Ballout said the station received the tape a few days ago.

A statement from Hassan’s four brothers and sisters was released by Britain’s Foreign Office.

“Our hearts are broken,” it said. “We have kept hoping for as long as we could, but we now have to accept that Margaret has probably gone and at last her suffering has ended.”

The family did not indicate why they now believed Hassan was dead, but said: “Those who are guilty of this atrocious act, and those who support them, have no excuses.”

Hassan, the director of CARE in Iraq, was abducted in Baghdad on Oct. 19. Her captors later issued videos showing her pleading for Britain to withdraw its troops from Iraq and calling for the release of female Iraqi prisoners.

On Nov. 2, Al-Jazeera television reported her abductors had threatened to turn her over to followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Al-Zarqawi and his men have been blamed for numerous deadly car bombings and the slayings of foreign hostages. More than 170 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq this year; more than 30 of them have been slain.

Hassan lived in Iraq for 30 years and married an Iraqi. She was a citizen of Britain, Ireland and Iraq.

In its statement, her family said: “Nobody can justify this. Margaret was against sanctions and the war. To commit such a crime against anyone is unforgivable. But we cannot believe how anybody could do this to our kind, compassionate sister.

“The gap she leaves will never be filled.”

© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.



A background article on Margaret Hassan:


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3758354.stm



Zlatko