If her husband's suspicions were correct, then whose "foreign" hand took her away?I blogged about Margaret Hassan's death (see my BushOut posts here and here and here). It was obvious back then what was happening. The murder of a peaceful, much-loved aid worker like Margaret was a warning to others like her.
The tape leaves no clue.
No wonder things have been so silent for so long.
I asked some of the reporters how humans could commit such atrocities. None of them knew.
One suggested that 11 years of UN-imposed sanctions had somehow changed the mentality of Iraqis. And I do recall, back in 1998 – when Saddam still ruled Baghdad – an NGO official tried to explain to me what was happening to Iraqis. The Americans and British "want us to rebel against Saddam," the official said. "They think we will be so broken, so shattered by this suffering that we will do anything – even give our own lives – to get rid of Saddam. The uprising against the Baath party failed in 1991 so now they are using cruder methods. But they are wrong. These people have been reduced to penury. They live in shit. And when you have no money and no food, you don't worry about democracy or who your leaders are."
That official was Margaret Hassan.
We have come face to face with Evil.
PPS: I am going to stop blogging in a few weeks. This is not like my other breaks: this time a "lifestyle change" necessitates an end to my long blogging habit. Perhaps it's for the best. There is a role for those who document the atrocities, but each of us can only stand so much. I have been in a situation where I have read and absorbed a lot without necessarily being able to post about it all (due mostly to time constraints, which are about to get even tighter).
