What these people need is another dictator like Sadam to treat them like the sh!t they like to wallow in. They don't deserve democracy or anything better. We should give the country to the Kurds.
Posted on 07/23/2003 11:04:51 AM PDT by BunnySlippers
One Of Saddam's Tribesman Tipped As Sons' Betrrayer
MOSUL, Iraq (AP)--Some of Sheik Nawaf al-Zaydan Muhhamad's neighbors accuse him of tipping off coalition forces that Saddam Hussein's feared sons Odai and Qusai were staying with him and his family.
If that's true, and U.S. officials won't say, the sheik will suddenly be $30 million richer. He's already become an outcast in his own neighborhood.
The U.S. administration had offered $15 million each for information leading to the arrest of Saddam's wanted sons and $25 million for Saddam.
In retrospect, neighbors said, they became suspicious of the sheik when his wife and their four daughters left the house at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday and never returned.
"There is a big question mark there, did they know something would happen, or was it a coincidence?" asked Ahmed Hazim, 37, who lives around the corner from Muhhamad's huge, three-story villa on Shalalat Street. The massive pillars holding up the front facade now stand charred and crumbling after Tuesday's shootout.
Three hours after the women left, U.S. troops walked up to the front door, knocked, and asked all those inside to come out. It wasn't long before Muhhamad and his only son, Shalan, came out with their hands on their heads, neighbors said. Coalition forces took them away.
After that U.S. troops called over loudspeakers in ten-minute intervals for anyone else to come out. "Surrender yourselves or face harsh military action," came the words in Arabic, Hazim said.
Those who had barricaded themselves inside responded with gunfire from the upper floors, witnesses and neighbors said.
"It began as gunfire and then it became a battle," said Nasser Hazim, Ahmed's brother. More troops arrived, until there were more than 200 surrounding the house and throughout the area. Then the Kiowa helicopters came. "They mowed everything down," Nasser Hazim said.
Six hours after it began, the bodies of Odai, Qusai and two others were carried out of the villa.
And what of the man who harbored them? A U.S. commander said the person who tipped U.S. forces was in protective custody in Iraq. When asked why, Col. Joe Anderson, commander of the 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, said: "People know who owns the house, so that's a factor." He refused to say whether the tipster and the owner of the villa were the same person.
Muhhamad was always open about his ties to Saddam, neighbors said, and that had caused tension right along. Saddam threw Muhhamad's elder brother in jail, reportedly over a tribal disagreement, but released him 18 months into a 17 year sentence.
Apparently, Muhhammad's ties to Saddam cut two ways - making him a rich man, but causing him personal grief.
Nasser Hazim, a taxi driver, said he drove his orange and white cab past Muhhamad's house at least four times a day over the past few weeks. He said he didn't suspect anything untoward. No fancy cars parked around it or luxury goods being carried in.
Odai had a liking for flashy cars, alcohol and women. And that was perhaps the most perplexing thing for most of Muhhamad's neighbors, who still can't believe the brothers sought refuge there.
"Can you believe that Odai - Odai," he stressed, "would go from living in a palace to living in a house like that?" asked Mohammed Abdullah, a next-door neighbor. "I still can't believe we were neighbors!"
Muhhamad's family used to sit outside on the hot nights, but they rarely had visitors. Neighbors did not see anything unusual, no surprising comings or goings, nor overly heavy security. Muhhamad had moved to Mosul from Tikrit, Saddam's home town, Ahmed Hazim said, so the family didn't know too many people in the neighborhood.
While the coalition wouldn't say who tipped them off, neighbors said they were certain, and not happy.
"They (Odai and Qusai) are Iraqi people," said Waad Hamadi, 43, another neighbor. "We would not have told the Americans. Many people say he (Muhhamad) is the one, but there is no way he can come back here now, he is a traitor."
The New York Times reported Wednesday that neighbors of Muhhamad saw him and his son sitting in U.S. vehicles. People asked him what had happened and he said that Saddam's sons were inside the house. He also said that he had gone to bring them breakfast when U.S. soldiers arrested him, the Times reported.
They'll issue a fatwa like they did with Salman Rushdie. But I'd be far, far away ...
What these people need is another dictator like Sadam to treat them like the sh!t they like to wallow in. They don't deserve democracy or anything better. We should give the country to the Kurds.
Excellent
Dunno. But if I suspect he would have worked the details out in advance.
Ace of Hearts and Ace of Clubs!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.