Hassan execution – by British Intelligence?

2004-11-18

Richard Moore

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http://www.williambowles.info/ini/ini-0288.html

William Bowles * November 16 2004 

Update: 17 November 2004 

Coincidence? The surfacing of a videotape that allegedly shows
the execution of Margaret Hassan coming as it does fresh on
the heels of the video of the execution of a wounded Iraqi
resistance fighter by US Marines seems to be part of a pattern
of diverting attention away from embarrassing revelations for
the occupiers. Could it be that the people who kidnapped
Margaret Hassan are not what they seem? That her execution
emerged at this critical time in the war for 'hearts and
minds' strikes me as just too much of a coincidence. It's as
if she was held out of sight until needed. Of course, the
media will focus on the immediate horror of it without
considering the timing of her execution.

And I'm not alone in this view. See 'Hassan's Alleged Death:
A Close Encounter Of The Intelligence Kind', Nov 17, 2004, By
Bruce Kennedy, JUS. The article alleges that British
intelligence agents were behind the abduction Ms Hassan on
October 19th to divert attention away from the redeployment of
British troops to Fallujah. A related piece is ' Saudi Islamic
Fundamentalists endorse US Occupation of Iraq ' by Michel
Chossudovsky, www.globalresearch.ca, 16 November 2004. There
is every reason to believe that there still exists close
connections between USUK intelligence agencies and Saudi
Arabia given the history of Saudi Arabia and the West.

The media's treatment of the event also follows a pattern with
the BBC talking of "revulsion" and "disgust", words that
disappeared from its dictionary when describing the execution
of the wounded Iraqi fighter. Instead, we read of
"allegations" about the "incident" and then coverage all but
disappears to be replaced by the Hassan story.

No doubt I will be accused of being a 'conspiracist' and of
not being 'even-handed' in my treatment of these two tragedies
but the fact remains that every time there has been an event
that showed the 'coalition' in a bad light starting with Abu
Ghraib, we then had the Berg 'beheading' that was followed by
virtually identical videos surfacing on the Web without any
attempt being made to track down those responsible for the
Websites even though the owners of the Websites were easily
identified. And of course the most blatant example was the
Osama tape only days before the US election.

It was also at the time of Abu Ghraib that 'Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi' suddenly emerged as the latest bogeyman and not
surprisingly, it is alleged that he was also a 'disciple' of
Osama bin Laden given that it was difficult to connect Osama
directly to events in Iraq, the propagandists needed a
convenient 'go-between'. As I've pointed out before, the
al-Zarqawi 'connection' has a single media source and so far,
not a shred of evidence has been produced to show that the man
even exists.

In addition to this, it's instructive to note that the
abduction of Margaret Hassan was not connected to al-Zarqawi
in any of the 'leaks' to the Western media as this meant
putting Zarqawi at the centre of events in Fallujah and the
abduction of Hassan at the same time. Even someone as speedy
as Zarqawi can't be in two places at the same time.

Okay, so this is all speculation on my part but the convenient
timing and lack of evidence supporting the existence of
Zarqawi and the plethora of various groups that conveniently
surface as and when needed, points toward a very sophisticated
psy-ops campaign on the part of the US to divert attention
away from the real issues.

"It is well known that ordinary guarantees for safety and
order had largely lapsed in Spain, that it was not safe for
people to go out at night over large areas, that murders and
outrages were rife, and that constitutional parliamentary
government was being used as a mere mask, a screen, to cover
the swift, stealthy and deadly advance of the extreme
Communist or anarchist factions, who saw, according to the
regular programme of Communist revolutions, the means by which
they could obtain power. It was when confronted with a
situation like that that this violent explosion took place in
Spain." Winston Churchill, July 19, 1937 Speech in the House
of Commons

Picasso's Guernica is famous for its depiction of the
destruction of the city of Guernica during the Spanish Civil
War. Perhaps less well known is the fact that it was Hitler's
Lufwaffe that flattened the place and that the city was used
to test out the effectiveness of aerial bombardment (using
incendiary bombs) as weapons of mass destruction on a civilian
population and, as with Fallujah, as a lesson to the people of
Spain not to defy Franco and the Fascist Falange.

Also less well known is the coordination between the US
occupiers of Iraq and the Israeli Defence [sic] Force's
experience of the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and
that from the very beginning of the invasion last March, IDF
advisers were in Iraq alongside US forces passing on their
experiences of occupying and fighting in a not dissimilar
terrain. We do know that US military had spent time with the
IDF in the occupied territories observing tactics.

Moreover, the Spanish Civil War was in many ways the catalyst
for WWII, for the Western powers stood by whilst Hitler and
Mussolini supported Franco in his war on the Republican
government and perfected their 'craft'. Had the Western powers
confronted the Axis at that crucial time it's conceivable that
the coming war could have been averted. A lesson that has
clearly not been learned.

Well thus far, we have no equivalent to Picasso's Guernica to
describe the horror of Fallujah, however as the extract from
Churchill's speech demonstrates, attitudes then as now
regarding affairs in far off and not so far off places remain
the same. And indeed the parallels go much, much further for
then as now, a puppet power fronted for a superpower. Franco,
Allawi, take your pick. So the more things change, the more
they stay the same.

There is yet another parallel between the Spanish Civil War
and the occupation of Iraq namely the role of the
International Brigades who fought for the legally elected
Republican government. The US Abe Lincoln Brigade

"Šcame from all walks of life, all regions of the country, and
included seamen, students, the unemployed, miners, fur
workers, lumberjacks, teachers, salesmen, athletes, dancers,
and artists. They established the first racially integrated
military unit in U.S. history and were the first to be led by
a black commander. At least 60 percent were members of the
Young Communist League or CP. "Wobblies" (members of the
Industrial Workers of the World or "IWW"), socialists, and the
unaffiliated also joined. The Socialists formed their own
[Eugene] Debs Column for Spain, but open recruitment brought
on government suppression.
www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/abe-brigade.html

However, 'foreign insurgents' in Iraq are treated somewhat
differently insofar as regardless of their affiliation, their
presence is regarded as illegitimate. That Iraq is illegally
occupied by troops from around fifteen countries doesn't of
course count. The unfortunate difference between now and then
is that the International Brigades came from fifty countries,
united by the struggle against Fascism under the banner of
Internationalism. It's a case of one step forward, several
steps back.

The other common thread between then and now is the use of
terror that until Guernica was a weapon that had been used
exclusively against people of colour, in places like Somalia,
Ethiopia and Iraq by the colonial powers. Thus the British and
Italians had no compunction in using chemical weapons against
the 'fuzzy-wuzzies', considering them as less than human and
even publicly applauded the use of gas as a method of keeping
the 'natives' suitably cowed.

Press coverage of the slaughter in Fallujah reveals exactly
the same mindset at work even when the cold-blooded murder of
resistance fighters is recorded on video. The BBC News Website
describes the crime as follows

"The BBC's James Robbins says the incident could prove highly
damaging and that the US military will need to answer key
questions about whether the rules of engagement were broken
during the incident."

The issue of inhumanity and of a war crime is not mentioned,
it becomes an 'incident'. The only concern is how damaging it
will be to the occupiers' image. Can you imagine the reaction
if the 'embedded' reporter had been with the 'insurgents' and
it had been a white man who had been executed in cold blood?

The report quotes the NBC reporter 'embedded' with the
soldiers who recorded the execution

"Mr Sites says soldiers from a different unit went and
apparently shot the men again on Saturday without knowing
whether they were armed.

'Then one of the marines points his rifle at the head of one
of the injured, an old man, saying, 'He's faking he's dead',"
Mr Sites' description continues.

"The sound of a shot is then heard. And in the background,
another soldier says, 'Well, he's dead now'."

The BBC's interpretation of the video is disingenuous to say
the least, part of which was shown on BBC television and omits
showing the actual murder, claiming to spare our
'sensibilities', so how the report can use the phrase
"apparently shot the men again" makes no sense when we have
already been informed that the actual execution has actually
been omitted. Moreover, the video shows quite clearly that
none of the men are armed and that the one who got executed is
telling the GIs that he had told them (or the previous group
of GIs who had shot them) everything he knew. He was moreover,
the only one conscious (or alive). Note also that the NBC
reporter says the "men were shot again" not a "man" as the BBC
report tells it.

Everything in the BBC plays down the actuality of the event
without actually lying. The value of Iraqi lives is diminished
as well showing the BBC is more concerned with the effect of
the execution(s) on the 'coalition's' image.

Meanwhile, the BBC continues to make great play of the
'genocide' in Darfur with as great or greater coverage of the
situation in Sudan including a one-hour documentary on BBC
television on 14/11/04 that talked of the "world's greatest
humanitarian disaster". We wait in vain for one on Fallujah
and what it will call that, no doubt the civilian deaths will
be 'unfortunate incidents', as we finally start receiving
reports from the Red Cross speaking of 800 civilian deaths and
implications that this is undoubtedly an under-estimate.


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http://www.jihadunspun.net/intheatre_internal.php?article=100581&list=/home.php&

Hassan's Alleged Death: A Close Encounter Of The Intelligence Kind 
Nov 17, 2004 
By Bruce Kennedy, JUS 

Once again, when the Americans are in a hot spot, they turn to
the Muslims as the scapegoat.

Just like the release of the Abu Ghraib photos, after many
months of reported abuses, came just as US forces lost their
shirts (and soldiers) in the first battle of Fallujah, now we
have the alleged Hassan murder and the release of footage of
US soldiers killing a wounded, defenseless Iraqis inside a
mosque in Fallujah in an effort to divert attention from the
massacre of civilians in Fallujah and the large number of 
American lives its cost so far and justify long term
deployment  throughout the war-torn country.

Margaret Hassan, the 59 year old director of CARE
international in Iraq was taken captive on her way to work in
Baghdad on October 19, 2004 in a picture perfect operation. A
videotape issued Oct. 22 and aired by Al-Jazeera showed her
pleading for Britain to withdraw troops from Iraq.

As JUS reported at the time, based on information from
reliable sources close to the Mujahideen in Iraq, the
kidnapping of Margaret Hassan was an operation concocted by
British agents inside the country, in an effort to divert
attention away from the British troop deployment into
Latifiyah.  - a deployment that was required so that the
Americans could strike Fallujah. The deployment of British
troops at the time caused a great deal of commotion but was a
deployment that Tony Blair was not at liberty to refuse on
orders from his US masters.

Now, just as the public becomes outraged once again with the
brutality of this escalating war, Margaret is allegedly killed
by the nasty Muslims. In a statement released by the British
Foreign Office, not Hassan's family directly, relatives now
say they believe "that Margaret is probably gone".

"We had 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," said a statement from Hassan's four
brothers and sisters.

"Those who are guilty of this atrocious act, and those who
support them, have no excuses."

Jihad Ballout, a spokesman for the Al-Jazeera TV network, told
The Associated Press they received a videotape a few days ago.
It shows a militant firing a pistol into the head of a
blindfolded woman wearing an orange jumpsuit. "She was
presumed to be Mrs. Hassan,'' Ballout told The Associated
Press.  Presumption indeed.

The network said it was planning to show British officials the
videotape but said they would not be airing the video to the
public.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that based on their
experts' examination of the video, "we have today had to
inform Margaret Hassan's family that, sadly, we now believe
that she has probably been murdered, although we cannot
conclude this with complete certainty.''

No body has been found and no group has claimed
responsibility.

Sunni clerics who have been heading up the Resistance in
Fallujah has said previously that they were not responsible
Hassan's kidnapping and at the time called for her release. Of
the 150 foreigners captured by Mujahideen, few have been women
with most being released and none have been killed, unlike the
males who have been swiftly executed.  Women are enjoined with
special privileges in Islam and the Mujahideen are required to
protect them under Shariah laws of Islam.

Iraq's Mujahideen exposed the British insurance policy at the
time of Hassan's capture and has denied any JTJ involvement in
the kidnapping.  The kidnapping and now alleged murder of
Hassan, who selflessly dedicated years of her life to help
impoverished Iraqis, will send the message that the Iraqi
Resistance is comprised of monsters and serial murderers. This
is exactly the desired outcome of the release of news of
Hassan's alleged death at this critical juncture, when reports
of bodies of dead women and children being eating by dogs in
the streets of Fallujah and US soldiers killing unarmed and
wounded civilians are surfacing.

While more bombs are dropping in the Sunni heartland, the
logic to this latest public relations stunt is to justify that
 there can be no response other than "cleansing" the Sunnis
from the face of the earth considering they are capable of
such vial acts.

If her death is confirmed, Hassan would be the first woman to
be killed by kidnappers in Iraq in a close encounter of the
intelligence kind. Rest assured, her captors are not Muslim.

-- 

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