BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Polish Culture Margaret Hanson - Incredible

Britain's Straw expressed his sympathy to Hassan's family and condemned the killing.

''To kidnap and kill anyone is inexcusable. But it is repugnant to commit such a crime against a woman who has spent most of her life working for the good of the people of Iraq,'' Straw said in a statement

ETERNAL REST GRANT TO HER OH LORD, AND MAY THE PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON HER...AMEN!

If anyone deserves Heaven...........she must be there!

Lily

And those who did it should be nuked.

Lily,

yes, this is terrible. But if the US would not start this war much more people would not need to suffer - just think about how many Iragis died since American invasion and how many American soldiers.

Is this really justifable by any means?

Carl,

Is nuking them any more effective than shooting, boiling in oil or drawing and qaurtering? Perhaps a solution with more public entertainment value would be better.

We could run it along with the video of the American soldier shooting a wounded guyin the mosque.

On second thought we could nuke the whole region and get rid of all those warlike tribes from the red sea up to Bagdad. All we would have to do is spare the oil fields. Sounds much more humane to me!

Kai

Jaga - I agree with you about the war - and so did Margaret Hassan.

this woman was living and working in Iraq, married to an Iraqi and also totally against the war. she was an Iraqi citizen and had even converted to Islam.

so what did these people achieve by kidnapping and killing her?

Lily,

I just heard yesterday that the group who kidnappend Margaret Hassan was not Zarquawi, he actually wrote the statement that the killing of the woman is a disgrace. So, people who killed her are not the Islam fundamentalists but militants.

I know this does not make so much of the difference, but I wish the mass media would not equal all terrorists as the same. Some of them have certain norms of behavior, some others are just desperate for attention and would do everything.

Jaga, I disagree. My approach to all terrorists would be: If it moves, kill it. Carl

USA should unite with the Arab intellectuals who denounced the killing:

Arab reaction to Hassan 'killing'
By Magdi Abdelhadi
BBC regional affairs analyst


There has been widespread condemnation of the reported killing of a leading woman aid worker in Iraq who had been held hostage since last month.
Margaret Hassan, 59, was seized on her way to work at aid agency Care International's offices in Baghdad.
Her captors had demanded the removal of British troops from Iraq and she had pleaded for her life on a video tape.
For residents of Baghdad the reported killing of Mrs Hassan was quite horrifying and, to some, shameful.

Where was this resistance during Saddam Hussein's time
Baghdad resident
One said: "This is a crime. Even God will not accept it. This is a sin. She was a good woman and she helped the Iraqis."
Another questioned the motives of the presumed killing: "We regret this act, and this act shows us how bad the terrorists are, and gives us a clear picture of those people who are claiming to be the resistance.
"Where was this resistance during Saddam Hussein's time?"
Many Iraqis blame the killing of foreign workers and Iraqi police in their country on infiltrators from neighbouring Arab countries.
'Mixed' responses
But outside Iraq, reactions in the Arab world to the violence have always been complex.
Many see ordinary Iraqis as the primary victims of the violence in the country and blame America.
While the vast majority of people support what they believe is a legitimate Iraqi resistance to foreign occupation, the killings of foreign civilians working there have produced mixed responses.
Conspiracy theorists - of whom there are many in the Arab world - see the workings of a sinister plot to discredit the Iraqi resistance - a view you can also hear inside Iraq.
Many Arab politicians and intellectuals have denounced the kidnapping and killing of civilians as un-Islamic.
The reported killing of Margaret Hassan will most likely re-ignite a debate in the Arab world about the rights and wrongs of the use of violence to achieve political goals.
A group of Arab intellectuals has laid the blame squarely on religious leaders, whom they accuse of inciting violence to create an Islamic state.
They have already appealed to the UN to set up an international tribunal to try Muslim clerics who encourage the young to join the ranks of jihadis worldwide.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/4019729.stm

Published: 2004/11/17 14:17:10 GMT

Carl,

what is your definition of a terrorist?
Is it like a cockroach? (if it moves, kill it)?

Is it everybody who opposes American occupation in Iraq?

Is a life of Iragis less worth that the life of American?

Jaga,

A terrorist is one who chooses murder over negotiation.

A terrorist is one who chooses killing for the sake of killing.

It has little to do with politics although those who commit such acts will argue that it does. Remember, until Sept. 11, the most egregious terrorist attack within the US was committed by an American in Oklahoma City. Terrorist activities within Iraq are committed as much among opposing ethnic and religious factions as against the British (or Irish) or Americans. Does that justify the war? Well, I'm no fan of the war but likening the terroristic activities of the Iraqis against British and American citizens to the British-American coalition's war misses the issue of factional fighting within Iraq which is a huge part of the story.