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| Iraq |
| Hikmat Ibrahim al-Azzawi, Iraqi finance minister, captured |
| 2003-04-19 |
| EFR Iraqi police in Baghdad have captured the country's former finance minister, Hikmat Ibrahim al-Azzawi, and handed him over to coalition forces. Mr al-Azzawi, who was also a deputy prime minister, is number 45 the coalition forces' list of the 55 most wanted supporters of Saddam Hussein and the eight of diamonds on the notorious deck of cards handed out to US troops hunting Iraqi officials. He is the fourth person from the list to be captured — on Friday Iraqi Kurds handed over a senior Baath Party official, Samir al-Aziz al-Najem, after he was arrested in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. CAPTURED IRAQI LEADERS (AS RANKED BY US FORCES) |
| Posted by:Bulldog |
| #7 Old Patriot, that reminded me of a department manager I had who was in Air Force Intelligence during the Vietnam war. The grunts were easy to crack, but the officers were a bit tougher. After some questioning, my later-to-be boss would just requisition a helicopter, take the guy up 2000 feet, hover above the airstrip, and repeat his questions. He got a LOT of cooperation that way. Oh, he knew pushing the guy out the chopper door was against the rules of war, but taking him for a little ride wasn't. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-04-19 20:48:46 |
| #6 The "Intel" guys play good-cop, bad-cop (Been there, done that). One will be nice, but keeps telling the guy, "look, you've got to cooperate with me, or "Harry"'s going to be in here. You don't want to mess with Harry". The guy doesn't cooperate, so in comes Harry. Harry grabs the little donkey by the collar ("Harry"'s always 300 pounds, built like a gorilla, and doesn't shave for two days beforehand), and begins screaming and yelling at him, maybe even throwing him up against a wall. Nothing to break any bones, but REALLY intimidating. Finally, the "boss" comes in, orders "Harry" out, and the good-cop comes back in, and the questions start over. Sometimes, the guy doesn't cooperate. Sometimes he tries to fight "Harry" (Do NOT DO THIS at home!). "Harry" usually has an advanced degree in some kind of martial arts, and can usually whip half a division by himself. Anyway, these two guys (or more - sometimes as many as 20 people get involved) will interrogate the poor slob for two, three days running, WITHOUT A BREAK. Sooner or later, he breaks, and you get everything you want. Then the poor slob gets to eat, sleep, and even shower. Then you start over, using a different, but equally as persuasive approach. There aren't many that can stand up against our interrogation teams. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-04-19 19:56:20 |
| #5 Don't worry Mark: I'm sure the intel guys will make a few Kurd references during the interrogation: "OK Samir, here's the story. You can talk to us, maybe work out a little deal for jail time. Or, you can go with those guys in the green uniforms outside. Your call... |
| Posted by: R. McLeod 2003-04-19 14:21:06 |
| #4 "And now, on with the Countdown" |
| Posted by: eLarson 2003-04-19 14:19:00 |
| #3 50 to go. Better look over the border, and I don't mean Turkey. |
| Posted by: glen 2003-04-19 12:51:23 |
| #2 I don't know who came up with the deck idea, but what a great way to put 55 wanted posters in a compact and user-friendly package! |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-04-19 11:57:19 |
| #1 I know we that we're supposed to get valuable information from these Joker's, but dontcha think that leaving it up to the Kurds would render better and more cost-effective justice? That's pretty illiberal of me, but I shudder to think of these guys on the lecture circuit promoting their books after serving a few months in some country club celebrity prison. It'll be interesting to track the progress of the "deck" in say, three year's time... |
| Posted by: Mark IV 2003-04-19 10:43:46 |