Case of Qataris Kidnapped in Iraq Close to Conclusion | Asharq al-Awsat |
Qatari nationals who were kidnapped in Iraq in 2015 may be released soon, a negotiator close to the file said. He added that a Qatari delegation was currently in Baghdad to discuss the issue.
The negotiator, who wished to remain anonymous, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the two Syrian and Iraqi paths represent a single file, confirming earlier reports about a swap deal of Iranian and Lebanese “Hezbollah” fighters in Syria held by armed groups, in exchange for the release of the abducted Qatari nationals.
The Qataris were kidnapped on December 16, 2015 from a desert hunting party in the province of Muthanna in Iraq. The “Hezbollah Brigades,” which are close to Lebanon’s “Hezbollah”, were accused of being behind the abduction.
Circulated information has confirmed that members from the Qatar ruling family, in addition to Kuwaiti nationals, might be among the hostages.
The negotiator asserted that negotiations for their release have reached “certain solutions” without offering more details.
“Making public statements would hamper any operation to resolve the issue,” he said, adding that he expected an agreement to be reached in the coming 48 hours.
Another source related to the issue told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Qatari delegation currently negotiating the release of the captured Qatari nationals is present in Iraq.
“The Qatari side insisted from the start on not linking the file of the kidnapped Qataris to politics or developments in Syria,” the source said.
He added that the Qataris paid an immense sum of money for the kidnappers. “The Qatari side paid more than $1 billion,” it revealed. The Qataris recently paid $350 million in Iraq and an equal sum in Lebanon, it stated.
…
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) had condemned the kidnapping, saying that it “harms fraternal ties between Arabs.” [sorry, I have to puke – Oui]Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari had declared days after the kidnapping that his government had nothing to do with it, stressing that Baghdad was exerting all efforts to free the hostages.
Why did the Syrian children have to die on their road to freedom?
○ Suicide Attack On Shia Refugee Children Halts Evacuation
Kidnapped Qatari hunter and Pakistani companion released in Iraq | Al-Araby – Apr. 6, 2016 |
A Qatari man and his Asian companion have been freed after being abducted during a hunting trip in Iraq last December, Qatar’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Efforts are still ongoing to free the remaining members of the hunting party, the ministry added. The ministry did not give any details on the kidnappers or how the release was secured.
○ Hunting houbara: Royal kidnap casts spotlight on Gulf ‘sport of kings’
« click for more info »
The Asian houbara bustard, found in Iraq, is highly prized in the Arab Gulf states (Credit: Getty Images)In December last year, a large group of unidentified armed men abducted the men from their desert camp near the Saudi border.
“An armed group driving dozens of pickup trucks kidnapped at least 26 Qatari hunters from their camp in the area of Busaya in Samawa desert,” Samawa governor Falih al-Zayady said at the time.
At least nine members of the hunting group managed to escape and cross into Kuwait.
They were transported by air ambulance to hospital for treatment, Kuwait’s al-Watan newspaper reported at the time, without clarifying how many victims suffered from injuries or how severe their injuries were.
The Qatari government said at the time that the hunters had the necessary permits to be in the area, but Iraq’s interior ministry said that they did not abide by instructions to avoid unsecured areas.
A Qatari plane sent to collect 26 kidnapped members of Doha’s ruling family has remained in Baghdad for a fourth day, as a regional deal that ties their release to the evacuation of four besieged Syrian towns resumed earlier this week.
The jet, which Iraqi officials suspect was carrying millions of dollars, arrived on Saturday ahead of the group’s expected release, which was later stalled by the bombing the same day of a convoy carrying residents of two Shia towns in northern Syria, Fua and Kefraya, whose fate had been central to the plan.
The suicide attack killed 126 people and wounded nearly 300 more in one of the most lethal strikes of the Syrian war, further complicating 16 months of negotiations that were underwritten by Iran and Qatar [Sunni Muslim Brotherood] Qatar and involved four of the region’s most powerful militias.
○ BREAKING NEWS: Afghan army base – death toll in Taliban attack in Mazar-e-Sharif passes 130
More below the fold …
Hezbollah Brigades vows to attack U.S. Forces ‘defending ISIS’ in Iraq | JPost – March 21, 2016 |
While the US army says it is sending reinforcements to Iraq to help the international coalition vanquish ISIS, Hezbollah Brigades’ statement claimed the opposite.
“ISIS, the stepdaughter of the Americans, is taking its last breaths, so the Americans dispatched their ground troops to protect the “clinically dead” body of ISIS,” Hezbollah Brigades’ statement read.
“We have vanquished the American occupation with our quality and quantity in the past and we will continue attacking them, with our resources significantly increased. Iraq’s streets are still filled with the ruins of their vehicles that destroyed our explosive devices, and those injured by their soldiers are still hospitalized.
“The occupation’s coward soldiers should understand that however protective their vehicles are, these vehicles will become an obstacle for them and they will burn to death inside them,” the statement read.
Hezbollah Brigades, known in Arabic as Kata’ib Hezbollah, is not directly affiliated to the Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah. However, according to American forces, the group received training and logistical aid from the Iranian Quds force as well as from Lebanese Hezbollah.
○ Kata’ib Hezbollah according to UANI
A continuing back-channel political fight at the behest of Israel to condemn the Islamic Republic of Iran (pop. 80 million)
○ ‘No doubt’ that Syria has retained chemical weapons, says Mattis
« click for more info »
US defence secretary Jim Mattis accompanied by Israeli defence minister Avigdor Liberman is greeted by an Israeli military officer upon his arrival in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Photo: Matty Stern / U.S. Embassy)
○ PM Netanyahu to warn ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis against Iran base in Syria
○ The Alliance Between Israel And Saudi Arabia
○ Avigdor Liberman on building trust, fighting terror & working with Trump | JPost |
○ Trump administration will review Iran nuclear deal despite compliance
THE COURSE OF HISTORY
The course of history if president Clinton had pulled the trigger and killed the tall in white robe clad horseman in the falcon hunting party with Emirate royalty in Afghanistan, close where cowboy Trump dropped the mother of all bombs on the Khorasan group in the Al Qaeda hide out in the mountains? U.S. Congress would have applauded him and hundreds of thousands wouldn’t have died and millions wouldn’t have suffered. What a disgrace for universal politics, the games of the rich with toys they can’t handle responsibly!
Clinton Years 1990s – Negated Attacks on Osama Bin Laden
Early in 1999, the CIA received reporting that Bin Laden was spending much of his time at one of several camps in the Afghan desert south of Kandahar. At the beginning of February, Bin Laden was reportedly located in the vicinity of the Sheikh Ali camp, a desert hunting camp being used by visitors from a Gulf state. Public sources have stated that these visitors were from the United Arab Emirates.
Reporting from the CIA’s assets provided a detailed description of the hunting camp, including its size, location, resources, and security, as well as of Bin Laden’s smaller, adjacent camp. Because this was not in an urban area, missiles launched against it would have less risk of causing collateral damage. On February 8, the military began to ready itself for a possible strike.
The next day, national technical intelligence confirmed the location and description of the larger camp and showed the nearby presence of an official aircraft of the United Arab Emirates. But the location of Bin Laden’s quarters could not be pinned down so precisely. The CIA did its best to answer a host of questions about the larger camp and its residents and about Bin Laden’s daily schedule and routines to support military contingency planning. According to reporting from the tribals, Bin Laden regularly went from his adjacent camp to the larger camp where he visited the Emiratis; the tribals expected him to be at the hunting camp for such a visit at least until midmorning on February 11. …
No strike was launched. By February 12 Bin Laden had apparently moved on, and the immediate strike plans became moot. According to CIA and Defense officials, policymakers were concerned about the danger that a strike would kill an Emirati prince or other senior officials who might be with Bin Laden or close by. … The lead CIA official in the field, Gary Schroen, felt that the intelligence reporting in this case was very reliable; the Bin Laden unit chief, “Mike,” agreed. Schroen believes today that this was a lost opportunity to kill Bin Laden before 9/11.
Just hours before 9/11, Clinton rued missed chance to kill Osama | NY Post |
Bill Clinton ruminated about a missed chance to get Osama bin Laden just hours before the horrific September 11th attacks, according to new audio made public in Australia. He made his comments at a paid speech in Melbourne, Sky News reported.
“And I’m just saying, you know, if I were Osama bin Laden — he’s very smart guy, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about him — and I nearly got him once. I nearly got him.”
“And I could have killed him,” Clinton continued, “but I would have to destroy a little town called Kandahar in Afghanistan and kill 300 innocent women and children, and then I would have been no better than him. And so I didn’t do it.”
Clinton got paid $150,000 for the speech to J.T. Campbell & Co.
Bill Clinton’s Moment to kill Osama Bin Laden | Interview Sky News Australia – Sept. 10, 2001 |
Former Liberal Party head Michael Kroger was there, but said he had forgotten about a recording he had of the session until last week. He revealed the existence of the chilling comments — just 10 hours before the first plane struck — to Sky News in a broadcast.
ADDENDUM: What a bs
Why can’t the French state propaganda broadcaster get the basic facts straight?
How ransoms, Syria deals secured Qatari hostage releases | France24 |
The complexity of the talks highlights Qatar’s role as an experienced and shrewd facilitator [???] in hostage negotiations – this time involving members of the Gulf Arab state’s ruling family.
It also raised allegations that the tiny energy rich nation paid millions of dollars [perhaps hundreds of millions??] to an al-Qaida-linked group to facilitate the population transfer in Syria that led to the hostages’ release in Iraq on Friday.
Qatar is home to Centcom’s regional headquarters and is where the U.S. has its largest military base in the Middle East. It is also a member of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria [discutable, allied in the overthrow of the Assad regime and in a proxy war against Iran – Oui].
A person involved in the negotiations told the AP that 11 of the captives were members of Qatar’s Al Thani ruling family. He also said Qatar paid tens of millions of dollars to Shiite groups, and to the al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee and Ahrar al-Sham, which are involved in the population transfers underway in Syria.
○ Syria Expendable In Joint US-Israel ME Power Schemes by Oui @EuroTrib on Dec. 28, 2013
○ Muslim Brotherhood Axis Egypt – Turkey – Qatar Faces Defeat by Oui @BooMan on July 7, 2013
○ Qatar, the tiny Gulf state that has turned into a big player in the Great Game (2011)
○ Qatar seeks gas pipeline to Turkey | The National – Aug. 2009 |
