Driver and guard of newspaper editor killed in Baghdad

Driver and guard of newspaper editor killed in Baghdad
By Associated Press, 5/30/2004 01:08


BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) The former Iraqi editor of an American-funded newspaper said Saturday that his driver and bodyguard were abducted and murdered, hours after police warned him of a possible kidnapping plot.

Ismael Zayer was the editor-in-chief of the Coalition Provisional Authority-backed newspaper Al-Sabah until May 3, when he quit to set up his own publication.

After the police warning Saturday morning, Zayer said he stayed in his home for about 20 minutes and then left his home ''to find that my car, the driver, my bodyguard and the other four cars had disappeared.''
(snip)

Zayer blamed remnants of the former regime of Saddam Hussein for the killings.
(snip/...)

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/151/world/Driver_and_guard_of_newspaper_:.shtml

I hope the employees there know their jobs are now a deadly risk. Not like they can quit and look for other jobs though.

Guy's the executive editor for a newspaper in Iraq that's funded by the U.S. government.

After months of trying to accomplish something, he decides the U.S. government is interfering too much (I derived this from a piece in The Nation last month, not this particular news article). So he and the editorial staff quit and go off to start their own newspaper that's independent, and that the U.S. government has no control over.

Few months later, he's warned there might be a kidnaping plot, and his chauffeur and bodyguard are kidnaped and killed.

And he blames former allies of Saddam Hussein.

What am I missing, here? Does anybody else see this as a little weird? I mean, unless we're not getting the whole story, I'd think this guy would at least have entertained the possibility that the U.S. government wanted him out of the way, wouldn't you?

I'm willing to allow that there may be information that wasn't provided in this article that led him to believe this, but with the information given, I think it's mighty strange that he's so sure who did it.

Al-Sabah was apparently regarded as vox occupation and they had many death threats. So it's not implausible.

On the other hand, the whole thing sounds very Goodfellas.

some links

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0504-03.htm

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/072kcdat.asp

http://www.mail-archive.com/nettime-l@bbs.thing.net/msg01882.html

http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3687

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=7583


That last one I dug up from an old post about intellectuals being killed in Iraq:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=519131


My opinion hasn't changed much. There *are* reasons to suspect US military or paramilitary involvement. However, other armed groups also have means and motives to kill intellectuals.

buddies of Allawi... which remnants... I'm having a tough time keeping all the remnants straight. :crazy:

I thought that the closing of his newspaper was like the last brick in the wall for Sadr's group that caused them to get all riled up in the first place?

I'm lost....