ANOTHER Iraqi mayor gets assassinated

Sad

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31905-2003Oct28.html

(snip)
BAGHDAD, Oct. 28 -- The warnings came from his mother, sister, four brothers, and friends -- and from people who called late at night and threatened harm.

Stop working with the Americans.

Faris Abdul Razzaq Assam, one of Baghdad's three deputy mayors, heard the messages but listened to his heart, family members said. He continued to work on water projects and set up neighborhood councils. He supervised thousands of employees as the head of city technical services.

When Assam returned Sunday from an international donors' conference in Madrid, he excitedly told his family that he had secured billions of dollars in pledges. "I'm going to turn Baghdad into heaven," he said.

Hours later, witnesses said, two gunmen walked into an outdoor cafe where Assam was playing dominoes and shot him in the head at point-blank range. The assailants slipped into the night and remain at large.