Escaped Minister Says He Fled Iraqi Jail ‘the Chicago Way’

[rodeodance]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/20/world/middleeast/20minister.html

Escaped Minister Says He Fled Iraqi Jail ‘the Chicago Way’


By JAMES GLANZ
Published: December 20, 2006

BAGHDAD, Dec. 19 — In a lengthy phone conversation on Tuesday, the former Iraqi electricity minister who escaped from a Baghdad jail on Sunday ridiculed American and Iraqi officials and said he fled because he did not trust the police and had received a tip that he would be assassinated within days.


The official, Aiham Alsammarae, who telephoned this reporter, said, without offering proof, that he was already outside Iraq after finagling his way aboard a flight at the Baghdad International Airport.

Incredulous Iraqi security and justice officials disputed parts of his account, saying that a figure as recognizable as Mr. Alsammarae could not possibly have slipped onto a flight when he was the subject of a manhunt.

Mr. Alsammarae, who holds dual American and Iraqi citizenship, scoffed at those assertions and said they were made by officials who spent too much time inside the protected Green Zone in central Baghdad and did not understand how the country really worked.

“Those suckers who are sitting in the Green Zone, they cannot go out and see the people they are governing?” asked Mr. Alsammarae, whose unmistakable speech patterns in English reflect his Iraqi and American backgrounds. “This is a joke.

“So why I cannot take the airport? It’s not because I am a smart cookie. Any Iraqi can do it, even if they have 10,000 court orders against him. This is Iraq.”

[MADem]

1. With sufficient cash, you can do damned near anything. He probably got the red carpet treatment on

his way out of the country!

It is true, that bribery goes a long, long way when you want anything. It's a national pastime, really.

[alfredo]

2. I wonder where he can go? You know bush's people will hunt him down.

[951-Riverside]

3. I'm guessing Saudi Arabia.

and I'm sure they will hunt him just like they hunted down OBL, Adam Gadahn and even Wassef Ali Hassoun. :rofl:

[alfredo]

4. Syria is Sunni, maybe he can go there.

That's where the Jews went during the Roman occupation. You get your butt in a sling, you best be heading down Damascus Road.

[Eugene]

5. self delete, sorry

replied to wrong post

[Eugene]

6. Would you believe he's coming to the United States?

I was afraid this would happen.

(Associated Press)

Iraq Prison Escapee Plans Trip to U.S.


Wednesday December 20, 2006 3:01 PM

NEW YORK (AP) - A former Iraqi minister convicted of corruption there
says he broke out of a Baghdad jail over the weekend because he feared
he was about to be assassinated, according to published reports Wednesday.

-snip-

Al-Samaraie, who holds dual American and Iraqi citizenship, has a home in the
Chicago suburb of Oak Brook and told the Tribune he plans to return there after
the new year.

-snip-

Al-Samaraie told the Tribune he did not think the U.S. would extradite him if he
went ahead with his plan to resettle in Illinois.

"I think it would be the crime of the century if they were to send me back to Iraq
or refuse me," he said. "People wouldn't allow it. I have contacted senators and
congressman to help me. I am coming back to Chicago. It is my home."

-snip-

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6293261,00.html

He might just get away with this if he doesn't trip over his superinflated ego.

[Ian David]

8. "I am coming back to Chicago. It is my home."

He's on a mission from gawd.



It's a 106 miles to Chicago. We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.

[alfredo]

9. He misses the Perogis.

[Ezlivin]

7. He can hide rather easily in New Orleans

There's lots of places that Bush will never look.