Mevrouw Anthrax Vrijgelaten

Kunt u zich nog de triomfantelijke Amerikaanse aankondiging herinneren dat mevrouw Anthrax was gearresteerd, nummer 5 in het kaartspel van 55 'meest gezochte terroristen in Irak,' zoals ondermeer Elsevier hen betitelde? Welnu deze 'levensgevaarlijke terroriste' is inmiddels door de Amerikaanse autoriteiten op vrije voeten gesteld. Columnist Robert Scheer stelt enkele vragen: 'Dr. Germ and Mrs. Anthrax Set Free. Why is it not bigger news that those infamous Iraqi female scientists once routinely referred to in the media as "Dr. Germ" and "Mrs. Anthrax" have been quietly released from imprisonment in Iraq without any charges being brought by their US captors? Don't the newspapers and TV networks that all but pre-convicted them of crimes against humanity owe them - and us - the courtesy of an explanation for the sudden presumption of their innocence? After all, it was to stop these mad leaders of Saddam Hussein's allegedly booming weapons-of-mass-destruction programs that the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003. We were told at the time by the White House that the UN inspectors scouring the country were being blocked by lying officials and scientists, themselves complicit in breaking UN sanctions, and so we wouldn't get the truth until we could interrogate them as prisoners. Yet, when Rihab "Dr. Germ" Taha and Huda "Mrs. Anthrax" Ammash, both of whom were once on a Pentagon most-wanted list, were released after two-and-a-half years, their US captors didn't even announce it. When questioned afterward as to why no war crimes charges had been brought against the pair, US commander Gen. George Casey said in a joint statement with the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, that they "no longer posed a security threat to the people of Iraq and to the Coalition forces." US forces "therefore, had no legal basis to hold them any longer."' Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122805L.shtml