IRAQ: For a change, a happy ending
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You’ve read about him here before. We also reported on his frightening abduction last month as fighting raged between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi and U.S. forces in Basra and Baghdad.
At the time, it seemed that Tahseen Sheikhly, a well-known spokesman for the Iraqi government, might become a high-profile victim of the violence. Police said gunmen burst into Sheikhly’s home in Baghdad, shot at least one of his guards, and vanished with Sheikhly, who for the past year has been the civilian spokesman for the Baghdad security plan imposed in early 2007 to quell unrest in the capital.
The burly Sheikhly has appeared frequently at news conferences beside high-ranking U.S. military leaders, speaking to Iraqi and foreign media about the goings-on in Iraq related to such things as restoration of electricity, rebuilding of roads, and job-creation programs.
In a phone interview the night of the abduction, Sheikhly’s brother, Ziad, said Sheikhly and his guards had fought until they ran out of ammunition to try to fend off the abductors. When their bullets were gone, Sheikhly went with the men, but he was allowed to phone his mother later to say he was alright.
On Monday, after a truce of sorts ended the fighting and Baghdad’s curfew was lifted, Sheikhly was freed. Attempts to reach him by phone Tuesday were futile -- nobody answered. But in an interview aired by Arabiya TV, an Arab satellite channel, he said he was not harmed and that the abduction was a warning to Iraq’s government not to push Shiite militias too hard.
‘These simple people used to eat with me sometimes and they did not lay a hand on me,’ he was quoted as saying. ‘However, it was a message to the Iraqi government, and God willing, law will be implemented.’
-- Tina Susman in Baghdad
