Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=7/31/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ/HOSTAGES (L-UPDATE)

NUMBER=2-317955

BYLINE=CHALLISS McDONOUGH

DATELINE=BAGHDAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

/// EDS: UPDATES INTRO and Headline with two Turkish hostages taken; deadline passing. No changes to text or audio. ///

HEADLINE: Iraqi Mediator hopes For Seven Hostages' Release, As Two Others Taken

INTRO: The Arabic television channel al-Jazeera says two Turkish truck drivers have been kidnapped in Iraq by followers of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Meanwhile, an Iraqi mediator negotiating the release of seven other foreign hostages says he is confident that they will be released. The kidnappers threatened to start killing the men if no progress was made by a Saturday night deadline, but the deadline passed with no news. VOA's Challiss McDonough has interviewed the mediator.

TEXT: Squeaky ceiling fans struggle to keep the room cool in the sweltering Iraqi summer, as an assistant hands Sheikh Hisham al-Dulaymi a letter that has just been faxed from Kuwait.

/// NAT SOUND, PAPER RUSTLING AND FANS ///

The company employing seven abducted truck drivers has sent a representative to negotiate for their release, and this letter is his credential. The sheikh is pleased.

/// AL-DULAYMI ACT -IN ARABIC, ESTABLISH AND FADE ///

He says the negotiations will make some progress now. They have sent someone to represent them. His name is Mehdi Saleh. Seven employees are being held, and the kidnappers have made demands of the company.

Scores of people have been kidnapped in Iraq over the last several months, most of them civilian employees of companies doing reconstruction work. At least eight victims have been killed, four by beheading. Many different groups have claimed responsibility for the abductions. The motive is sometimes political, sometimes financial.

In this case, the victims are three Indian citizens, three Kenyans and an Egyptian. Their abductors, a group calling itself the Holders of the Black Banners, threatened to start killing them Friday night, if negotiations did not start. They then pushed back the deadline until Saturday.

The kidnappers snatched the truck drivers on July 21st. They have demanded that the Kuwaiti company withdraw from Iraq, and they are also reported to want the firm to pay financial compensation to victims of fighting and airstrikes in Fallujah.

Sheikh al-Dulaymi denies having any direct contact with the kidnappers themselves.

/// 2nd AL-DULAYMI ACT-IN ARABIC, ESTAB AND FADE ///

He says "my contact with the kidnappers is through the channels, not personally." He says, "I appeal to them to help those people, and they send their messages through these channels. I have no direct contact with them."

Sheikh al-Dulaymi heads two organizations, a grouping of Iraqi tribes and one called the Association of Victims of the American Occupation. On the wall of the reception room is a white cloth banner painted with an image from one of the infamous photographs of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison.

He feels those two positions give him credibility as a mediator. But he says he disagrees with the kidnapping tactic.

/// 3rd AL-DULAYMI ARABIC ACT, ESTABLISH AND FADE ///

He says he thinks this is a bad thing and he has denounced it many times. He says he is mediating the crisis because he wants to secure the release of innocent people because, in his words, "I consider this a humanitarian issue."

The kidnappings have sparked angry demonstrations in India and Kenya, neither of which has troops in Iraq. The Indian government has dispatched a senior Arabic-speaking diplomat to Baghdad to help negotiate for the release of the three Indian victims. (SIGNED)

NEB/CEM/LDJ/PT/TW