- I translated this story from the Italian Newspaper 'La
Repubblica' that you might be interested in posting.
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- Best wishes,
Mario
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- Interview With Former Governor Ali Al-Mumshed
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- Newspaper Source: La Repubblica By Italian Correspondent
Renato Caprile November 14th 2003
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- Al-Mumshed: "I knew about the attack and told the
Italians that they were the target, but nobody listened to me"
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- NASSIRIYA -- "It is said that there isn't a leaf
that falls in Nassiriya that no one knows where and when it,s going to
hit the ground. There are eyes and ears everywhere," says former Regional
Governor Sheikh Ali Al-Mumshed. "When you've learned to survive Saddam
Hussein, whom had always been hostile to us, it truly pays to be one of
us. This time, my instincts were telling me something was going to happen.
There were strange movements of suspicious Arab men, and many rumors about
how there was a plan to attack the Italians."
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- Caprile: What did the rumors say, Sheikh?
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- Al-Mumshed: "They weren't very specific about the
date, the type of attack or the objective. We just knew that it was very
likely that an attack was going to take place against your troops."
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- Caprile: And what did you do?
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- Al-Mumshed: "Five days earlier, I sent a fax to
the your police station in Nassiriya. I thought that putting my signature
on it would be considered serious enough for them to pay attention to it,
since I,m the former governor of this province."
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- Caprile: What did you write in the fax?
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- Al-Mumshed: "That I had reasons to believe that
an unidentified terrorist group was preparing an attack with a car bomb
against buildings or personnel of 'Ancient Babylon' (name of the Italian
operation in Iraq -ed). I only wrote them that."
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- Caprile: And after that, what happened?
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- Al-Mumshed: "Nobody contacted me. I don't even think
the police forwarded the information to anyone who might,ve been interested
in investigating it."
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- We are at about a dozen of kilometers from Nassiriya,
in the dusty desert. The city is far from here. Sheikh Ali al-Mumshed,
60 of years of age, tall, thin, and head of Ghazi tribe lives here. At
his house, he receives many visits from friends and other guests. After
he travels throughout the region, he usually stops at his enormous tent
that measures about 37 meters long and twelve meters wide. His tent is
a court, a plaza, a conference room and a comfortable home all together.
Two smiling servants always make sure that I, and other guests always get
a hot cup of tea.
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- Continuing with the interview:
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- Al-Mumshed: "The fallen Italians were my friends.
Many of them have been here, and sat down to drink tea and speak with me.
They were really trying to find the way to help our country. These were
good humanitarian people. And I am truly sorry about this."
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- Caprile: Who did it and why?
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- Al-Mumshed: "It is said that it might be the Fedayeen
Saddam. What we know is this: The Fedayeen, the thousands of Republican
Guard soldiers going after the Americans, the former Mukhabarat and Baaths
are only some of the elements of the guerrilla that is tainting our country
with blood. But who ever struck this time came from outside the country.
They might be from Syria, Jordan and most probably, from Saudi Arabia.
Suicide bombing is not part of our culture. The attacks on Americans, using
traditional weapons, are surely the work of Iraqis, but not suicide bombings.
I don't know, and I don,t discard the possibility that Saddam had ever
made a villainous deal with Bin Laden,s network, but I think it,s important
to underline this distinction (that it was not the Iraqis). As for the
reasons why they did it, undoubtedly, who ever carried out this horrific
act wants to destroy us all, regardless of their nationality or from the
fact that they are rejected by the people."
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- Caprile: How was your relationship with the Italians?
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- Al-Mumshed: "Excellent, even if our collaboration
had not reached one hundred percent yet."
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- Caprile: Do you believe that Nassiriya can turn into
a second Baghdad?
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- Al-Mumshed: "I'm afraid so. The entire country is
at risk. Saddam himself organized this resistance well ahead of time, even
before the war. He knew that he wasn,t going to be able to fight the American
military power in traditional battle, so he trained his people to use guerrilla
warfare. People say that in this case, it might,ve been a fundamentalist
group linked to Al-Qaeda. It is said that entire legions of would-be suicide
bombers are coming. And I believe it. There are indeed hundreds of them,
hidden among the people, ready to jump out of nowhere. This is an invisible
army that won't be easy to stop."
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- http://www.repubblica.it/2003/k/sezioni/esteri/iraq7/sceicco/sceicco.html
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- Italian Translation by Mario Andrade
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