AN UNRETURNED GESTURE OF GOODWILL

Malcom Lagauche

In 1995, two U.S. citizens (William Barloon and David Daliberti) were captured inside Iraq. They maintained they lost their way in trying to visit a friend in Kuwait. Both worked for U.S. civilian contractors in Kuwait. The border, at that time, was heavily reinforced with a deep ditch and towering fences on each side. The pair was well inside Iraq and it would have been impossible for them to have accidentally wandered into Iraqi territory. After they were taken to Baghdad, they were tried as spies and received a sentence of eight years in prison (...) On July 17, 1995, Bill Richardson, who is a current candidate for the U.S. presidency, and, at the time a U.S. Congressman, visited Baghdad to try to obtain the release of the pair. Saddam Hussein granted a pardon and allowed them to leave Iraq. Despite the act of goodwill on behalf of Saddam Hussein, the U.S. kept up the barrage of insults toward Iraq. Very few world leaders would have released two convicted spies with nothing to show in return. There were no "thanks, Saddam" messages coming from the U.S. Instead, Iraq received more threats and many denigrating remarks from the person who visited Iraq to secure the release of the two prisoners. In addition, Richardson was a supporter of the March 2003 invasion of Iraq...

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