NewsMine — coldwar-imperialism — iraqgate — saddam-tales — Viewing Item

Iraqi woman torture tale is fabricated { January 25 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-hanna25.html http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-hanna25.html Iraqi woman's tale of torture under Saddam is unraveling January 25, 2005 BY MARK MEMMOTT An Iraqi woman praised by a top Pentagon official for ''brave testimony'' about torture she endured under Saddam Hussein's regime could be expelled from the United States because she apparently made up most or all of the stories. Jumana Michael Hanna first told her tales to the Washington Post, which made them front-page news on July 21, 2003. The stories also prompted Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to praise her courage during testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 29, 2003. In September 2003, Hanna, her two young children and her mother were flown to the United States. They've been here ever since. Thought to be in Chicago But now Esquire magazine calls Hanna ''a liar.'' And the Post concedes it seems to have been duped. Hanna, the paper wrote, ''appears to have made false claims about her past,'' including a dramatic account of having her husband's corpse handed to her after he died at the hands of torturers. Her husband is apparently alive, the paper said. Efforts to contact Hanna, who was thought to be in the Chicago area, were unsuccessful. She did not answer phone calls or e-mails. The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is ''going to have to look at this very carefully,'' spokesman Manny Van Pelt said Friday. ''We have a process called parole, and individuals are paroled into the United States for various reasons. But it's a temporary measure that can be rescinded at any time.'' Claimed she was held for years Hanna orignally told the Post she had been imprisoned by Saddam's son Odai in November 1993, after she went to him to try to gain approval of her marriage to a non-Iraqi. Hanna said she was held for more than two years and was repeatedly raped and tortured. But her tales began to come apart after journalist Sara Solovitch was hired last August to write a book with Hanna and became suspicious. One thing especially bothered her: Hanna claimed to have a master's degree from Oxford University in England, even though her English was elementary at best. That claim, Solovitch found, was false. Solovitch checked out other parts of Hanna's story. Family members in Iraq said Hanna's husband was still alive. Solovitch decided she couldn't write the book. Instead, she wrote the Esquire story on how she uncovered Hanna's deceptions. Gannett News Service

Iraqi woman torture tale is fabricated { January 25 2005 } Iraqis powerful story crumbles on second look { July 21 2003 } Powerful tales of torture under saddam unravels { January 23 2005 } Files Listed: 3

Correction/submissions

CIA FOIA Archive

National Security Archives

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information, go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purpose of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.