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Canadians killed in Baghdad were living in fear

Posted by Tiglath (Guest) davidchibo@hotmail.com - Saturday, September 18 2004, 12:14:57 (CEST) from 203.173.5.199 - 203-173-5-199.dyn.iinet.net.au Australia - Windows XP - Internet Explorer Website: Website title:

Canadians killed in Baghdad were living in fear By ORLY HALPERN AND JOE FRIESEN Friday, September 17, 2004 - Page A12 BAGHDAD, TORONTO -- In the weeks before he died, Andrew Shmakov had been forced to stay behind closed doors for his own safety. On Tuesday, when he finally accompanied his business partner Munir Toma to the office, the two were killed in an ambush on a Baghdad street. The two Canadians were long-time friends, working as civilian contractors in Iraq. But recently, Mr. Toma's family concluded that Mr. Shmakov's presence was putting them in danger, and they tried to keep him out of sight. "We felt we were threatened from Andrew's presence," Munir's wife, Baydaa, said in an interview in Baghdad yesterday. Their plans were to drive to northern Iraq and send Mr. Shmakov home to Canada through Turkey, but he wouldn't listen. "We asked him to go but he refused, and Munir felt embarrassed to tell him again," she said. "Even when his mother and father called him to come home, he would tell them no." She said Mr. Shmakov, who stood out as a pale-skinned foreigner, had not been allowed to leave their compound for the past month. "Since they started killing foreigners, Munir would go to work and come home but he kept Andrew here because he was scared for him," Baydaa said. Mr. Shmakov and Mr. Toma were killed near their Baghdad office. According to Iraqi police, their black Mercedes-Benz was riddled with hundreds of rounds from an AK-47. A pistol, some cash and a gold cross necklace were recovered from the car, as were their cellphones and a handgun. "They didn't have time to shoot a shot," an Iraqi policeman said. Mr. Shmakov moved to Iraq five months ago to work with his friend, who had returned to the country of his birth six years earlier. Even their closest family members can't say what kind of work they were doing. "No one really knows what kind of business he was doing in Iraq," said Mary, Mr. Toma's daughter. She confirmed he was a contractor who worked with the Americans. Her aunt, speaking from Mr. Toma's mother's house in Detroit, said Mr. Toma "was working to rebuild Iraq." Mr. Toma, 40, came to Canada from Iraq in 1984. He had worked as a chef in the Iraqi embassy in Vienna, and after a brief stint in Italy he moved to Canada with his first wife. They settled in Scarborough, and later moved to Kitchener, Ont., where he opened a Dunkin' Donuts franchise. "He had many businesses," Mary said. She and her two siblings live in Toronto with their mother. She said her father was wealthy and had enterprises in Germany and the United Arab Emirates as well as Iraq. He often worked with Mr. Shmakov, whom he had met when he first arrived in Toronto. It's unclear what role Mr. Shmakov played in the Iraqi venture. His fiancée Julie said she was too distraught to discuss the details of his life. Iraqi police say the two men were targeted because of their company's involvement with the Americans. "I'm sure they were killed by the muqawma [resistance]," said Captain Amin, the police investigator. "They are Canadian and they are working with the Americans, so they were a target. The foreigners are all targets now." Mr. Toma's sister, however, said they were targeted because they were Christian. "They are killing Christians all the time in Iraq," she said. Mr. Toma was a Chaldean Catholic, a religious minority group in Iraq. He married Baydaa, his cousin on both sides, in 1997. They have one child. Baydaa now fears for her life. She has never been to Canada, but says her husband made an application for Canadian citizenship on her behalf at the embassy in Jordan. She is now refusing to give up her husband's Canadian passport in the hope that it may help her get one of her own. "They might come after me and my daughter now. We don't feel safe," Baydaa said. Her sister-in-law Shary said the group responsible for killing the two Canadians is now patrolling the streets outside the family home in Baghdad. She said the Canadian government has refused to help them get Baydaa and her child to Canada. "I have a feeling in my heart that something terrible will happen to them very soon," she said. --------------------- - BACK TO INDEX - REPLY - QUOTE - EDIT - DELETE -

The full topic: Canadians killed in Baghdad were living in fear Tiglath - Saturday, September 18 2004, 12:14:57 (CEST) Carpetbaggers by any other name.... Parhad - 09/18 17:32 Re: Carpetbaggers by any other name.... Nobody - 09/18 19:34 by the by Parhad - 09/19 00:05

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