United Press International
October 19, 2004 Tuesday 11:33 AM Eastern Time

Ordeal of a Lebanese hostage in Iraq

By SALAH TAKIEDDINE

BEIRUT, Lebanon

“Welcome to the city that does not greet spies,” reads a large banner
that was raised at the entrance of Fallujah, the Iraqi city that
became well known around the world for being the hotbed of Iraqi
Sunni insurgents and suspected hideouts of notorious al-Qaida
operatives Abu Masaab al Zarqawi.

This was the first thing Aram Nalbandian saw when he headed to
Fallujah along with his workmate Sharbel al-Hajj and their Iraqi
driver on what was supposed to be a usual business trip on Sept. 27.

The three were not “spies,” but it took 27 days in captivity and much
of luck before their kidnappers admitted this reality.

“The mujahedin, wearing black hoods, stopped us at the checkpoint and
checked our identification cards. They knew we are Lebanese, and
that’s why they arrested us,” Nalbandian told United Press
International from his bedside at the American University Hospital in
Beirut shortly after his release in Iraq and return to his homeland.

He painfully recalled how he was blindfolded and taken to a house
“where there were other Iraqi hostages.”

“They started beating us, and I heard my friends screaming. So I knew
we are all together,” he said.

The beatings continue as the kidnappers showered them with questions:
Are you dealing with the U.S. forces, and do you do business with the
U.S. bases? Are you helping the government of Iraqi Prime Minister
Iyad Allawi and his ministries?

“The kidnappers consider not only the U.S. forces but also Allawi’s
government as their enemies,” Nalbandian said.

On the first interrogation night, Nalbandian knew the name of the
kidnappers’ chief: “Abul Ghadab” (Father of Wrath in Arabic).

“You have the honor to be with me. Do you know who I am? I am Abul
Ghadab: I was (deposed Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein’s personal
executioner,” said Nalbandian, recalling his kidnapper’s proper
words. “He started to beat me and warned that every time I scream in
pain I will be punished by three more lashes.”

Such daily interrogation, which lasted for 10 days, usually started
at 10 p.m. and stopped at 4:30 a.m. when kidnappers leave to perform
the dawn’s prayers.

“Every second, every minute, we were facing death,” Nalbandian said,
noting that he heard about the beheading of British hostage Kenneth
Bigley from his own kidnappers.

“Bigley was not with us. The mujahedin told us about his beheading,”
he said. “It was a psychological war all the time.”

Nalbandian escaped beheading, but he was very close to death when
U.S. warplanes hit the house where the Lebanese were held captive in
Fallujah.

“The mujahedin were out of the house when a missile hit it. The
ceiling collapsed on us and suddenly, it was all dark,” he recalled.

Nalbandian and al-Hajj were wounded. Their Iraqi driver, who was held
simply because he was accompanying the two Lebanese, was killed under
the rubble.

“Before we were pulled out by the mujahedin seven hours later, I
thought: No one outside this house knows we are here or even exist,”
Nalbandian said. “It’ s so funny: We escaped beheading just to die in
a U.S. air raid.”

With tears in his eyes, he recalled the slain Iraqi driver: “Poor
Ahmad. He was 28 years old, father of six, and his wife expecting
twins. He was earning just $150 a month.

Nalbandian said Fallujah was under surveillance by U.S. warplanes and
helicopters, which used to swoop over the city several times day and
night.

Despite their wounding, the U.S. bombardment did some good: The
kidnappers apparently felt guilty, and things took a different turn.

The beatings stopped. Nalbandian and al-Hajj were turned over to
another group of insurgents headed by someone who identified himself
as Sheikh Khaled al-Irani.

Al-Irani, who said he was an Iraqi cleric, explained why he joined
the resistance.

“The Americans occupied our country to help us get rid of Saddam’s
regime and were supposed to leave while we take over power,” he told
Nalbandian. “But they came to kill our children and women. The least
thing I can do is to resist occupation.”

To al-Irani, anyone who even carries a glass of water to the U.S.
forces or their Iraqi allies “is my enemy regardless of his religion
or confession. That’s why I am fighting.”

Nalbadian himself is a Christian Armenian but was released unharmed
after it was proven that al-Hajj, also a Christian, and he were not
working for the U.S. forces. The kidnappers even returned a $50,000
ransom paid by their Lebanese employer to secure their freedom.

“They did not take money from us and returned the ransom because they
were sure we were not collaborating with their enemies,” Nalbandian
said.

Dozens other hostages were not so lucky. From among more than 100 so
far taken hostages in Iraq by several shadowy groups, nearly 30 —
including British, Italians, Americans, Turkish, Jordanians,
Nepalese, Egyptians, Macedonians and one Lebanese — were executed by
their kidnappers.

A great number of Iraqis were believed to have faced the same fate
for the same reason. Their number however is unknown.

As Abul Ghadab explained to Nalbandian about the insurgents’
infrastructure, Fallujah itself has some 260 mosques “each of which
has an imam then an emir who is the leader of the group and countless
groups of mujahedin.” Knowing their exact number proved to be a
difficult task.

Is al-Zirqawi among them? Does he really exist?

“Difficult to say. I did not see him. I cannot confirm or deny this,”
said Nalbandian, who still can’t believe he is alive and back in
Beirut.

It will take him long time before he overcomes his ordeal considers
returning to Iraq.

Nalbandian was like many other Lebanese, Arabs and Westerners who
were lured by the great – although risky – business opportunities in
Iraq.

Although he holds a BA in Business Administration from the
prestigious American University of Beirut, 47-year-old Nalbandian
found himself jobless in Lebanon due to the deteriorating economic
conditions and growing unemployment rate.

So Iraq’s attraction to secure a decent living for his family of
three children was tempting despite the dangers.