Haider Hamza, the Iraqi who went by “Hussam” and claimed U.S. soldiers were responsible for the murders of gay men there, appears to be cleaning up his act. Speaking to Illinois College students last week, he reportedly didn’t make any such allegations of American troops! But he did find a new way to make his story more compelling!
Gone are the allegations against U.S. forces in Iraq — concluded to be entirely fictitious, and likely made up to generate support (emotional and, naturally, financial) to gay men targeted in Iraq — but new claims are popping up to make Hamza’s story all the more titillating, notes Michael Petrelis, who spotted a whole new, previously unmentioned, part of Hamza’s story. As he got Kent State University’s independent news site to report:
Hamza was arrested, kidnapped and separated from others during his time in Iraq.
He was arrested 68 times while on assignment for arriving on a site of an attack before the military. Hamza said he and fellow journalists simply followed the smoke. They learned quickly that where there’s smoke, there’s a story.
As an Iraqi citizen himself, Hamza was viewed as a traitor of his own country and was kidnapped twice.
But this is brand new information, Petrelis reports, and was never part of Hamza’s story before. Interesting, because you would think a man capable of creating such tall tales would have used this biographical information before to make his stories more compelling to audiences. And yet, he didn’t.
Which isn’t to say Hamza didn’t endure these atrocities. But really, which outlandish claims of his should we accept as truth, and which should we reject as pure fiction in an unfortunate stab to drum up attention to the cause? Because he’s lost all credibility, and should probably shut up for the time being.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Rick
That he is one of teh gays?
GayAmericanInIraq
Anyone who works in Iraq (read: the American, gay guy writing this and has been living here/ working for a few years) knows Iraqis are drama Drama DRAMA!
What happens to some Iraqis — especially gay Iraqis – is horrible, but don’t believe everything you read or hear when they speak. They make a lot of $hit up to get attention. They exaggerate. And the saddest part? . . . . they do this, hurting the cause of those who really *are* tortured, raped, etc.
Markie-Mark
What you say about him may be true. But are you trying to imply that the US Military has any credibility? I wouldn’t believe anything the US Military says and most especially if they are investigating themselves to disprove allegations. Besides, do they maintain that they are not aware of the sexual cleansing? I guess standing on the sidelines and snickering while it goes on makes them innocent. Bullshit.
violet camp
The Military’s Heart and Soul is a stirring narrative brings much deserved honor to our military and their families.
Santos
What’s with the hostility toward a guy who has been to hell and back? Anyone who has ever dealt w/ Michael Petrelis knows who the drama queen is. I’ll bet Petrelis wasn’t even in the room for the events he claims he knows about.
Ali
This guy is a compulsive liar, he worked for reuters, then abc and he was resposnible for instigating a civil war when he reported a false stroy about how Sunni militant’s attacked A Shiite wedding ceremony in Hilla and killed everyone, which was false, because it was a quarrel between two shiite tribes in Hilla and no one was killed, he caused so many stirrs and he adds flavors to stories.
GreenZone
#GayAmericanInIraq — You are exactly right. They are DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA. I lives/ worked in Iraq fore 4 years and realize that these people suffered a lot….. But much to their own stupidity, way of life, society, history, etc. Did the US do some bad things there? Yes. But ….
#Markie-Mark — Yes, the US military DOES have credibility. Does it have 100% clean record? No. But does it have more credibility in Iraq than Iraqis themselves? Well — let me just say, go to Iraq for 4 years and then come home and let’s have this conversation. You’ll see. The media didn’t tell you (or the rest of the world) everything — they sold newspapers, made TV ratings, etc. Period. If most of America got its head out of their politically correct a$$es and called these cultures and peoples out for what they are, the tune would be different.
However, most of America sits on the ‘other side of the pond’, so to speak, so politcally correctness and ‘sensitivity’ to the poor, poor, suffering Iraqis continues.
And the villinazation of US troops and Amerca continues.
Sad.
Lastly,
#Ali —- “This guy is a compulsive liar…..” Yep! From my experiences, most Iraqis were. 🙂
GreenZone
This guy, clearly, is not a professional journalist.
The only thing Iraqis are”professional” at are wailing, complaining, ululating, lying, begging the US for money (behind closed doors)……. and manufacturing and/or detonating anything with an electronic charge.
Give them cell phone parts, a battery, a washing machine timer (used to set mortars)…..and these people are on it like white on rice.
Give them something civilized, constructive, modern, peaceful, etc. —– Dude, it’s like working in a mental institution (which much of that part of the world is. Marrying your first cousin has its drawbacks, folks!)
TommyGun
Having spent years actually working with the media in Iraq I can tell you that GreenZone is right. Period. Anti-Republicanism (much of it justified) doesn’t mean that you can just condemn all our efforts over there and say it’s Evil U.S. versus Innocent Iraqis.
In my three years there I went from “hating” the U.S. and believing our efforts were misguided, to three years later realizing that our expectations for these people were way too high, They can’t trust each other on any given day, not to mention mental illness running unchecked in a society where there have been successive brain drains after conflicts (should read: anyone that was smart /had money left town ASAP) have left only pockets of functioning IQs.
It’s not convenient…but, believe it folks…it’s true.
That’s why the news from an average week in Baghdad looks just about the same whether it’s 2006, or 2012.
I hope they can pul it together in the next decade….
Ali
Nope we can’t pull it together, coz the root of our problems are the existence of different cultures, this is an uncongenial society and the only way out is a three state solution
http://www.facebook.com/stateofiraq
GreenZone
@Ali — No offense man, but writing “….coz the root of our problems are the existence of differen cultures…..” is a poor excuse for justifiying the problems within what is a highly defunct, disfunctional, and decrepit society. There are *many*countries in which various culture cohabitate, and yet people are not killing one another, blowing themselves up, etc. like we see in Iraq (and, frankly, the region). I think the cause and roots of Iraq’s problems are much more intrinsic than simply saying “We’re multi-ethnic, so, we cannot get along.”
Ali
I agree, but when different cultures co exist side by side and respect one another, having a government that respects all of its citizens, our clearly doesn’t its a racist government and they are not afraid to rub that in our faces, we have always hated one another and I do strongly believe that the only way out is a partition plan