SubscribeIs This Hammurabi Rights Watch’s 2nd Member?
Followers of the Haditha news will recognize the name Abdul-Rahman Al-Mashhadani as the "Chairman" of the newly formed Hammurabi Organization for Human Rights and Democracy Monitoring.
("Budding journalist" Thaer al-Hadithi, 43, is Hammurabi's founder and only other member. He serves as its "Secretary-General.")
Online references to the humanitarian Al-Mashhadani are few and far between. Though he was mentioned as a poll watcher in October and then again in December of 2005.
Photos of al-Mashhadani seem to be non-existent, except for this one of his worthy hands:
Abdul-Rahman al-Mashhadani, head of the Hammurabi Organization for Human Rights and Democracy Monitoring, points out locations of the events and witnesses of the alleged massacre of 24 Iraqis by U.S. Marines last year, on a satellite map of the western Iraqi town, to an Associated Press reporter at the offices of the group in Baghdad, Iraq Tuesday, June 6, 2006.
The question arises why a "human rights monitor" would be so mysterious, even to the point of refusing to even show his face.
Is it because of his shame at writing poetry that gives us some idea of his true agenda? — And worse yet, bad poetry.
For someone named Abdul-Rahman Al-Mashhadani has put up a poetry page called Arab Dream on a free hosting site in the United Kingdom.
And he has at least a rudimentary command of English, at least enough to get his points across:
Poetry: Abdul-Rahman Al-Mashhadani
©A D 2004
Occupation is not Liberation
O My Country
O My Country
I Write You PoetryBecause I See Your People Cry
When Thier Children DieThey Fight In The War
And Die More And MoreThe West With Their Fame
Are The Ones To BlameAnd I Will Find The Track
To Save IraqPalestine
O Palestine
I Write You A RyhmeOccupied By The Xionist Jews
The Day Will Come When They Will LoseYou Will Be Freed
And I Will Be The One To LeadThe Army That Will March
To Al-Aqsa's ArchJerusalem, Some Day Will Blossom Like The Rose At Sunrise
And The Land Will Be Free Of Fraud And LiesThis Is A Fight Of Right
Against The Terrorism MightO Palestine I Will Free You
And Any Other Islamic Land Too
The page displays an Iraqi nationalist crest and a map of Iraq, as well as a playing card of President Bush as a joker.
The page also links to a site called the National Priorities Project, which has an active ticker representing the cost of the Iraq War to US taxpayers.
Which does seem like the kind of thing that might appeal to a man who is reported to lecture on economics at Baghdad's al-Mustansiriyah University. (Reportedly a hotbed for radicals.)
Still, maybe Abdul-Rahman Al-Mashhadani is just a common name among English speaking Iraqis.
But since the Marines' lawyers have stated that both of our Hammurabi bravos have family members in jail for "for insurgent activity," I suspect he probably did write it.
Update!
While we are speculating I might as well post this brief bio from a gentleman with the same name as our hero who is listed as an assistant professor at the Philadelphia University in Jordan:
At first I was skeptical that this was the same gentleman. But then I noticed his work history was at the Al Rasheed Bank. That is the second largest bank in Iraq. It is also a state run bank, which means that Abdul-Rahman Al-Mashhadani was an administrator there when it was under the control of the Sunni Baathists.
Al Rasheed is located in Baghdad, which is where Hammurabi has its offices. (If two men need "offices.")
Here is a enlargement of Al-Mashhadani's photo:
His age, 42, also tracks with the Hammurabi co-member Thaer Thabit al-Hadithi, who is a "youthful" 43.
And they seem to be similar types. Thabit was an administrator at the Haditha hospital before he founded Hammurabi 16 months ago. (Haditha hospital was then and still is under the control of the Sunni Baathists.)
I strongly suspect this is our man.