Family Pays Ransom in Iraqi Kidnapping

by Gina Chon and Joel Millman
Wall Street Journal

August 7, 2006

The abduction last January of freelance journalist Jill Carroll received international attention that eventually led to her release.

But about a month later, the abduction of 21-year-old Sandy Gbou garnered no attention, beyond the concern of his family.

Gbou was in Baghdad, far from his remote village in the north, to take what Americans might call a community college final exam. He was alone when a group of men knocked on his door, pretended to be friends of his father and then abducted him.

A short time later, Gbou's family received a call from the kidnappers demanding $130,000 for his release.

As frantic family members tried to raise money, an uncle stepped in to negotiate and convinced the kidnappers raising $130,000 was impossible. Eventually, the abductors agreed to accept $13,000.

The ransom was paid and bought Gbou's freedom, but not before he was beaten and terrorized for five agonizing days.

As horrific as it was, the ordeal was not exclusive to Gbou and his family. Iraqi citizens, particularly Chaldeans -- Iraqi Catholics -- have increasingly become targets for kidnappers, who then extort ransom money from the victims' relatives. Many of the victims, like Gbou, have family in the United States.

"It's become a business for them (the kidnappers)," said Gbou's cousin, Danny Batou, a Sterling Heights resident and Macomb County business owner. Gbou was best man at Batou's wedding in Iraq last year.

"They're a bunch of hoodlums ... You can't do nothing. It could be anybody. It could be somebody in his neighborhood."

Macomb County is home to a large contingent of Chaldeans, and many are related to or at least know somebody victimized by kidnappers.

"Sometimes we get calls, and we hope it's not bad news," said Mike Maher, a Mount Clemens gas station owner and native of Iraq.

Maher's brother, Thamir, told of an employee of his uncle's butcher shop in Iraq who was abducted and held for $100,000 ransom. The brothers have heard similar stories from other Iraqi-Americans.

"No cops, no government," Thamir Maher said. "Who are you going to call?"

The Wall Street Journal reported recently that a "substantial" number of Iraqi families now living in the United States have been victims of similar abduction and extortion attempts.

"Those insurgents know exactly what they are doing," Robert DeKelaita, an Iraqi-American immigration lawyer told the Journal. "They know who has relatives in the U.S. and who can pay."

Tony Batou, Danny's brother and another of Gbou's cousins, said the kidnappers believe that Iraqis living in the United States are far better off financially, which isn't necessarily true.

"Over there, you pay cash for everything, but here it's by a loan," said Tony Batou, a Shelby Township resident and owner of The Wine Garden, a St. Clair Shores liquor store.

"So when you call (from America) and say, 'I bought a house,' little do they know you just paid 10 percent or 20 percent."

Although his cousin's kidnappers agreed to settle for one-tenth of the original amount, Tony Batou feared it wouldn't be enough.

"I thought (Gbou) wasn't going to come back," he said.

Following his ordeal, Gbou returned to Alqosh, his village in the north. He'd like to join the Batou brothers and other family members in Michigan, but getting out of Iraq is difficult, at best.

"He's trying to leave," Tony Batou said.

The Batou brothers said Alqosh is far removed from Baghdad and other major cities in Iraq, and residents of the village live relatively normal lives.

But family members still fear they or somebody they know could again be victimized by kidnappers.

"They target Christians because they know they have people (living) out of the country," Tony Batou said.

Danny Batou admitted he's angry; he just doesn't know toward whom to direct the anger.

"You don't know who to blame," he said. "It's chaos."

By Frank DeFrank
Macomb Daily Staff Writer
www.macombdaily.com

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Updated list of Opression and Murders of the Assyrians in Iraq News not reported by the International Press