Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9505010051
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press|
DATELINE: BAGHDAD, IRAQ LENGTH: Medium
Linda Barloon, 37, who lives in Kuwait, and Kathy Daliberti, 39, of Jacksonville, Fla., were told they would be allowed to visit their husbands in the maximum-security Abu Graib prison, just outside Baghdad. But no time had been set, and there had been no indication the trip could result in the men being released.
The women arrived in Baghdad after an all-day drive across the desert from Amman, Jordan. With them was Polish diplomat Ryszard Krystosik, whose mission in Iraq has also cared for U.S. interests since Washington and Baghdad severed ties in 1990.
``We're happy to make this trip,'' said Mrs. Barloon as she waited outside passport control at a Jordanian border post. ``We hope that we will visit them.''
The women were taken to a house that once belonged to the U.S. Embassy. Reached by phone there late Saturday, Krystosik said he could not comment, then hung up.
State-run radio and TV made no mention of the visit Saturday. Information Ministry officials said there was no need to give any importance to the event and refused to allow reporters to go to the Iraqi border.
Iraq wants to keep the event low-key, fearing the United States will use it to criticize Iraq's human rights record and embarrass Baghdad.
William Barloon, 39, and David Daliberti, 41, were arrested by Iraqi border guards after straying across the Kuwait border March 13. They were convicted of entering Iraq without permission and sentenced to eight years in prison March 25.
by CNB