Woman devoted to Iraqi people gets caught up in violence of war

AS British and US forces massed to invade Iraq last year, the Irish-born director of CARE International operations in Baghdad said she was determined to stay.

“I won’t leave because I think it’s important for my staff that I stay with them. The strength comes from us supporting one another,” Margaret Hassan said in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Now she is a hostage caught up in the violence unleashed by war, seized early yesterday in Baghdad.