Hostage Bazaar Draws a Crowd in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq —  The Champ, Muhammad Ali, rose slowly from his table in the Scheherazade Lounge and feinted a one-two combination at the 5-foot-2 Indian barman.

The little fellow never flinched. He stood stolidly, proudly, as the big American wrapped an arm around his shoulder, eased a small smile and faced the Al Rashid hotel photographer.

Flash. One more memory for the Al Rashid staff, which lined up one by one Wednesday night for the honor of posing with the Champ. Warming to the spotlight, the former heavyweight titleholder finished his evening performing sleight-of-hand tricks with a cocktail napkin for two Irish nurses celebrating the news that they had been given exit permits to leave Iraq.

Ali, whose name alone is magic in the Islamic world, is probably the least-expected and best-known of the public figures who have come to Baghdad in the past two months as peace ambassadors in the Persian Gulf crisis.

His advisers were secretive about the mission, but one told a black American, an unwilling guest of the Iraqi government, that he might be getting some good news. The hostage, who has had his hopes inflated before without result, promised to stay tuned.

In fact, many of the thousands of Westerners trapped here by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait were waiting for news this week.

Baghdad’s hostage bazaar remains open, diplomats say.

Even though Iraqi President Saddam Hussein promised last weekend to free all detained foreigners beginning Christmas Day if “the atmosphere of peace” is maintained, the peace delegations weren’t waiting.

Rumor Central is the marbled lobby of the Al Rashid, press headquarters in Baghdad. Reporters and foreign delegations engage in walking news conferences, trading figures, exploring strategies. There’s an air of competition.

Edgar Oehler, a legislator and head of a Swiss delegation seeking the release of 16 Swiss hostages, was pulled aside Thursday for his latest report. “We got 36,” he replied--eight of his own countrymen plus hostages from Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Britain and Belgium.

Told that Jean Marie Le Pen, head of the rightist French National Front and a notorious race-baiter, had reportedly secured the release of more than 80 Westerners, the hard-driving Swiss legislator shook his head.

“Le Pen eats Arabs,” he complained in disbelief.

It all started with a visit by Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, which was roundly criticized by Washington and other Western capitals arrayed against Baghdad in the confrontation over Kuwait.

Nevertheless, the stream of foreign dignitaries calling on Hussein in search of hostages has continued. The visitors have included Yasuhiro Nakasone, Willy Brandt, Anker Joergensen and David Lange, former government leaders in Japan, West Germany, Denmark and New Zealand, and a number of peace-oriented delegations, including a quick in-and-out by Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega.

The hostage bazaar is a model of Middle East negotiating. According to a diplomat who has watched one of the missions closely, the process is tough--and Hussein’s government is playing it cleverly for every advantage.

The negative for Baghdad, he said, is that its policy of forbidding Western men to leave the country has begun to backfire.

In an interview this week, Iraqi National Assembly Speaker Saadi Mehdi Saleh said the decision on the male hostages was originally taken to protect Iraq from American-led forces in the Persian Gulf.

“Our decision in detaining all these guests in our country is not because we have a hostile attitude against them. We want only to prevent a sudden war,” he said.

The Speaker pointed out that 40 of the 250 National Assembly deputies voted against the plan for a staged release, fearing that Iraq would lose that protection.

From the start, holding hostages has blackened the Iraqi reputation in the West, particularly the decision to send hundreds of them to potential military targets as “human shields.”

The strategy became the No. 1 emotional issue in the West, and, one diplomat here estimated, by angering Western governments “it has increased the possibility of war one hundredfold.”

Western diplomats assert that officials of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, who have the most experience in the outside world, have been embarrassed by the situation.

Nevertheless, Hussein’s government has found a counteracting advantage, these diplomats say. By entertaining visits from foreign dignitaries, Hussein scores public-relations points on two fronts:

Although Baghdad initially was locked in political isolation except for a few supporting Arab countries, Hussein’s own countrymen and the Arab world now see leaders of the industrialized countries trooping to Iraq’s doorstep. Each visit is touted with photographs and stories in the Baghdad press. Hussein “wants to show he is in touch with world leaders,” one Western diplomat said, “and by releasing a few hostages, he shows Arab magnanimity.”

Internationally, Hussein has used the visits to push his plan for a comprehensive settlement of all contentious issues in the Middle East without first withdrawing from Kuwait. Almost to a man, the foreign visitors have left here endorsing some sort of political solution to the crisis. Their words have fed peace movements abroad.

“In effect,” the diplomat said, “he has hogged the media for three months. Previously, he rarely gave press interviews. Now he is attempting to project a humanitarian image.”

The hostages, meanwhile, have no say in the debate. They are merely pawns in the game.

According to the diplomat keeping watch over one of the negotiations, the discussions unfold in the following pattern:

The foreign delegation, once it is judged politically profitable to Baghdad, is provided visas, comes to Iraq and is put in touch with the official Organization for Friendship, Peace and Solidarity.

A series of interviews is set up, usually including Speaker Saleh, Information Minister Latif Jasim and other ranking government figures. Important delegations see Hussein himself.

The delegation presents its views on the crisis and, if a rapport develops, or at least political advantage is seen by the Iraqis, the subject of hostages is raised. Normally, the visitors present some specific numbers and, in a series of meetings, the total is bargained down.

Besides exposure for its peace plan, the government has invariably asked the delegations to consider a humanitarian shipment of medicines and powdered milk for infants, both permissible under humanitarian provisions of the United Nations embargo against Iraq. Although Western diplomats question a dire need for medicines here, provision of them paints a picture of a heartless embargo.

Some delegations have refused to bargain medical supplies for hostages, insisting that the peaceful intent of their mission should be sufficient, diplomats say. Either way, argue diplomatic critics of the bazaar, the process plays into Hussein’s hands.

At this point, said one, releasing hostages is a “no-cost card” for the Iraqi leader. And so far, it’s a card that the foreigners crowding the Al Rashid are eager to see.