Panic Reportedly Led to Americans’ Capture
The mistake made by two Americans held in Iraq was panicking when they realized they had strayed over Kuwait’s desert border into Iraq, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported Sunday.
An Iraqi border patrol noticed the Americans last Monday when they backed out of a gate to a United Nations compound, swung their car around and took off for Kuwait, the English-language Arab Times said.
“Had they not panicked, they would have been in the hands of UNIKOM (the U.N. force) and not in the hands of . . . you know who,” an unidentified U.N. officer was quoted as saying.
The newspaper said Bangladeshi peacekeepers stopped the two at the gate of UNIKOM headquarters in the port of Umm al Qasr because the Americans did not have proper authorization. The headquarters is inside the demilitarized zone.
Kathy Daliberti of Jacksonville, Fla., told the Florida Times-Union newspaper that one of the men is her 41-year-old husband, David.
The Arab Times identified the other as Bill Barloon. It said his family is in Kuwait.
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