Faris Abdul Razzaq Assam

From the news reports:

Faris Abdul Razzaq Assam, one of Baghdad's three deputy mayors, heard the messages but listened to his heart, family members said. He continued to work on water projects and set up neighborhood councils. He supervised thousands of employees as the head of city technical services.

When Assam returned Sunday from an international donors' conference in Madrid, he excitedly told his family that he had secured billions of dollars in pledges. "I'm going to turn Baghdad into heaven," he said. ...

"Iraq doesn't deserve people like him," a distraught Mayada Assam, 33, dressed in traditional black mourning clothes, said of her brother. ...

"He was well-liked by all the people who dealt with him, and he was competent," said Nada Abdul Mehdi, 37, a municipal engineer. ...

In his trademark warm-up suits and slippers, Assam roamed the city to meet with emerging political leaders, according to friends and co-workers. He helped create the neighborhood representative bodies known as city advisory councils and worked with their members. All the while, Assam, who held a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Baghdad University, earned the trust of the civilians working for the occupation authority. ...

In Hussein's time, when Baathists tried to intimidate Assam, he resisted, his mother said. After Hussein's government fell, Assam remained undaunted. ...

Around 7 p.m., wearing a maroon track suit and slippers, he drove to the Al Mulimin Cafe, a few blocks from his mother's house, for some company. When he went inside, he left in his car the handgun that occupation authorities had issued him.

Sipping unsweetened tea and smoking a water pipe stuffed with his favorite tobacco, Two Apples, Assam began a game of dominoes with six other players, said Saad Nasir Waaili, the cafe's owner, who stood next to Assam and watched the game. The cafe was packed.

WP 29 Oct 2003