Iraqi escapee back in town
Ex-electricity minister fled prison last month
"I was always under the impression I would never leave that place alive," he told NBC-Channel 5, a Sun-Times news partner, about his time in Iraqi custody on corruption charges.
Alsammarae, a dual Iraqi-U.S. citizen who served as Iraq's electricity minister after Saddam Hussein's fall, escaped Dec. 17. He said he walked out of a Baghdad police station, got in a waiting car, then switched cars and was driven to a private jet that whisked him to Jordan.
At the time, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad condemned Alsammarae's escape, said it played no role in it and supported Iraq's efforts to find him. Alsammarae fled a day before he was to face new charges related to missing Iraqi electricity funds -- charges Alsammarae maintains are baseless.
When Alsammarae arrived at O'Hare Airport on Monday night, he was not treated like a fugitive. Federal authorities questioned him but did not detain him, Alsammarae said.
"We permitted him into the country because we deemed him admissible," said Kelly Klundt, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman.
The Iraqi government did not immediately respond to Alsammarae's arrival in the United States.
A man answering the Baghdad phone for Iraqi spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh late Tuesday refused to wake up al-Dabbagh to comment. "Why are you bothering us about this thug, this thief? He's not worth it," the man said in Arabic.
A criminal justice expert questioned why U.S. and Iraqi officials weren't more outraged about Alsammarae.
"You would think this would be a major international incident," said University of Illinois at Chicago Professor Matthew Lippman. "It's all very shadowy. I believe the U.S. government . . . helped get him over here. And everyone's agreed to let this thing slide."
Whether Alsammarae will face questions on another front remains to be seen. The feds have expressed interest in Alsammarae's friendship with recently indicted businessman Tony Rezko, the Sun-Times reported last month. Rezko won an Iraqi power plant deal while Alsammarae was electricity minister.
Alsammarae insisted he didn't help Rezko -- his friend since the late 1970s -- land that deal. "I wish I supported the poor guy," Alsammarae said, "but I didn't."