This is one of the early Iraq formats from 2003. It gave rise to a category of its own: THREE KINGS.
We kept hoping for an Iraqi variant, to go with the G. W. Bush letter,
and behold, it is here! Not Saddam exactly, but it'll do.
We don't usually post single letters anymore, but this was too good to pass up.
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003
From: Farouk Al-Bashar [falbashar@olumo.net]
Subject: Re: Iraq
Sender: Farouk Al-Bashar [falbashar@olumo.net]
To: Kindly Contributor in the UK
From: Farouk Al-Bashar
10 Jasim Street,
Ibrahim'Ali, Baghdad, Iraq.
Email: falbashar@olumo.net
Re: Urgent Assistance Needed
By way of introduction I am Eng. Farouk Al-Bashar, I represent my family as the oldest son of the Al-Bashar family, who are the descendants of Ibrahim Al-Bashar Ali from one of the oil rich areas in Iraq. Over the years my family has acquired huge sums of money from royalties for the exploration of oil in our region but over the past 15 years, Saddam Hussein and his gangs of bandits have taken our oils without payments and we can not complain as those who did are all dead. In the wake of the Gulf War of 1990, our family withdrew most moneys that remain in coded bank accounts that Saddam did not find and we hide it in a secret chamber underground, where it remained safe until after the war. At the end of Gulf war, we moved the funds into a private vault of a security company in Baghdad, where it was until we collected it a few days ago on the fear of the eminent war with America.
We pray they remove Saddam as he is the cause of much hardship here, but our funds are trapped here and there is no avenue to transfer any amount from Iraq without Saddam knowing. The problem now is how do we transfer the funds totalling US$12.5 Million in cash from here.
We are afraid that with the capacity of the bombs America is coming to Baghdad with nowhere would be safe for the money, so we need you to help in securing a private collection agency who would come to Iraq and collect the money and have them moved to the west, where our family is planning to relocate to as life in Iraq is no longer worth living because of Saddam.
I have to travel lots of miles each day to send an email hoping someone out there would assist this family, if you can we will give you the details of an agency that can lift the funds from here as given to me by a US Marine. The private collection agency would then collect the fund from here and deliver it to you for safe keep. Hoping the American campaign would be successful, we would then come over to your country for a meeting to share the funds and hopefully start a new life with you as a partner.
For your assistance with this project the family is willing to give you 10% of the funds, however if this does not suit you we are open for negotiation.
We eagerly await your response so we can inform you of the next line of action.
Regards.
Eng. Farouk Al- Bashar
For the entire Al-Bashar family