Wife Seeks To Visit Husband In Iraqi Prison

Linda Barloon, seeking to free her husband from an Iraqi prison, arrived in Jordan on Friday en route to Baghdad, where she hopes to visit him.

“I’m excited about going to see my husband,” Mrs. Barloon said. “It’s been six weeks since I last saw him, the longest six weeks of my life.”

William Barloon, 39, of New Hampton, Iowa, and David Daliberti, 41, of Jacksonville, Fla., were sentenced to eight years in prison last month for illegally entering Iraq.

Daliberti’s wife, Kathy, arrived in Amman from the United States on Thursday. The women plan to travel by car across the desert to Baghdad but must first receive visas in Amman, which they have been promised.

However, officials said the Iraqi mission, which was celebrating Saddam Hussein’s 58th birthday Friday, refused to open to provide the visas.

The Clinton administration has repeatedly demanded the release of the two men, who it says inadvertently strayed across the border March 13 from Kuwait. The two worked there for U.S. defense contractors.