Hatem Kamil served as the Iraqi government's negotiator in Fallujah and had challenged claims that terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was actually in the region. He had stated that claims of al-Zarqawi's presence were similar to previous claims of WMDs in Iraq. He had 2 young children at the time, a daughter, 2 years old, and son, 3 years old.