Posted on 08/21/2003 3:04:11 AM PDT by kattracks
ABBARAH, Iraq (AP) - U.S. forces captured a suspected senior member of Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen militia who was carrying a shopping list for explosives materials, a military official said Thursday.The man, Rashid Mohammed, was also holding a list of ten Iraqi names that U.S. forces believe was an assassination list when soldiers stopped his car on a highway north of Baqouba, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, with two other men in a car, Lt. Col. William Adamson from the 588th Engineering Battalion said. Mohammed was detained along with two men who were traveling with him, he added.
``We suspect this was a senior man organizing Saddam Fedayeen activities in Baqouba. We also have reason to believe, based on documents obtained, that he was actively purchasing improvised explosive devices with remote controlled detonators,'' Adamson said. He did not give the names of the people on the list.
Adamson said other informants had told U.S. forces that Mohammed had been trying to organize a 600-strong militia in the area around Baqouba.
In Baghdad, soldiers pulled three more bodies Thursday from the rubble of the U.N. headquarters, the U.N. spokesman in Baghdad, Salim Lone, said. The discovery raised the death toll from the devastating truck bomb attack to 23.
The U.N. headquarters was attacked Tuesday by an unknown group using a massive truck bomb fashioned out of a crude combination of explosives from Saddam Hussein's old military arsenal, including a giant 500-pound bomb, FBI investigators said.
The U.N's official death toll now stands at 20, Lone said. However, The Associated Press had conducted independent checks at area hospitals which indicated that the death toll was now 23.
A key member of the U.S.-picked interim government had said on Wednesday that the death toll could go much higher. About 300 U.N. employees worked at the headquarters.
``There are many who are still trapped in there,'' said Ahmad Chalabi, a member of the Governing Council and leader of the Iraqi National Congress.
In a second operation northeast of Baghdad, U.S. soldiers raided a farmhouse Thursday after receiving a tip that Saddam was hiding there, U.S. military officials said on condition of anonymity. They detained five men but did not find the former Iraqi leader, the officials said..
One soldier was shot in the arm as the soldiers from the 67th Armored Regiment's 3rd Battalion left the village, U.S. military authorities said, adding his injuries were not considered serious.
The house that was raided was owned by an alleged Saddam loyalist, Khalid al-Dosh. It was not immediately known if he was among those detained.
The U.S. military has said it has Saddam on the run, forcing him to change locations every three to four hours. The search for the former Iraqi leader has focused several key areas, including the region around his hometown of Tikrit, 120 miles north of Baghdad.
His sons Odai and Qusai were killed July 22 in a ferocious firefight in Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad.
While U.S. forces have acted quickly on a number of tips that Saddam had been sighted, none of the raids conducted in search of him have panned out.
Officers with the 4th Infantry said a second informant told them that two wanted men - Hussein Ali Taha and Haji Abed - also were in the house that was raided. It was not clear if the pair were among the five detained, nor did the military say for what the men were wanted.
The United States has offered a $25 million reward for information leading to the capture or killing of Saddam. The informant who told U.S. forces where they could find his sons was placed under U.S. protective custody, taken out of Iraq and has been paid $30 million - $15 million each for Odai and Qusai.
U.S. officials in Iraq have said they believe the resistance to the U.S. occupation of the country will diminish once Saddam is caught and citizens no longer fear he might return to power.
08/21/03 05:18 EDT
I'd suspect that money talks. The locals are willing to drop a dime on someone if the price is right.
The man, Rashid Mohammed, was also holding a list of ten Iraqi names that U.S. forces believe was an assassination list ..
Those ten will be grateful.
. . .this constant reporting on the 'informant', must surely be encouraging, not only to him but others who might consider coming forward.
The Media goes completely out-of-bounds on this.
There is more than enough 'news'to report without jeopardizing the lives of Iraqui's whom we are encouraging/enticing to help with our mission over there.
Isn't that the idea? Iraqis should feel confident that the US will protect the informants and pay the bounties. The only down side would be if the US announced where they had taken these families, and they haven't done that.
When this first happened; the Media et al, said they could not reveal the identity of the person/s so as to protect him/them.
They immediately followed this, by announcing that the informant was the owner of the house where 'Uday and Qusay' had been staying; and by the end of the week; his name and occupation were mentioned as 'speculaton' as well.
And now; the rest of the story. . ..
No question, there is a fine line here; but do not think the Media and/or those disclosing the 'facts' are close to following it. . . IMHO.
Ambassador David Broucher made the U.K. presentation on bio-weapons management. While the U.K. was not critical of the U.S. position in principle, Broucher claimed an alternative approach in its tactical pursuits. The U.K. supports the accompaniment of evidence when accusations of biological weapons development are made. And, all offenders should be named or none at all. These statements could be interpreted as subtle accusations of inconsistencies and politicization on the part of particular BWC members. Broucher expressed caution in the arena of bio-weapons debate. Referring to the former Soviet Union, he exclaimed that yesterday’s offender could become tomorrow’s partner. In keeping with these arguments and several others, Broucher stated a U.K. preference for multilateral action; a unified political response is a significant force, which his country cares to pursue.
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