Free Republic

A former Iraqi military intelligence chief awaits the fall of US bombs. Anton La Guardia met him in a south London flat Inside an anonymous block of flats in south London, Saddam Hussein's former head of military intelligence is plotting the downfall of his erstwhile master. General Wafiq al-Samarrai's office in Sutton has the feel of a military operations room. There he sits for hours at a computer screen, surrounded by maps and rows of yellow post-it notes, working his contacts "inside" by telephone and email, hoping to bring forward the fateful day. Yet while he has long been an...

GERMANY may impose a wealth tax to plug its gaping budget deficit. New tax measures proposed by two federal states, and which may be extended across Germany, would affect families with assets valued at €1 million (£640,000). Companies would be taxed on holdings worth more than €2.5 million. The proposals have been put forward by North Rhine-Westphalia, the country’s most industrialised state, and Lower Saxony, home of Gerhard Schröder, the Chancellor. The states say that the money will be used to improve failing schools and to hire teachers. The prospect of more taxes drew protests from ordinary Germans, hit by...