1 600 gefallene US-Soldaten im Iraq

Haft frei; ohne Anklage, ohne Beweise; einfach mal 8 Monate wegsperren...


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military freed an Iraqi journalist who works for Reuters on Sunday after holding him for nearly eight months without charge.

Samir Mohammed Noor was the third journalist working for Reuters to be freed from military custody after two others were released a week ago. At least two journalists for other international media organizations are still being held.

Noor, a 30-year-old freelance television cameraman, spent time in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and lately at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq; he was arrested at his home in the violent northern city of Tal Afar in early June during a general search of his neighborhood by Iraqi and U.S. troops.

"We are glad that all journalists working for Reuters in Iraq are now free," said Reuters Global Managing Editor David Schlesinger.

"We are concerned, however, that it has taken so long -- nearly eight months in the case of Samir -- to secure their release, despite a lack of credible evidence against them."

Two Reuters journalists from the restive western city of Ramadi, cameraman Ali al-Mashhadani and reporter Majed Hameed, who also works for Al-Arabiya television, were freed on January 15 after five and four months in custody respectively.

Among those still being held is a cameraman from the northern city of Mosul who works for the U.S. television network CBS. He has been held since April.

Reuters and international media rights groups have repeatedly voiced concern at long U.S. detentions of journalists without legal process.

They have in particular criticized the military's refusal to deal more quickly with suspicions arising from the reporters' legitimate journalistic activities covering the insurgency.

Reuters is gathering information from the three released journalists to learn more about the circumstances of their arrests and detention.

Schlesinger said: "Nothing we have heard so far from either the U.S. military or our colleagues indicates that suspicions were raised against them for any other reason than their courageous and honest pursuit of professional journalism."


 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Justice Ministry said on Sunday it still expects U.S. forces to release six Iraqi women prisoners this week, despite U.S. comments to the contrary.

The issue of the detainees has become central to the case of kidnapped U.S. journalist Jill Carroll, whose abductors have threatened to kill her unless all female prisoners are freed.

"The Iraqi detainees will be released within a week from today," a spokesman in the Justice Ministry's media office said.

A U.S. military spokesman declined comment.

Iraqi officials have since been at odds with their U.S. counterparts over the release of the six, among eight women terrorism suspects in American custody. The Justice Ministry said last week the six were about to be freed, but U.S. officials have insisted no releases are imminent.

Another Justice Ministry official said a review board, which comprises six Iraqi officials and three U.S. officers, met on January 17 and agreed to release the six women within days.

Later that day, Arabic satellite television channel Al Jazeera aired a video by a group calling itself the Revenge Brigades in which they threatened to kill Carroll unless their demands were met within three days.

In the days since the video was broadcast, U.S. officials have stressed there are no plans to speed up the release of Iraqi women detainees, nor to free them in the near future.

U.S. policy is not to negotiate with kidnappers.

"They delayed their release because of the connection with the kidnapping of the American journalist," the Justice Ministry spokesman said.

The hostage-takers' deadline passed on Friday with no word on Carroll's fate
 

Those women were arrested in a period of three, four and five months ago," said the second ministry official. "Their families came to the ministry and asked us to help releasing them as they are women and this is a disgrace."

The detention of women offends many Iraqis and U.S. forces seek to avoid it in most cases.

"We talked to the Americans and they agreed to put them before the review board. On January 17 we reached an agreement that they will be released," the official said.

The U.S. military is holding about 14,000 security detainees following the release of about 500 guerrilla suspects last week.

Many in the once-dominant Sunni Arab minority, which has fostered the insurgency against the U.S.-backed, Shi'ite-led government, resent the detentions system and say thousands are held on flimsy evidence without recourse to the law.

"Like all detainees, females are held because a determination was made in each case that the individual poses an imperative threat to the security of Iraq," the U.S. military said in a statement last week.

Carroll was kidnapped on a Baghdad street on January 7 and her translator was killed. Muslim leaders have joined her family, friends and colleagues in calling for her release.

More than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein three years ago. Most have been freed but dozens of foreigners have been killed.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.


 

US-Truppen erschießen irakische Soldaten

Im Irak haben US-Soldaten unterdessen einen folgenschweren Irrtum begangen. Nach Angaben der Polizei haben amerikanische Truppen drei irakische Soldaten erschossen, die in Privatautos auf der Fahrt zurück in ihre Kaserne in Samarra gewesen seien.

Ein entgegenkommender US-Militärkonvoi habe das Feuer auf die Fahrzeuge eröffnet, die daraufhin ausgebrannt seien. Vier irakische Soldaten seien verletzt worden. Sechs habe die US-Armee gefangen genommen. Bei der Überprüfung der Identität der Soldaten hätten die Amerikaner dann festgestellt, dass es sich nicht um Aufständische, sondern um Armeeangehörige handelte.  

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Two separate attacks north of Baghdad killed nine people Sunday, including four children and four Iraqi police officers, police said.

In the first strike, two girls and two boys, age 6 to 11, died in a rocket attack on the home of an Iraqi police officer in Balad Ruz, about 15 miles east of Baquba, said an official with the police joint communications center.

The rockets also killed the police officer's brother and wounded the brother's wife, the official said. The police officer was not home at the time of the attack.

In the second attack, four police officers died after a roadside bomb targeting their patrol exploded about 3:50 a.m. in Tahrir Square in central Baquba, the official said. Nine police officers were wounded.

Amid the attacks, there have been no reports since Tuesday on the fate of abducted U.S. journalist Jill Carroll, who has been missing since January 7. (Watch international pleas to spare abducted reporter's life -- 1:01)

Representatives from an American Muslim group are in Iraq to persuade kidnappers to free her. (Full story)

An Arabic-language television channel broadcast video Saturday of another kidnapping victim, a son of a former Iraqi government official.

 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber attacked a security checkpoint in central Baghdad on Monday, killing at least two people and wounding six others close to the Green Zone government compound, police said.

Police said the wounded included three civilians and three policemen. Witnesses told al-Iraqiya state television that three people had been killed.

Reuters reporters in the area heard two more blasts a few minutes afterwards. Police said a roadside bomb had exploded in the al-Waziriya area but they had no information on casualties.

The suicide bombing took place near the Iranian embassy but a spokeswoman said the mission was not damaged.

Television pictures showed a burnt-out police vehicle still smoldering and the twisted, blackened wreckage of the bomber's car. A foot lay among the blast debris scattered in the street.

The area has seen numerous attacks in the past. Officials have warned of a possible upsurge in attacks by Sunni Arab insurgents after Friday's publication of results of last month's election, which showed continued dominance by Shi'ite Islamists.


 

Bagdad (Reuters) - Die irakische Polizei hat die Leichen von weiteren 23 Rekruten entdeckt, die vergangene Woche nördlich der Hauptstadt Bagdad von Rebellen angegriffen worden waren.

Die 23 Iraker hätten zu einer Gruppe von 35 Polizeirekruten gehört, die am Dienstag auf dem Weg nach Samarra bei Tarmiya von Bewaffneten gestoppt und getötet worden seien, sagte der Polizeichef der Provinz Salaheddine, Mohsen Jassin, am Sonntag. Die zwölf anderen Mitglieder der Gruppe seien bereits vor einigen Tagen gefunden worden. Die Suche sei äußerst schwierig gewesen, da die Gegend sehr gefährlich sei.

Die Region Tarmiya ist eine Hochburg sunnitisch-arabischer Rebellen, die in ihrem Kampf gegen die schiitisch dominierte Regierung irakische Polizeikräfte zum Hauptziel ihrer Angriffe gemacht haben. Die Sicherheitskräfte werden von den USA ausgebildet.


 

Große Explosion nahe iranischer Botschaft in ...

Kairo (dpa) - In der Nähe der iranischen Botschaft in Bagdad hat sich eine große Explosion ereignet. Das berichtete der regierungsnahe TV-Sender Al Irakija. Einzelheiten über mögliche Opfer oder Schäden sind noch nicht bekannt. Die Botschaft Irans in der irakischen Hauptstadt war schon mehrfach Ziel von Angriffen extremistischer Sunniten-Gruppen.
 

verklagen...


Lawyers defending the toppled Iraqi leader SADDAM HUSSEIN said Sunday they?re planning to file a law suit against the U.S. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH and British Prime Minister TONY BLAIR, the United Press International reported Sunday.

Speaking to journalists on Sunday, Saleh Armouti, President of the Jordan Bar Association, who recently joined Saddam's defense team, said that the lawyers plan to file a law suit against the American President and the British Prime Minister in a European international court, on charges of illegally invading and occupying IRAQ.

SADDAM's trial is set to resume Tuesday.

SADDAM and seven members of his former regime are facing charges of killing 148 Shias in the Iraqi town of Dujail north of Baghdad in 1982 after a failed attempt to assassinate the former Iraqi President.

SADDAM's defense team will also ask for the immediate release of Saddam "because his arrest is a violation of international charters after the United States declared an end to hostilities and war in Iraq," Armouti said.

 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A series of bomb blasts rocked Baghdad on Monday as insurgents targeted a police checkpoint near the government compound, killing at least two people, fired mortar bombs into a park and attacked a U.S. patrol.

The attacks came the day before the trial of Saddam Hussein was due to resume and as political parties prepared for talks on forming a coalition government the United States hopes will undermine support for a Sunni Arab insurgency.

The chief judge in Saddam's trial told Reuters he was standing by his decision to resign and would not preside over Tuesday's session in the fortified Green Zone compound. Judge Rizgar Amin resigned earlier this month complaining of government interference in the trial.

Despite increased security throughout Baghdad, a suicide car bomber struck a checkpoint into the Green Zone, close to the Iranian embassy, which staff said was not damaged in the blast.

Television pictures showed a burnt-out police vehicle still smoldering and the twisted, blackened wreckage of the bomber's car. A foot lay among the blast debris scattered in the street.

Police said two people were killed and six wounded -- three civilians and three policemen.

Minutes later a roadside bomb exploded in the al-Waziriya area, wounding two people. Several mortar bombs fell short of the Green Zone into a park that also houses Baghdad Zoo and an amusement park. Police said no one was injured.

A car bomb blast hit a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol in southern Baghdad, wounding two civilians, police said.

Iraq's Interior Ministry said a security clampdown in the capital was still in force amid fears that Sunni Arab rebels, angered by the results of a December 15 election that confirmed the dominance of Shi'ite Islamists, would launch more attacks.

"We are expecting a rise in attacks by gunmen because of the results of the election," a ministry official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity
 

The results, announced last Friday, gave the ruling alliance of Shi'ite Islamic parties 128 seats in the 275-seat parliament and 55 seats to two Sunni blocs. The Kurdish Alliance won 53 seats.

Many Sunnis believe they were cheated in the poll and the main Sunni political bloc said on Sunday it would contest the results. However, it committed itself to talks with Shi'ite and Kurdish parties to form a government of national unity.

The United States, anxious for a stable political consensus, wants the Kurds and majority Shi'ites to form a government that includes Sunnis.

Political parties have until midnight on Monday to submit their complaints. Despite winning a near-majority in the parliament, the Shi'ite Alliance has said it too will appeal, arguing that it should have been given 10 more seats.

Iraq's Electoral Commission will have 10 days to adjudicate on the complaints, but negotiations on Iraq's first full-term government are expected to start in the next few days.

Saddam's trial will resume on Tuesday without chief judge Amin. His resignation rocked a court whose ability to mount a fair trial amid sectarian and ethnic strife had already been thrown into doubt by the killing of two defense lawyers and mutual accusations of intimidation.

"Everybody is trying to influence my decision but it is final," Amin said in brief comments to Reuters late on Sunday, referring to his resignation.

A source close to the judge has said he was unhappy with the political pressure put on him to stop Saddam's courtroom speeches and to speed up the trial.

His deputy, Sayeed al-Hamashi, will preside over Tuesday's session, despite accusations that he and 19 others in the court belonged to Saddam's Baath party, charges they have denied.

Saddam's counsel said the defense planned to call for a halt of proceedings.

"We expect greater intimidation and pressures. That's what the message from the pressures put on judge Amin says. 'Run this railroad, get going, move and run over anyone who gets in your way'," former U.S. Attorney-General Ramsey Clark told Reuters in Amman.

Saddam is charged with seven others with crimes against humanity for killing 148 Shi'ite men after an assassination bid. All face hanging if convicted.

 

Irak: Regierungsbildung ohne Zeitdruck

 Im Irak sollen morgen Gespräche über die Bildung einer Regierung der nationalen Einheit beginnen, wie Staatspräsident Dschalal Talabani heute ankündigte.

Für die Verhandlungen in Bagdad gebe es keine Zeitbegrenzung. "Es sollte ausreichend Zeit für die Gespräche geben, die das Ziel haben, alle Parteien an der künftigen Regierung zu beteiligen", meinte der Präsident.

"Gräben zwischen Parteien überbrücken"

Die Kurden seien sich untereinander einig und wollten die Gräben zwischen den anderen Parteien überbrücken. Mit den Wahlergebnissen seien sie zufrieden, sagte Talabani, der auch Vorsitzender der Patriotischen Union Kurdistans (PUK) ist. Nach der Wahl im Jänner 2005 hatte es über ein Vierteljahr gedauert, bis die neue Regierung von Ministerpräsident Ibrahim el Dschaafari vereidigt werden konnte.

Schiiten sichern sich Mehrheit

Die Kurden errangen bei der Wahl am 15. Dezember nach dem vorläufigen amtlichen Endergebnis 53 der insgesamt 275 Parlamentssitze. Auf die Schiiten-Allianz entfielen 128 Sitze, womit die derzeit regierende Koalition knapp die Zweidrittelmehrheit verfehlte.

44 Sitze gingen an das von der Islamischen Partei gegründete sunnitische Bündnis, 25 Mandate sicherte sich die Allianz des säkularen Schiiten Ijad Allawi. Die sunnitische Dialog-Front von Saleh el Mutlak kommt auf elf Sitze. Die restlichen 14 Sitze entfielen auf kleine Parteien.
 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The father of a U.S. journalist kidnapped in Iraq told her captors in a statement televised on Monday that she was not their enemy and would tell their story.

In a direct appeal broadcast on CNN 16 days after 28-year-old Jill Carroll was abducted off a Baghdad street, Jim Carroll urged her kidnappers to release her alive.

"I hope that you heard the conviction in Jill's voice when she spoke of your country. That was real," he said. "She is not your enemy. When you release her alive, she will tell your story with that same conviction."

Carroll, a freelance journalist working for The Christian Science Monitor, was abducted on January 7 by kidnappers who also killed her Iraqi interpreter. Her family has made several direct appeals to her captors via televised statements.

Carroll's abductors threatened to kill her if all women prisoners in Iraq were not freed, but their deadline of Friday has passed with no word on her fate.

She was the 36th reporter to be kidnapped in Iraq since April 2004, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Six of them have been killed.


 

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi officials named Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd, as the new chief judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein, a top case investigator said Monday.

Abdel-Rahman would replace Rizgar Mohammed Amin, who submitted a letter of resignation on January 15 amid accusations that he was too lenient with trial defendants, said the investigator, Raid Juhi.

Abdel-Rahman will be an interim chief judge, Juhi said.

Amin handed in his resignation to the Iraq High Tribunal citing "personal reasons." He has been strongly criticized inside Iraq for allowing Hussein and his co-defendants to speak out of turn and levy accusations against both the court itself and the U.S. occupation.

Juhi, the chief investigator who prepared evidence for the case, said Iraqi authorities were unable to resolve differences with Amin, who also is Kurdish. (Special report: Saddam Hussein on trial)

The resignation was the latest complication in the trial, which began in October and has seen two defense lawyers assassinated and a another judge step down.

The trial is expected to resume Tuesday. There are five judges on the tribunal.

Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, a member of Hussein's defense team, has accused authorities of failing to provide acceptable protection for defense attorneys and their families. (Full story)

Amin's own security has been compromised; he is the only judge whose name has been revealed. He has appeared in video of the proceedings creating a possible security risk.

By contrast, trial participants have refused to show their faces on court cameras, fearing retribution attacks by Hussein loyalists.

The proceedings have sometimes been interrupted by a combative Hussein with outbursts, heated exchanges and posturing. (Full story)

Hussein and seven co-defendants face charges in the killings of more than 140 males in Dujail in 1982. The killings occurred after an assassination attempt on Hussein, Iraq's leader at the time.

 

Nach dem Streit um den Vorsitz im Saddam-Prozess hat das Sondertribunal für die Verbrechen des alten Regimes nun einen kurdischen Richter mit der Leitung des Verfahrens gegen den Ex-Machthaber betraut.

Das berichtete der Nachrichtensender El-Arabija am Montag. Der Richter Rauf Raschid Abdul Rahman stammt aus der Stadt Halabdscha, die von Saddam Husseins Truppen 1988 mit Giftgas bombardiert worden war. Dabei waren Tausende von Menschen ums Leben gekommen. Der Prozess soll an diesem Dienstag nach über vierwöchiger Pause fortgesetzt werden.

Amin trat zurück

Nachdem der erste Richter im Saddam-Prozess, Risgar Mohammed Amin, von seinem Amt zurückgetreten war, hatte das Gericht zunächst einen Schiiten ernannt, der jedoch wegen seiner angeblichen früheren Nähe zu Saddams Baath-Partei umstritten war. Amin begründete seinen Rücktritt offiziell nicht. In Bagdad verlautete jedoch, der Kurde habe sich über die Einmischung von Regierungsmitgliedern in seine Prozessführung geärgert. Saddam und sieben seiner einstigen Getreuen stehen wegen der Hinrichtung von 148 Männern in der schiitischen Kleinstadt Dedscheel 1982 vor Gericht.

Koalitionsverhandlungen beginnen

Der irakische Übergangspräsident Dschalal Talabani erklärte am Montag, nach der Bekanntgabe des Ergebnisses des Parlamentswahl vom 15. Dezember würden am Dienstag in Bagdad offiziell die Koalitionsverhandlungen beginnen. Er deutete an, dass die Verhandlungen über die Bildung einer Regierung der Nationalen Einheit viel Zeit in Anspruch nehmen könnten. ?Es gibt keinen konkreten Zeitrahmen", sagte er in der kurdischen Stadt Suleimanija.

Sunniten ziehen mit

Saleh el-Mutlak, der Vorsitzende der sunnitischen Nationalen Dialog-Front, die bei der Wahl elf Sitze errungen hatte, erklärte, seine Partei sei zwar immer noch überzeugt, dass das Wahlergebnis falsch sei. Sie werde sich aber weiterhin ?am politischen Prozess beteiligen, weil es momentan keine Alternative gibt, um zu verhindern, dass irakisches Blut vergossen wird.? Ähnlich hatten sich am Vortag bereits die Vertreter der ebenfalls sunnitischen Irakischen Konsensfront (44 Sitze) geäußert.

Extremisten töten Putzfrau

Ein Selbstmordattentäter sprengte sich am Montag in der Nähe der iranischen Botschaft in Bagdad mit einer Autobombe in die Luft. Vier Menschen starben, sechs weitere wurden durch die Explosion verletzt. Die Botschaft liegt nicht weit von der Grünen Zone entfernt, in der unter anderem die irakische Regierung und die US-Botschaft ihren Sitz haben. In El-Dur im Nordirak töteten Extremisten eine Frau, die als Reinigungskraft für die US-Armee arbeitete.
 

Offenbar zwei Deutsche im Irak entführt


 Im Irak sind heute offenbar zwei deutsche Ingenieure entführt worden. Bewaffnete hätten die beiden Männer in der Industriestadt Baidschi gekidnappt, hieß es aus dem Büro des Provinzgouverneurs.

Baidschi liegt 180 Kilometer nördlich von Bagdad und beheimatet die größte Ölraffinerie des Irak, wo die beiden Deutschen auch beschäftigt waren. Sie seien direkt aus dem Industriekomplex entführt worden, hieß es weiter.

Botschaft prüft

Die deutsche Botschaft in Bagdad prüft unterdessen Berichte über die angebliche Entführung. Bisher gebe es jedoch keine Anhaltspunkte für eine Entführung, hieß es. Die in den Berichten genannten Namen der Männer, die nördlich von Bagdad verschleppt worden sein sollen, waren anderen Deutschen in der irakischen Hauptstadt nicht bekannt.

Die Entführung der deutschen Archäologin Susanne Osthoff im Dezember letzten Jahres hatte in Deutschland für viel Aufsehen gesorgt. Zuletzt hieß es, die deutsche Regierung habe auch Lösegeld für sie bezahlt
 

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Four U.S. service members died in Iraq on Monday, according to U.S. military reports, and Iraqi officials said two German engineers were kidnapped in Baiji.

Two Multi-National Division-Baghdad soldiers were killed when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in southeastern Baghdad.

One of of the soldiers died at the scene and the other died en route to a military hospital.

On the northern outskirts of Baghdad, a pair of U.S. Marines died in an accident near Al Taqaddum Monday, a U.S. military statement said.

They were assigned to II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) and were killed in what was described as a non-hostile vehicle accident.

Since the start of war, 2,235 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.

Meanwhile, gunmen dressed like members of the Iraqi army kidnapped two German engineers in Baiji on Tuesday morning, an official with the Salaheddin Joint Coordination Center told CNN.

According to the official, the engineers were headed to work at a detergent factory on the grounds of the Baiji refinery when they were abducted about 8: 15 a.m. (12:15 a.m. ET)

The German Foreign Office in Berlin said it could not confirm the report but was aware of it and was investigating.

Suicide car bomber near Green Zone kills 3
A suicide car bomber blew up at an Iraqi police checkpoint Monday near the city's heavily fortified Green Zone, killing at least three people, an official with the Baghdad emergency police told CNN.

At least seven other people were wounded in the explosion, which was not far from the Iranian Embassy, the official said.

The Green Zone is home to U.S. military headquarters in the Iraqi capital and a number of government ministries and embassies.

Another suicide car bomber exploded Monday at a joint U.S.-Iraqi army checkpoint in the Shurta Khamsa neighborhood in southwest Baghdad around 11 a.m. local time, the police official said.

No information on casualties was immediately available, the official said, but the U.S. Army sealed off the area.

A roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi police patrol around 10:30 a.m. Monday in central Baghdad's Waziriya neighborhood, wounding two police officers, the police official said.

New chief judge named in Hussein trial
Iraqi officials named Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd, to replace chief judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin in the Saddam Hussein trial, Raid Juhi, the chief investigator who prepared evidence for the case, said Monday. (Full story)

Abdel-Rahman will be an interim chief judge, Juhi said.

Amin submitted a letter of resignation on January 15 amid complaints that he was too lenient with the defendants in the trial.

Juhi said Iraqi authorities were unable to resolve the standoff with Amin, also a Kurd, whose resignation was the latest complication in the case, which has seen two defense lawyers assassinated and a another judge step down.

The trial was to resume Tuesday.

Other developments

At least 30 gunmen dressed as Iraqi police commandos raided homes of Sunni Arabs in Baghdad early Monday, killing two and detaining at least 20, Iraqi police said. Commandos are overseen by the Iraqi Interior Ministry, which had no immediate comment. The raids were in the Salam neighborhood, police said.


An official said the bodies of 36 kidnapping victims who had applied to the Baghdad Police Academy have been found and identified. Those bodies and 13 unidentified corpses have been found since Wednesday, killed by close-range gunshots, according to police. Fifty men were abducted January 16 north of Baghdad after they had applied to the academy and were rejected for unknown reasons, said an official with the Salaheddin Joint Coordination Center.


There have been no reports since last Tuesday on the fate of abducted U.S. journalist Jill Carroll, who has been missing since January 7. On Sunday night, Carroll's father called on his daughter's captors to release her, telling them, "She is not your enemy." (Full story)


A U.S. military jury on Monday ordered a reprimand but no jail time for an Army interrogator convicted of killing an Iraqi general by stuffing him headfirst into a sleeping bag and sitting on his chest. (Full  

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Open hearings in the trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had yet to start by midday (0900 GMT) on Tuesday and there was no official word on reasons for the delay.

Typically previous sessions have started by 10:30 a.m. unless there have been hold-ups for, among other things, closed discussions among the legal teams.

The eighth session since the trial for crimes against humanity began on October 19 will end a turbulent month's recess in which the chief judge resigned, complaining of government interference, and his initial successor was ruled out after accusations he had been a member of Saddam's Baath party.

Raouf Abdel Rahman, from Halabja where 5,000 died in a gas attack during an offensive by Saddam's forces, was appointed on the eve of the resumption of hearings to take over the chair of the five-judge panel from fellow Kurd Rizgar Amin.


 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's biggest Sunni political party called on Sunnis on Tuesday to use all "appropriate means" to defend themselves after police stirred up sectarian tensions with a raid on a Baghdad neighborhood.

The raid by police, whom many Sunnis identify with the newly dominant Shi'ite majority, came as politicians prepared for talks on forming a government of national unity that Washington hopes can heal deep sectarian and ethnic divisions.

It hopes an all-inclusive government will undermine Sunni Arab support for an insurgency that has killed thousands in daily bombings, shootings and kidnappings.

In the latest of a spate of abductions of foreigners in Iraq in recent months, gunmen kidnapped two German engineers outside their workplace in the industrial town of Baiji.

Police said they had found the bodies of eight police recruits, among 42 abducted in a rebel area north of Baghdad last week. They have located the bodies of 19 other recruits in the last few days.

Hundreds of people marched in nearby Samarra to protest about the killings, the latest sign of local Sunni anger at al Qaeda militants they blame for the bloodiest attacks.

Insurgents often attack security force members in their campaign to overthrow the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government, which they accuse of unfairly targeting Sunnis, a minority who were dominant under Saddam Hussein.

Defense lawyers for the ousted president again raised sectarian and ethnic conflict as grounds for abandoning his trial, already rocked by the resignation of the chief judge; a hearing scheduled on Tuesday was postponed at the last minute -- officially because witnesses did not show up.

Sunni Arab clerics and politicians said police had caused sectarian tensions with a raid on Baghdad's mainly Sunni Toubji district in which two people were reported killed.

"Still the occupiers and the government adopt terrorism and assassination, and they practice racial and sectarian discrimination in various cities of Iraq," the influential Sunni Muslim Scholars' Association said in a statement.

 

Saddam-Prozess vertagt
Zeugen auf Pilgerfahrt

Nach der Ernennung eines neuen Vorsitzenden Richters ist die Fortsetzung des Saddam-Hussein-Prozesses am Dienstag verschoben worden. Das Verfahren gegen den ehemaligen irakischen Machthaber werde am 29. Januar fortgeführt, teilte das Sondertribunal in Bagdad mit.

Die Verhandlung hätte eigentlich am Morgen nach mehr als vierwöchiger Pause weitergehen sollen. Ein Justizmitarbeiter erklärte zunächst, Verteidigung, Staatsanwalt und Richter hätten den ganzen Morgen über beraten. Schließlich wurde die Vertagung mitgeteilt.

Justizsprecher Raid Dschuhi gab als Begründung an, einige Zeugen seien nicht erschienen, da sie sich auf einer Pilgerfahrt nach Saudi-Arabien befänden. Dagegen erklärten zwei Richter, es gebe Streit wegen der Ernennung des neuen Vorsitzenden Richters Rauf Raschid Abdel-Rahman. Offenbar wollten einige Mitglieder des Tribunals den abgelösten Risgar Mohammed Amin wieder einsetzen.

Der Kurde Abdel-Rahman übernahm am Montag den Vorsitz von Amin, der aus Protest gegen Kritik an seiner Verhandlungsführung seinen Rücktritt erklärt hatte. Auch Amins Stellvertreter Said al Hammasch wurde ersetzt.

Saddam Hussein hat in dem Verfahren die Richter beschimpft, erschien zu einer Sitzung gar nicht und betete offen im Gerichtssaal, als der Richter keine Pause genehmigte. Die insgesamt acht Angeklagten müssen sich wegen eines Massakers in der Stadt Dudschail nördlich von Bagdad verantworteten. Dort wurden 1982 mehr als 140 Schiiten umgebracht.


 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Five Iraqi women prisoners whose release has become linked to the case of kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll will be freed from U.S. custody on Thursday, a Justice Ministry official said on Wednesday.

Iraqi officials have been at odds with their U.S. counterparts over the release of the five, among eight women terrorism suspects in American custody in Iraq.

The Justice Ministry said last week that six women were about to be freed, but U.S. officials have insisted no releases are imminent.

Iraqi officials have suggested the delay in releasing the women was linked to the demands of the kidnappers of Carroll, who threatened to kill her by last Friday unless all women prisoners were freed.

The deadline passed with no word on the reporter's fate. The United States says it does not negotiate with kidnappers.

A Justice Ministry official said 424 prisoners would be released on Thursday.

"Five of the six women detainees will be among them. The five have completed their legal procedures, so will be released," the official, who declined to be named, told Reuters. He had no information on the sixth woman.

U.S. forces had no immediate comment.

The detention of women offends many Iraqis and U.S. forces seek to avoid it in most cases. The U.S. military is holding about 14,000 security detainees following the release of about 500 guerrilla suspects last week.

Carroll was kidnapped on a Baghdad street on January 7 and her translator killed. Muslim leaders have joined her family, friends and colleagues in calling for her release.


 

a soviet-style show trial...

Yesterday?s media reports stated that the court trying the ousted Iraqi leader SADDAM HUSSEIN has decided to postpone the resumption of his trial for five days, due to opposition of some judges to the new chief judge in a last-minute shakeup.

Raid Juhi, a judge and spokesman for the tribunal, stated that the trial has been postponed until Sunday Dec. 22 because some witnesses essential to the trial haven?t returned yet from the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Recent developments come as the latest sign of disarray at Saddam?s trial, which has already been marred by delays, assassinations and chaotic courtroom outbursts.

SADDAM's trial has repeatedly been described by numerous analysts as a Soviet-style show a travesty of justice designed to justify the Iraq invasion.

True that the trial could uncover evidence of committing crimes, but it might as well use the forum to remind the world of the foreign support Saddam used to get from the former Soviet Union, the Gulf States and the West, specially Britain and the United States. It could lead to a great political embarrassment for countries and individuals who once aided the former Iraqi regime.

The trial of the toppled leader has been turned into a circus, according to an editorial published on TorontoSun.

SADDAM HUSSEIN's trial in Baghdad has become a circus. Defence lawyers receiving threats, some of them murdered and the presiding judge refusing to return to court.

Last month SADDAM's defense team walked out of the courtroom after the former leader's trial resumed because the judge refused to allow former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark to challenge the tribunal's legitimacy.

After the lawyers walked out, SADDAM told the judge: "You are imposing lawyers on us. They are imposed lawyers. The court is imposed by itself. We reject that."

"We reject the appointment of court employees to defend us," Saddam said.

He and his half brother Barazan Ibrahim then chanted "Long live Iraq, long live the Arab state."

When the judge explained that he was ruling in accordance with the law, Saddam replied: "This is a law made by America and does not reflect Iraqi sovereignty."

Some may say that the Iraqis enjoy seeing what has been described by many as the man who ?terrorized his nation? on trial. But morally and legally, the trial is a travesty of justice, the article added, describing it as ?an old-fashioned Soviet-style show trial set up by U.S. occupation authorities?, aimed at justifying the U.S. INVASION OF IRAQ, and not determining SADDAM's guilt or innocence.

The court, created by the puppet regime installed by the U.S. occupation authority, lacks any legal basis. And the ?criminal? has no proper legal defence, witnesses remain secret and beyond cross-examination, and the lawyers risk being murdered.

Before the trial, a vast propaganda campaign was displayed by the U.S. to demonize the former Iraqi leader.

?A kangaroo court, designed to find SADDAM guilty and probably order his execution,? was set up, the editorial said.

If Saddam?s given the chance to fully testify, he?ll reveal the whole sordid story of America's support and collaboration with his regime, and how the West, including governments of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher provided IRAQ, with both money and weaponry to invade Iran.

Under international law, SADDAM, accused of repressing Kurdish tribes, and using poison gas against them to rid the country of them, had every right to fight rebels threatening the Iraqi government. At that time, Turkey was engaged in a similar fight across the border against its Kurdish rebels.

This recalls similar methods used by Imperial Britain when it ruled Iraq, when the saint of neoconservatives, Winston Churchill, ordered the RAF to use poison gas against "Kurds, Pathans, and other primitive tribesmen." A fierce Iraqi rebellion broke out against British occupation in the 1920s, and Her Majesty's soldiers gunned down some 20,000.

And today, the American invaders committed the same crimes they?re now trying Saddam for, using banned weapons, deadly chemicals in fighting the country rebels, holding 18,000 political prisoners; torturing and abusing suspects.

America is becoming the new dictator of IRAQ.

This trial should be serving a larger moral and legal purpose; it should stand as a deterrent for the future against would-be tyrants- It should be serving as a moral object lesson, educating the Iraqis and the world that decent people and decent countries won't permit a despot's mass murder, aggression, war crimes and gassing of civilians to go unremembered and its perpetrators to go unpunished.

But unfortunately that's not what is happening, so far, at Saddam's circus of a trial.

 

Private U.S. contractors in IRAQ, until now the largest private-sector employers in the war-torn country, are winding down their operations as U.S. funding dwindles and the Iraqi government takes charge of reconstruction.

"We are drawing down," said Ken Oscar, Fluor Corp.'s vice president for strategy. "We are not done by any stretch of the imagination, but we are drawing down."

The engineering and construction giant at one time had 250 to 300 U.S. employees in IRAQ, and employed about 20,000 Iraqis. Now, as the U.S.-funded part of the reconstruction program comes to an end, Fluor has around 100 Americans left in the country and is phasing out the Iraqi jobs.

"The net [result] is a lot less employment for Iraqis," Mr. Oscar said.

Most U.S.-funded reconstruction projects in IRAQ are expected to be completed by the end of this year, and it is unlikely that the Washington will fund any more projects. The Iraqi government, which will take charge of the reconstruction effort, tend to issue much smaller contracts that do not interest large American firms.

"Congress has made it clear that it will not provide any more money," said retired Col. Paul Hughes of the United States Institute of Peace. "Those [companies] with existing contracts will fulfill those, while hoping for new funding sources from the international community."


The U.S.?s decision not to renew the reconstruction program leaves IRAQ with tens of billions of dollars in unfinished projects and an oil industry and electrical grid that have yet to return to pre-WAR production levels.

The World Bank said in a 2003 report that it would cost $56 bullion to rebuild IRAQ?s infrastructure. The U.S. allocated $18.7 billion toward the effort, much of which has been allotted to other types of projects, such as training Iraqi security forces, building new prisons, holding elections and establishing a criminal justice system. In addition to the diversion of funds to other types of projects, the reconstruction projects have been marred by substantial corruption and overcharging by contractors.

Other international donors pledged $13.5 billion to help rebuild IRAQ, but few countries are meeting their pledges due to the ongoing violence and perceived political instability. More than $1 billion of that money has been disbursed.

?It takes time to do these things," Mr. Oscar said. "We got rid of their bad government, put them on their way to democracy and jump-started their infrastructure. Can [the Iraqis] pick it up from there? I don't know."

About 3,500 megawatts of electricity have been put online at a cost of $4 billion, Mr. Oscar said, but much of the work has not been stopgap, such as refurbishing older plants rather than building modern ones. ?When summer comes, there may be serious power shortages," he said.

Fluor's experience in IRAQ is the same as that of other large American contractors in the violence-hit country. They weren?t able to finish their projects, due to the security situation, which the U.S. says absorbed 20 percent of the $18.7 billion.


Moreover, some U.S. contractors say that they don?t want to deal with the Iraqi government and that they are not willing to work in IRAQ without the protection and support of the U.S. military. American contractors and security personnel have been targeted in IRAQ since the 2003 U.S.-led INVASION. Just last week, a convoy carrying U.S. civilian security personnel in the southern city of Basra was hit by a roadside bomb, killing two passengers and seriously wounding a third.

?The only ones left are the ones who want to work for the [Iraqi] ministries, and there are not many of those because they are so corrupt," said Charles D. Hartman, chairman of the construction and energy committee of the Turkish-U.S. Business Council. "None of my people are there," he said, adding that "None of the big construction groups are down there."

With the billions of dollars allocated by Washington for IRAQ?s reconstruction mostly spent, Japan, Australia and other U.S. allies are likely to be asked to bear much of the burden for funding the large number of unfinished projects. Convincing other countries to take up the slack is reportedly high on Secretary of State CONDOLEEZZA RICE's agenda when she visits the Far East in March. White House spokesman Scott McClellan has also called on the international community to "reach out to IRAQ as well" to help with its reconstruction. And according to the U.S. Agency for International Development, IRAQ must also seek private investment, international lending and its own economy to finance future reconstruction.

"We are not here to rebuild the country," said Brig. Gen. William McCoy, the Army Corps of Engineers commander supervising the construction work. "We are here to give IRAQ a jump-start."

However, McCoy's statement seem to contradict with previous claims by the BUSH Administration. For example, in a speech on August 8, 2003, BUSH said: "In a lot of places, the infrastructure is as good as it was at prewar levels, which is satisfactory, but it's not the ultimate aim. The ultimate aim is for the infrastructure to be the best in the region."


 

Geiselnahme im Irak
Krisenstab im Einsatz

Nach der Entführung von zwei deutschen Ingenieuren im Irak gibt es nach Worten von Bundesaußenminister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) noch keinen Kontakt zu den Geiselnehmern. Der Krisenstab habe am Morgen erneut getagt, um das Schicksal der beiden deutschen Geiseln zu klären. Die Bemühungen würden intensiv fortgesetzt. Zugleich bat der Minister am Rande einer Sitzung des Auswärtigen Ausschusses am Mittwoch um eine "zurückhaltende Form" der Berichterstattung, um die Bemühungen nicht zu erschweren.

Die Bundesregierung geht von einer Entführung aus, die Hintergründe sind aber noch unklar. Ein Bekennerschreiben liegt bislang nicht vor. Die beiden Männer sind nach Steinmeiers Angaben Mitarbeiter eines Unternehmens aus dem Raum Leipzig. Die beiden Ingenieure wurden nach Angaben der irakischen Polizei am Dienstag in der Stadt Bedschi im Nordirak entführt. Ein dritter Deutscher sei den Kidnappern entkommen, teilte ein Sprecher der irakischen Chemiefabrik mit, für die die Männer im Einsatz waren.

Rätselraten um Motive der Kidnapper

Der Vorsitzende des Auswärtigen Ausschusses im Bundestag, Ruprecht Polenz (CDU), mahnte unterdessen zu öffentlicher Zurückhaltung. "Jedes Gerede über die einzelnen Begleitumstände bei einer Entführung wird in Zukunft die Aufklärung und die Lösung solcher Fälle erschweren", sagte er. "Da sollte man ein bisschen mehr Zurückhaltung an den Tag legen."

"Lösegeld ermuntert"

"Es ist nicht auszuschließen, dass die Entführung von Osthoff und die Zahlung von Lösegeld in dem Fall möglicherweise andere kriminelle Gruppen ermuntert hat, weitere Deutsche als Geisel zu nehmen", sagte Rolf Tophoven, Leiter des Instituts für Terrorismusforschung (Essen), der "Thüringer Allgemeinen" (Erfurt). Auch Kai Hirschmann, der mit Tophoven das Institut leitet, ist dieser Meinung. Der Fall Osthoff könne eine Rolle gespielt haben, sagte er der in Hannover erscheinenden "Neuen Presse". Ausländer seien im Irak allgemein ein lohnendes Ziel.

Erst vor knapp zwei Monaten war die Archäologin Susanne Osthoff im Irak entführt worden. Am 18. Dezember wurde sie freigelassen. Berichte, wonach dafür ein Lösegeld gezahlt wurde, kommentiert die Bundesregierung nicht. Das Auswärtige Amt rät allen Deutschen dringend, den Irak zu verlassen.

 

Vier Tote bei Anschlägen im Irak

 Bei zwei Bombenanschlägen im Irak sind vier Menschen ums Leben gekommen. Eine der Explosionen ereignete sich südlich von Bagdad, wie die US-Streitkräfte heute mitteilten.

Ein US-Soldat wurde dabei getötet, ein weiterer verletzt. Bei einem weiteren Anschlag an der Straße zwischen Bagdad und Mossul kamen nach offiziellen Angaben drei irakische Sicherheitskräfte ums Leben.

Nach Zählung der Nachrichtenagentur AP sind seit Beginn des Irak-Krieges im März 2003 mindestens 2.237 US-Soldaten getötet worden.