Show ' The Herald Journal Logan Utah Monday April 28 2003 — A5 Q Focus on Iraq In brief Liaison to UN Inspectors held stash not chemical weapons t Self-anoint- ed ‘mayor’ of Baghdad arrested 8 ALII Iraq (AP) — The Iraqi chief liaison to UN weapons American inspectors surrendered to US forces Sunday initial readtests on further metal drum dial a troops performed nerve contains and mustard agents gas ings suggested LL Gen Hossam Mohammed Amin — No 49 on the US list of the 55 most-wantfigures from the regime of Saddam Hussein the six of clubs in the deck of fugitive playing cards — was taken into custody in Baghdad CapL Kellie Rouite division battle captain with the 101st Aiibom Division said Amin surrendered to soldiers of the division's 2nd Brigade and was takra to the mternational aiiport for questioning he was Also known as Hossem Mohammed Amin among die key figures in Saddam’s weapons programs He would be expected to have detailed knowledge of any illegal armaments and where they might be found if they exist drams were found in an open A dozen suspicious field near die northern Iraqi town of Baiji Preliminary tests per- formed at the scene indicated one dram might contain the nerve agent cyclosarin and a blister agent that could be mustard gas US troops said But more tests were being conducted By design initial test procedures favor positive readings The New York Times quoted Capt Ryan Cutchin of Mobile Exploitation Ifeam Bravo — one of the specialist teams deployed in Iraq — as saying further testing by his unit had shown that die barrel's contents were not chemical weapons He also said that initial suspicions that two vehicles at the site were mobile chemical laboratories had proved wrong BAGHDAD Iraq (AP) — The US military arrested a ' political pretender in Baghdad on Sunday while a Shiite Muslim group signaled a new willingness to cooperate on the eve of a pivotal conference to help form a provisional government for Iraq The arrest of Mohammed - ed ed 55-gall- on Rumsfeld Franks say they want to keep US bases : Persian Gulf in ABU DHABI United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States wants to keep using military bases in friendly Persian Gulf countries including a command center in Qatar where planners directed the war in Iraq US officials said Sunday Officials are considering moving the air operations center at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia which ran the Iraq air war One possibility is a shift to the Qatar base Camp As Sayliyah Gen Tommy Franks the top war commander and Defense Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld met with officials in the United Arab Emirates on the first stop of a tour of the region After talks with the UAE’s defense minister and chief of staff Rumsfeld and Franks said American military forces were not going to leave any time soon “We assured them that the United States'intends to do what is necessary to make sure there is a secure environment in Iraq" Rumsfeld said “There’s no question but that the people of this jegion are safer today than they were when the Saddam Hussein regime was in power” Saudi Arabia launches telethon to raise funds for needy Iraqis RIYADH Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia launched a telethon Sunday to raise money for Iraqis affected by the US-le- d war the official Saudi Press Agency said More than $23 million was raised in the first three hours Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef said during a live teleTV The telethon which' was called by phone call with state-ru- n state’s King Fahd was held as part of Saudi Arabia’s the oil-ricommitment to help Muslims all over the world said Nayef who also supervises the Saudi Committee for Rescuing the Iraqi People He said the decision to stage the telethon came “from a desire to satisfy God” “Our aid for the afflicted in the world is noj for earthly pur- poses or publicity objectives” Nayef said “Such aid is guided by our Islamic principles and authentic values" Saudi Arabia's official news agency reported later that the donated about $533000 to the Iraqis while his deputy donated about $266000 Ahmed bin Abdel-Az- iz caravan of humanitarian aid arrived in Last week a five-truc- k Baghdad from Saudi Arabia carrying food medicine and other supplies — including equipment for a mobile field hospital ch Bfakaa Tuna-Up- e Alternators Coding System Oil Satyica Tranamiaeione S AP photo Former Iraqi POWs wave and shake hands with an American solder as they leave the Bucca internment center in Umm Qasr where they were held during the latest Iraq war on Sunday More than 200 detainees were freed part of continuing releases from the coalition forces' main detention center in Iraq 200 tFreed Iraqi POWs leave desert camp -- M— CAMP BUCCA Iraq (AP) ' — Chanting “Saddam no Bush yes” some 200 Iraqi prisoners of war were let go Sunday at the coalition’s main internment camp in the desert near the southern port of Umm Qasr The men many of them barefooted shook hands with the American soldiers guarding the camp before boarding buses and tracks to be driven to nearby Basra southern “No more Saddam statues? No more military service? No more executions?" Saleh a junior Iraqi army officer who is the father of four said he was taken prisoner at the Qadisiya Dam at the beginning of the war that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein “I gave orders to my five men not to fight and we surrendered” he said his eyes red from the sand “Americans were coming for our own What has Saddam good done for us? I’m 30 and I haven’t enjoyed life — no justice no piece of land no car” Before boarding the buses and tracks the freed POWs T ragged clothes or blue jumpsuits were each handed cigarettes from a yellow bucket and a package containing sugar rice tea and cooking oil provided by the International Compittee of the Red Gross Iraq’s largest city Their departure brought to 700 the number of POWs released since Friday said Maj Stacy Garrity of the US Army’s 800th Military Police Brigade which runs die camp Around 5800 more prisoners including some from Jordan and Syria await screening and possible release she said “Probably half of the camp will be gope in the next week and a half” said Garrity who is frontmens Pa Wearing a towel on his head as protection from the scorching heat and blowing sand one smiling POW Mahdi Saleh told The Associated Press: “My mother will die The men gave thumbs-u- p signs and peppered journalists with questions: “No more Saddam statues?” “No more military service?” “No more executions?" Hussam Abbas from Basra when she sees me” It may take a while Once in Basra the penniless Saleh will have to find transportation home to Mosul a city some 500 miles away in northern Iraq 25 years were prisons and mil- ltary service I gave myself in so that I would have a chance to be evacuated and not to come back to Iraq” he said “But now I am happy We got rid of Saddam who oppressed us” Hanging out a bus window Mussalam Hassan 22 'shout- ed happily: “We did not fire a single shot!” He said he was taken prisoner in Rumeila on March 21 the second day of the war The freed POWs said they were treated well by their Many shook hands with coalition soldiers before being driven away “When we heard Americans entered Iraq we knew it was the end of Saddam” said Falih Rahim 35 from Baghdad Before Karim 25 joined his fellow Iraqis in singing a folk song on board a departing bus he shouted out: “They paid us 17000 (Iraqi dinars a month) to fight Americans I would have killed Saddam for one dollar” cap-to- rs Attieer-Abdu- L reflected US determination to brook no interlopers in its effort to build a consensus for administering Iraq Timed just le before Monday’s conference it sent a clear message: Don't meddle was a returned exile associated with the opposition Iraqi National Congress who had declared himself mayor of Baghdad without sanction from US occupation authorities His activities including designation of “committees” to ran city affairs had complicated the efforts of postwar US civil administrator Jay Gamer to reorganize political life A US military spokesman said high-profi- was arrested “for exercising authority which was not his” Today's conference second in a series likely to extend well into May was expected to attract 300 to 400 delegates from political organizations that had opposed Saddam Hussein and from other Iraqi interest groups said a Garner deputy Barbara Bodine The first meeting was held April 15 in Ur in southern Iraq just a week after US troops took control of the Iraqi capital and ousted the Saddam government Fewer than 100 Iraqis participated many of them exiles as some Shiites and others stayed away in protest of potential US influence over selection of a new Iraqi president Best Mowers Varranty sasm msssm 1 1 R SIR R O B 1! 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