 AP Photo |
Posted on 02/27/2005 11:49:20 AM PST by billorites
CAIRO, Egypt - Iraqi officials said Sunday that Syrian authorities had captured Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s half-brother and 29 other officials of the deposed dictator's Baath Party in Syria and handed them over to Iraq (news - web sites) in an apparent goodwill gesture.
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Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, a former Saddam adviser suspected of financing insurgents after U.S. troops ousted Saddam, was captured in Hasakah in northeastern Syria near the Iraqi border, two senior Iraqi officials told The Associated Press by telephone on condition of anonymity. Hasakah is about 30 miles from the Iraqi border.
They added that al-Hassan was captured and handed over to Iraqi authorities along with 29 other members of Saddam's collapsed Baath Party, whose Syrian branch has been in power in Damascus since 1963.
Officials in interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's office, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed al-Hassan's capture but gave no details on where it took place or when.
In Baghdad, the U.S. military had no immediate comment.
The Iraqi officials did not specify when al-Hassan was captured, only saying he was detained following the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut, Lebanon, in a blast that killed 16 others.
Syria has come under intense scrutiny following Hariri's death, with many in Lebanon blaming Damascus and Beirut's pro-Syrian government for the killing. The United States and France also have called on Damascus to withdraw 15,000 Syrian troops from Lebanon.
Washington has long accused Syria of harboring and aiding former members of Saddam's toppled Baathist regime suspected of involvement in the deadly insurgency against U.S.-led forces in Iraq.
"The capture appeared to be a goodwill gesture by the Syrians to show that they are cooperating," one Iraqi official told the AP.
A third Iraqi official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Syrian security forces expelled al-Hassan from Syria into Iraq after he and his supporters had been turned back in an earlier attempt to cross the Syrian border into Lebanon and Jordan.
Al-Hassan was No. 36 on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis released by U.S. authorities after American troops invaded Iraq in March 2003, and he also was named one of the 29 most-wanted supporters of insurgents in Iraq. The United States had a $1 million bounty on his head.
He was the six of diamonds in the U.S.-issued deck of cards depicting the most-wanted Iraqi fugitives.
In a statement, Allawi's office said the arrest "shows the determination of the Iraqi government to chase and detain all criminals who carried out massacres and whose hands are stained with the blood of the Iraqi people, then bring them to justice to face the right punishment."
Saddam and al-Hassan had the same mother but different fathers.
Under Saddam, al-Hassan led the dreaded General Security Directorate, which was responsible for internal security, especially cracking down on political parties opposing Saddam. Al-Hassan was accused of torturing and killing political opponents while leading that body.
He later became a presidential adviser, the last post he held in the former regime.
The government statement said he had "killed and tortured Iraqi people" and "participated effectively in planning, supervising, and carrying out many terrorist acts in Iraq."
In December, Allawi accused Syria of harboring senior officials from Saddam's ousted regime, including al-Hassan. Qassem Dawoud, Iraq's minister in charge of national security, claimed that al-Hassan was supporting insurgents in Iraq from Syria, according to remarks published last year in Kuwait's Al-Rai Al-Aam daily.
Hmmm. I wonder who or what else the Syrians are hiding?
Goodwill gesture or desire to avoid having their asses whopped?
Hmmm. The Syrians must be getting a little nervous. So they should.
Everything seems to be heating up on Syria. They are starting to get nervous.
Europe is protecting Iran, so deductive reasoning would leave you to believe Syria is going to be getting some US attention.
Holtz
JeffersonRepublic.com
Works for me.
Next will be the emergence and handover of WMD weapons Saddam shipped to Syria. Probably after or shortly before the nuclear bomb capabilities of Iran has been destroyed.
Could it be that GW's message is getting through?
Could it be that they are finally realizing that GW means what he says and that he doesn't things lightly?
could it be that they've come to the realization that When we said in 2000 that "Walker - Texas Ranger" was in the White House that it wasn't an idle boast?
Time for a little psy-ops campaign. I'll bet Al-Hassan isn't having a very nice day in the hands of the Iraqi people. Time to let the others on the loose know that they can surrender to the American forces and have a nice, comfortable stay at Gitmo OR they can be captured and handed over to the new Iraqi government. Add a time limit like "the Americans will start turning over anyone they capture to the Iraqis as of April 15th" and see who lines up to surrender.
Another sign that the "insurgency" has failed and is almost over. This snowball is gathering speed.
Delightfully diabolical!
Imagine that... Syria has a little heat turned on them and lo and behold, they find some Saddamites to turn in. Keep cranking up the heat and maybe they'll just happen to find those missing Iraqi WMDs???
I guess his money ran out.
"Syria is hearing the unhearable....Stealth Bombers.."
My thoughts exactly. And unlike with Clinton and the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Serbia, I'll bet Rumsfeld and Generals have all the correct addresses in their computers.
Codename "Dial a bomb!"
This is great news for Iraq and the US. I hope the price of Syria's cooperation is not Lebanon on a silver platter...again.
Concerned Lebanese.
i would bet on the latter
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