Posted on 04/28/2003 11:28:52 AM PDT by kattracks
April 28— By Rosalind Russell
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A senior U.S. military commander said on Monday there was no question of releasing Mohammed Mohsen Zubaidi, the self-proclaimed Baghdad mayor arrested on Sunday for exercising authority he did not have.
"He's not going to be released. He's a criminal," Maj. Gen. Buford Blount, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, told Reuters in the Iraqi capital.
"He's broken multiple laws, from theft to intimidation," Blount said, giving no details of any charges.
"Right now he's in a holding center and his movements will be decided in the next few days," the general added.
U.S. Central Command in Qatar announced on Sunday that Zubaidi had been detained and removed from Baghdad "to prevent his continued misrepresentation of his authority as the mayor of Baghdad in the aftermath of the regime's defeat."
Blount said Zubaidi's self-styled deputy, Jawdat al-Obeidi, was also being questioned.
Zubaidi had said he was elected by people representing clerics, academics, Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims, Christians, writers and journalists -- although he did not clarify how or when a vote took place or who organized it.
He set up 22 committees to function in place of ministries, including health, education, water, electricity and industry, prompting widespread confusion about who was actually in charge of the Iraqi capital.
Central Command said Zubaidi had sent letters to individuals and organizations in Baghdad telling them not to go back to work at power, water and sewage plants and banks unless he approved it. It said Zubaidi had fired power company employees and appointed his allies in their place.
"Zubaidi's efforts to take political and personal advantage during this transitional period in Iraq's move to a representative government made it necessary for coalition forces to act decisively against him," the announcement said.
Officials in the U.S.-led civil administration for Iraq, under retired general Jay Garner, repeatedly said they did not recognize Zubaidi's authority. Garner met key Iraqi leaders in Baghdad on Monday to discuss the country's future.
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