Free Republic

Saddam Hussein's defence team has drafted a letter to US President George W. Bush warning of dire consequences if an Iraqi court issues a verdict against the ousted Iraqi president for crimes against humanity. In a copy of the letter received by AFP in Jordan on Sunday, lead Iraqi lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi also urged Bush to set free Saddam and put an end to the trial which he described again as illegal and a farce. "We believe that it is necessary to stop this farcical trial and set free President Saddam Hussein, and all the prisoners, because this is...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A security guard detained at the home of a leading Sunni Arab politician is suspected of being a member of Al Qaeda in Iraq and thought involved in planning a major suicide car bombing assault inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, the US command said on Saturday. Guard Khudhir Farhan was taken into custody Friday at the home of Adnan Al Dulaimi, the head of the largest Sunni bloc in parliament, Al Dulaimi told The Associated Press. The detained individual is suspected of involvement in the planning of a multi-vehicle suicide operation inside Baghdad’s International Zone,’ the US...

BAGHDAD, Jan 7 (Reuters) - A female Western journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad on Saturday and her translator killed, police said. They said she was on her way to a meeting with a Sunni Arab leader when a car carrying an unknown number of gunmen blocked her vehicle in the Adel district near Malik bin Anas mosque in west Baghdad. The gunmen shot dead her driver, an Iraqi journalist who also worked as her translator, abandoned their car and drove off in hers. There has been a spate of kidnappings of Westerners in Iraq over the past few months...

Government coalition would include secular Shiites, Kurds -------------------------------------------- BAGHDAD, Iraq — A leading Sunni politician said Friday his party would be open to an alliance with secular Shiites and Kurds to form a coalition government to run the country once the results are in from this week's parliamentary elections. "We will not accept the exclusion of any segment of the Iraqi people unless they themselves don't want to participate," said Adan al-Dulaimi, a former Islamic studies professor who heads a Sunni Arab bloc that is now expected to have power in parliament. U.S. officials view al-Dulaimi, who heads an alliance...

A chief of list to legislative in Iraq killed in an attack BAGHDAD - the sunnite Mezher Nagi Al-Doulaïmi, chief candidate to legislative of Thursday in Iraq, was killed Tuesday by shootings of unknown in the rebellious Al-Anbar province, in the west of Baghdad, announced a source of safety. The victim was the chief of the free Party Iraqi progressist, a small formation which introduced three candidates, of which Doulaïmi, with the poll in this province. "Of unknown opened fire on its car with Ramadi (Al-Anbar chief town), killing it and wounding a person who accompanied it", according to...

Former enemies Iran and Iraq say they will launch broad military co-operation including training Iraqi armed forces. "It's a new chapter in our relations with Iraq," said Iranian Defence Minister Admiral Ali Shamkhani. He was speaking at a joint news conference in Tehran with his Iraqi counterpart Saadoun al-Dulaimi. Relations between the neighbours - who fought a bitter war from 1980 to 1988 - have improved greatly since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. This is the first visit to Iran by an Iraqi military delegation since the war, in which a million people died, started. We have come...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq signed a military pact with Iran on Wednesday in a breakthrough with a former foe, but al Qaeda said it would kill Egypt's kidnapped envoy and attack more diplomats to stop the government winning international support. Defence Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi signed a pact in Tehran agreeing to accept Iranian military training and other cooperation with the country Iraq fought for a decade under ousted leader Saddam Hussein. Responding to the suggestion that the thaw in ties with Iran would anger Washington, Dulaimi said: "Nobody can dictate to Iraq

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iraq's defense minister said Thursday that ousted leader Saddam Hussein was the aggressor in the 1980-88 war against Iran, as the two former enemies announced plans for closer cooperation between their militaries. Iraqi Defense Minister Saadoun al-Duleimi's visit to Iran marked a new effort to build ties between Iraq and mainly Shiite Muslim Iran after a Shiite-dominated government came to power in Baghdad this year. "We've come here to open a new page in our relations against the painful page of the past," al-Duleimi told reporters at a press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Shamkhani....

Thursday 07 July 2005, 13:10 Makka Time, 10:10 GMT Iraq's defence minister (R) meeting Iran's president [picture] Former foes Iran and Iraq have said they will sign a military cooperation agreement that will include Iranian help in training Iraq's armed forces. The agreement marks a considerable advance in relations between the two countries that fought a bitter 1980-1988 war and comes despite repeated US accusations that Iran has undermined security in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. "It's a new chapter in our relations with Iraq. We will start wide defence cooperation," Iranian Defence Minister Admiral Ali...