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CHICAGO: A judge denied bail to a man accused of spying on Iraqi opposition groups for Saddam Hussein, saying he had "hitched his star to the murderer and torturer of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis”. Khaled Abdel-Latif Dumeisi, 61, held his head in his hands on Thursday as federal magistrate judge Edward A Bobrick accused him of spying for "the maniacal, perverted, homicidal mass murderer and torturer of women and children." The community newspaper publisher is accused of spying on Iraqi opposition leaders in this country on behalf of Saddam's intelligence service while failing to register as an agent of...

CHICAGO - A suburban Chicago newspaper publisher convicted of spying on Iraqi dissidents for Saddam Hussein was sentenced Wednesday to three years and 10 months in federal prison. Khaled Abdel-Latif Dumeisi, 61, is expected to be deported after he finishes his prison term. U.S. District Judge Suzanne B. Conlon also said he may not re-enter the United States without permission from the attorney general. "He helped to sustain a hostile foreign government," federal prosecutor Daniel Gillogly said in urging a tough sentence. Defense attorney William H. Theis argued that his client was not very important in the world of Iraqi...

CHICAGO - A community newspaper publisher accused of spying on Iraqi dissidents in the United States was found guilty Monday of serving as an unregistered agent for Saddam Hussein. The jury took less than two hours to convict Khaled Abdel-Latif Dumeisi after the weeklong trial. "This sends an important message that people can't come to our country and spy on their fellow residents," U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said. Dumeisi, 61, was convicted of failing to obey a federal law that requires agents of foreign governments to register with the Justice Department. Prosecutors maintained that the Palestinian-born Dumeisi spied on...

Alleged spy seen in video calling Saddam 'our inspired leader' ILLINOIS -- Prosecutors say he spied on dissidents, reported to U.N. mission honeycombed with secret agents. By MIKE ROBINSON Associated Press Writer CHICAGO (AP) -- Jurors watched a video Tuesday in which a man accused of spying on Iraqi dissidents for Saddam Hussein's intelligence service described the dictator as "our inspired leader" and spoke scornfully of "American colonial imperialism." "A light has illuminated our path and our procession toward the struggle and the liberation," Khaled Dumeisi said in describing Hussein at an April 2001 birthday party for the dictator at...

Students' Execution For Defying Hussein Foretold His Cruelty BAGHDAD -- They were still young, and in the illusionary cocoon of their high school, they had not yet learned fear. When the secret police came for Ali Fouad Abdul Ridha, the 17-year-old glanced over his shoulder at his 10-year-old brother, Mohammed, before being hustled away. "It's like a picture in my head," said Mohammed, his eyes closing as he drifted back to that morning, Sept. 24, 1981. His brother was still wearing slippers and the gown-like dishdasha favored by Iraqi men. His mother was crying. His father was pleading for an...

Tehran, April 28, IRNA -- Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi here on Monday warned Iranian pilgrims not to visit Shiite holy shrines in Iraq. Addressing reporters, he stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran has no plan to dispatch any pilgrims to the holy sites in Iraq until an Iraqi government is established. During a conference of Iraqi dissident groups which opened in Baghdad this morning, he said that the Iraqi groups may decide themselves whether to take part in the confab or not. "The Islamic Republic does not interfere in Iraqi domestic affairs," he stressed. Reiterating the need...

<p>The Iraqi Intelligence Service established a unit to assassinate Saddam Hussein's enemies at home and abroad that claimed 66 successful "operations" between 1998 and 2000.</p> <p>Found on the floor of a looted Intelligence Service villa on the east bank of the Tigris River in Baghdad, the six-page file described the program and contained suggestions for improving its effectiveness -- including obtaining poisonous gas disguised as perfume or explosives that would detonate when the car of the target passed by.</p>

Iraqis Discover Secret Dissident Files By NIKO PRICE .c The Associated Press BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The file drawers fill room after room, papers spilling out. Inside, recorded with chilling bureaucratic detail, are the informants' reports, court records, confessions and execution orders for thousands of Iraqi dissidents. The government files, shown Thursday to The Associated Press, could be the basis for Iraqis to begin to come to terms with their past - or could be the catalyst for a new wave of bloodletting. ``Saddam Hussein kept these files because he thought he would rule forever,'' said a dissident who was...

<p>April 15, 2003 -- BA'ATHISM died in Iraq last week. The sight of the oversized bronze head of Saddam rolling in the dust and being beaten with shoes by exuberant Iraqis is perhaps the most important image of Iraqi politics of the last 50 years. It was the end of the republic of fear.</p>

LONDON (AFP) - Pro-Western Iraqi Shiite leader Abdul Majid al-Khoei was assassinated in the holy city of Najaf in central Iraq (news - web sites), the cleric's London-based group, the al-Khoei Foundation, said. AFP Photo Latest news: · Bush, Blair Trumpet New TV Station to IraqReuters - 3 minutes ago · Bush Says U.S. Will Help Iraq with Law and OrderReuters - 4 minutes ago · Several ministries ablaze in Baghdad as anarchy sets inAFP - 5 minutes ago Special Coverage   Details were sketchy, but it appeared that al-Khoei was stabbed to death by a large number of attackers...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States is beginning to build a new Iraqi army even before Saddam Hussein's forces are defeated, deploying some of the nation's exiles and internal dissidents around the country. Several hundred soldiers of the Iraqi National Congress exile group were flown to an area near the city of Nasiriyah, the group said Sunday. "These are Iraqi citizens who want to fight for a free Iraq, who will become basically the core of the new Iraqi army once Iraq is free," said Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. More will be...

FBI Chief: Iraqi Interviews Helping U.S. By CURT ANDERSON .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - FBI interviews of thousands of Iraqis living in the United States have yielded valuable information about possible targets for U.S. troops in Iraq, FBI Director Robert Mueller said Thursday. Some of the 6,700 Iraqis interviewed so far have described bunkers, tunnel systems, telecommunications networks, infrastructure, manufacturing plants and Iraqi military officials, Mueller and other U.S. law enforcement officials said. The intelligence, sometimes only fragmentary, is matched with information collected by the CIA and Defense Department and checked for accuracy before it is used to...

Saddam executes 60 Iraqi officers PAUL GALLAGHER SADDAM Hussein has executed 60 army officers and replaced them with some of his most fanatical supporters to dissuade soldiers from deserting in the face of allied attack, according to an exiled Iraqi general. Mohammed Nafee, who was a commander in Saddam’s forces in the Iran-Iraq war, claims the purge of the army higher ranks took place at the weekend. He has contacted Iraqi military sources in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, who passed on news of the mass executions. Mr Nafee said the commanding officers of army units considered most likely to surrender were...

The morning the first cruise missiles hit Baghdad, on March 20th, I was in a suite at the Al Rashid hotel, in a room facing south, which provided good reception for satellite phones and a panoramic view of some primary targets: the telecommunications tower; several grand domed palaces; and the headquarters of the Mukhabarat, the secret police. I was awake around five-thirty and heard a big, muted whoomping noise. Then my bed moved, as if there had been an earthquake rather far away. I thought I heard a high-flying jet go past, followed by anti-aircraft fire and air-raid sirens. There...

The question of regime change in Iraq figures prominently in news bulletins and is occupying the full attention of politicians and world leaders, experts in Arab and Islamic affairs, and, of course, the Iraqis themselves. The thorny issue of whether or not there should be a change of regime by force has become the focus of much discussion. Even among those who support such a change there still remains heated argument as to how best this is to be accomplished, and when — each of the involved parties naturally being influenced by political and economic factors and allegiances. The problem...

I wanted to join the human shields in Baghdad because it was direct action which had a chance of bringing the anti-war movement to the forefront of world attention. It was inspiring: the human shield volunteers were making a sacrifice for their political views - much more of a personal investment than going to a demonstration in Washington or London. It was simple - you get on the bus and you represent yourself. So that is exactly what I did on the morning of Saturday, January 25. I am a 23-year-old Jewish-American photographer living in Islington, north London. I had...

U.S. soldiers in Hungary have nearly completed training the second class of Iraqi dissidents that will work as translators and liaisons for coalition forces in Iraq. About 500 Iraqi dissidents, who came from across the United States and Europe, have completed the first month-long training session and have been deployed to southwest Asia, said Army Maj. Robert Stern, spokesman for Training Task Force Warrior. He would not specify where they had gone, only that it was within Central Command’s area of responsibility. Essentially, the Iraqis, who come from various backgrounds, are receiving a condensed version of the Army’s civilian affairs...

ANKARA - The Ankara meeting which will bring certain Iraqi opposition groups in Iraq with Turkish and American officials is expected to be held on March 19, Wednesday. Patriotic Union for Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani, Iraqi Kurdistan Democrat Party (KDP) representative Necirvan Barzani, Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) leader Sanan Ahmet Aga, U.S. President Bush's adviser for Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad and Turkish officials will attend the meeting. Diplomatic sources said that ''if this meeting is successful, another meeting in which Shii and Arab opposition groups in Iraq will participate can also be held.'' Meanwhile, sources said that Foreign Ministry Undersecretary...

WASHINGTON: Iraqi opposition representatives wrapped up two days of preparations for a future conference where experts will draft a programme for "a better Iraq under a different government," a US State Department official has said. The meeting discussed procedural aspects of the broader conference, which is likely to be held in coming months at an as-yet undetermined venue, the State Department source said yesterday, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The purpose (of the planning is for) is an experts' conference, a broad gathering, to discuss the practical steps for a better Iraq under a different government. It is not an...

CAIRO - An Iraqi opposition group said yesterday that 15 political dissidents had been executed in a prison west of Baghdad. The claim by the Centre for Human Rights, which is linked to the Iraqi Communist Party, could not be independently confirmed. The Iraqi government does not comment on such allegations. The centre, citing unnamed sources inside Iraq, said that the executions took place in the Abu Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad, on July 21 and the bodies were buried at night in a mass grave at Al Karkh cemetery in Baghdad. A statement faxed to The Associated Press in...