Free Republic

Guerrilla leader who became a legend emerges from hiding For 13 years he was a defiant symbol of Iraqi resistance. Hunted in vain by Saddam Hussein's militia, the legendary guerrilla fighter Abu Hattem fought an extraordinary campaign against the Iraqi regime from his secluded bases in the poisoned marshland of southern Iraq. Known as the Lord of the Marshes, his exploits earned him a reputation that is a cross between Robin Hood and Lawrence of Arabia, with tales of suicidal missions and narrow escapes. Western journalists tried for years to track him down during the guerrilla years, visiting Iranian border...

<p>American forces in Iraq have captured a former spymaster believed to know about Iraqi espionage in the United States. In Baghdad, U.S. officials warned the self-proclaimed "mayor" not to arm his followers and conferred Thursday with civic leaders on how to restore order.</p>

The hunt for Saddam Hussein's inner circle claimed its biggest success so far last night when American military officials announced the arrest of Mohammed Hamza al-Zubaidi, a former Iraqi prime minister who was implicated in the suppression of Shia uprisings after the 1991 Gulf war. Mr Zubaidi, accused of masterminding the slaughter of thousands of Marsh Arabs, was seized at about 9.30pm local time at a house in Hillah, 56 miles south of Baghdad, by a brigade of fighters affiliated to the Iraqi National Congress (INC), working with American special forces. A former member of the Iraqi revolutionary command council,...

<p>There could be an unexpected beneficiary of the war in Iraq: the environment.</p> <p>More specifically, the late, great Mesopotamian marshes -- a decade ago, the largest wetland by far in the Middle East, and a site considered by many religious scholars as the inspiration for the Garden of Eden in the Bible and Koran.</p>

<p>Saddam Hussein turned a thriving marshland into a poisoned desert. Can it be restored?</p> <p>The project, which has been discussed only in outline by scientists so far, would be the largest and most ambitious recovery of a wetland ever attempted. It might cost tens of millions of dollars or more, but could be a model for reviving many other natural water reservoirs as the world staves off growing water shortages.</p>