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US sets Saddam's scientists free Huda Ammash was educated in the US Eight former aides to Saddam Hussein - including two women accused of making biological weapons - have been released from US custody in Iraq. The freed detainees no longer pose a security threat, a US spokesman said. They include Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, nicknamed by the US "Mrs Anthrax" and Rihab Taha, also known as "Dr Germ". Reports have been circulating of a pre-election deal to free former regime figures in order to appease Iraq's Sunni Arabs, correspondents say. A US military spokesman in Baghdad said eight detainees...

'Dr Germ' and 'Mrs Anthrax' released from Iraqi jail 19/12/2005 - 12:48:51 Notorious Saddam-Hussein-era officials have been released from jail in Iraq and some have already left the country, an Iraqi lawyer said today. A legal official in Baghdad said between 24 and 25 top former officials in Saddam Hussein’s government have been freed, including Rihab Taha, known as Dr Germ, and Huda Salih Ammash, known as as Mrs Anthrax. The Iraqi lawyer, Badee Izzat Aref, said some of those released were his clients. “The release was an American-Iraqi decision and in line with an Iraqi government ruling made in...

<p>The CIA yesterday concluded that two truck trailers seized by coalition forces in northern Iraq were designed by Saddam Hussein's regime to produce biological weapons agents.</p> <p>A six-page agency white paper said an examination of the trailers' equipment showed that "BW [biological weapons] agent production is the only consistent, logical purpose for these vehicles."</p>

ASSOCIATED PRESS An Iraqi scientist has told U.S. interrogators that her team destroyed Iraq's stock of anthrax in 1991 by dumping it practically at the gates of one of Saddam's main palaces, but never told U.N. inspectors for fear of angering the dictator. Rihab Rashid Taha's decision in 2003 to remain silent stoked suspicions of those who contended Iraq still harbored biological weapons, contributing to the U.S. decision to invade Iraq two years ago this month. "Whether those involved understood the significance and disastrous consequences of their actions is unclear," the CIA-led Iraq Survey Group says of Mrs. Taha and...

BAGHDAD -- An Iraqi lawyer said Friday that one of Saddam Hussein's former top scientists, known as "Mrs. Anthrax," has cancer and is dying in U.S. custody where she has been held for more than a year. A U.S. military spokesman for detainee operations in Iraq refused to comment on the report that Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash has cancer. "I am not able to discuss the health condition of our detainees," said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson. "Certainly we have medical care available to take care of any detainee." Ammash, a top Baath party official and biotech researcher who got her...

Former Iraqi Oil Minister Surrenders 16 minutes ago By NIKO PRICE, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s former oil minister, a trusted adviser who earlier oversaw Iraq (news - web sites)'s top-secret missile programs, has surrendered to U.S.-led forces, the U.S. Central Command said Tuesday. AP Photo (AP Video) Latest news: · U.S. Soldiers Fire at Iraqi Protesters AP - 6 minutes ago · Former Iraqi Oil Minister Surrenders AP - 16 minutes ago · Last Soldier Missing in Iraq Found Dead AP - 27 minutes ago Special Coverage   Amer Mohammed Rashid, known...

Iraqi scientist conducted research that led to bioweapons, U.S. saysWASHINGTON, May 12 — Dr. Rihab Taha, the Iraqi scientist credited with starting her nation’s biological weapons program, has surrendered, military and intelligence officials told NBC News on Monday. Taha, who has become known as “Dr. Germ,” turned herself in to American forces in Baghdad after a week of negotiations, they said. HER SURRENDER on Sunday came a week after another leading Iraqi scientist, Dr. Huda Ammash, was taken into U.S. custody. However, Ammash — dubbed “Mrs. Anthrax” in the Western media — has so far failed to provide anything...

A NORWICH trained Iraqi scientist – dubbed Dr Germ - is believed to have fled into hiding in Syria after the toppling of Saddam Hussein's reviled regime. Dr Rihab Taha, who studied microbiology at the University of East Anglia, may have been among a group of high-profile scientists to have slipped across the border in recent days. Intelligence agencies believe they might include Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, nicknamed "Mrs Anthrax" for her role in Iraq's biological weapons programme, as well Dr Taha. The fleeing of officials linked to the Saddam regime comes as America stepped up its hunt by offering...

<p>Some of Iraq's top weapons scientists already have fled their country and are in Syria, from where they may seek political safety in France, administration sources said yesterday.</p> <p>The officials said among those believed to have made it to Syria are Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash and Rihab Taha, both top scientists in Iraq's biological-weapons program. The administration sources said there are intelligence reports that one, or both, made it to Damascus.</p>

<p>October 22, 2001 -- A cunning woman scientist who heads Saddam Hussein's bio-terrorism team may be the mastermind behind the world's anthrax scare, a leading American germ warfare expert says.</p> <p>Rihab Taha, 45, is so notorious that United Nations weapons inspectors have nicknamed her "Dr. Germ" for deadly experiments she conducted.</p>