yahya ayash
27-11-03, 09:23
Wife and daughter of Saddam deputy arrested as British FM says Iraq security to improve
26-11-2003, 09:58
Izzat Ibrahim
American forces arrested the wife and daughter of Saddam Hussein's deputy as a major pipeline linking northern Iraqi oilfields to the country's biggest refinery was ablaze Wednesday.
Hours after large blasts rocked the center of Baghdad near U.S. headquarters, the visiting British foreign secretary said Iraq would be a safer place once the U.S.- and British-led forces hand over power to an Iraqi government.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, on a two-day visit to Iraq, said a political transition to Iraqi rule will improve the security situation. More than five dozen U.S. troops have been killed by hostile fire in November, more than any other month since the official end of major combat in Iraq on May 1.
"I'm absolutely sure that a more rapid political process will assist the security situation," Straw said at a news conference. "The more that we can give all Iraqis a stake in their future and a stable political architecture in which to work, the more I believe more Iraqis will become committed to that future and fewer will think that terror and quiescence in terror is the way forward."
Straw said he met with members of the coalition-appointed Iraqi Governing Council to discuss the political process, in which the council is to hand over power to a new, transitional government by June 30.
"Iraq is a better place and will become a far better place as a result of that transition," he said. "Life for a very large number of people in Iraq is considerably better ... and will be infinitely better when we can get on top of the security situation."
Straw said the obstacles in Iraq shouldn't come as a surprise. "Military action is an uncertain business," he said. "What we knew that we faced for certain was a tyrant in Saddam Hussein and a highly organized network of terror and repression, and we were never under any illusions that it would be possible to remove this in one go."
Meanwhile, US troops in Samra, about 110 kilometers north of Baghdad, arrested the wife and daughter of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a close Saddam associate, division spokesman Lt. Col. William MacDonald said Wednesday, according to The AP.
U.S. officials have said they believe al-Douri has planned some of the attacks against U.S. forces, and last week offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.
MacDonald said a man he identified as the son of a physician was also taken into custody in the raid Tuesday.
Witnesses near the village of Sharqat, over 250 kilometers north of Baghdad, said sheets of flame and thick black smoke were shooting from the damaged pipeline, only 50 kilometers from Iraq's largest oil refinery. (Albawaba.com)
26-11-2003, 09:58
Izzat Ibrahim
American forces arrested the wife and daughter of Saddam Hussein's deputy as a major pipeline linking northern Iraqi oilfields to the country's biggest refinery was ablaze Wednesday.
Hours after large blasts rocked the center of Baghdad near U.S. headquarters, the visiting British foreign secretary said Iraq would be a safer place once the U.S.- and British-led forces hand over power to an Iraqi government.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, on a two-day visit to Iraq, said a political transition to Iraqi rule will improve the security situation. More than five dozen U.S. troops have been killed by hostile fire in November, more than any other month since the official end of major combat in Iraq on May 1.
"I'm absolutely sure that a more rapid political process will assist the security situation," Straw said at a news conference. "The more that we can give all Iraqis a stake in their future and a stable political architecture in which to work, the more I believe more Iraqis will become committed to that future and fewer will think that terror and quiescence in terror is the way forward."
Straw said he met with members of the coalition-appointed Iraqi Governing Council to discuss the political process, in which the council is to hand over power to a new, transitional government by June 30.
"Iraq is a better place and will become a far better place as a result of that transition," he said. "Life for a very large number of people in Iraq is considerably better ... and will be infinitely better when we can get on top of the security situation."
Straw said the obstacles in Iraq shouldn't come as a surprise. "Military action is an uncertain business," he said. "What we knew that we faced for certain was a tyrant in Saddam Hussein and a highly organized network of terror and repression, and we were never under any illusions that it would be possible to remove this in one go."
Meanwhile, US troops in Samra, about 110 kilometers north of Baghdad, arrested the wife and daughter of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a close Saddam associate, division spokesman Lt. Col. William MacDonald said Wednesday, according to The AP.
U.S. officials have said they believe al-Douri has planned some of the attacks against U.S. forces, and last week offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.
MacDonald said a man he identified as the son of a physician was also taken into custody in the raid Tuesday.
Witnesses near the village of Sharqat, over 250 kilometers north of Baghdad, said sheets of flame and thick black smoke were shooting from the damaged pipeline, only 50 kilometers from Iraq's largest oil refinery. (Albawaba.com)