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BAGHDAD, Iraq - (KRT) - The U.S. military and
the Iraqi government are talking about releasing up
to 20 members of Saddam Hussein's former regime,
including at least three from the list of the 55
most wanted, Iraqi lawyers and Justice Ministry
officials said this week.
Even the hint of a release sparked fierce debate
among ordinary Iraqis, whose views are colored by
how much their families suffered - or benefited -
during Saddam's nearly three decades in power. Some
Iraqis say the former Baath Party luminaries should
be kept behind bars not just because of their
complicity with Saddam's brutalities, but also
because assassination squads would target them the
second they were freed.
Lt. Col. Guy Rudisill, spokesman for U.S. detention
operations in Iraq, acknowledged that the talks are
under way, but refused to offer any details.
"The Iraqi government has not yet decided regarding
the issue of the 20 detainees," said Falah Moussa, a
spokesman for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
But Bisho Ibrahim, the deputy justice minister, said
in an interview at his office in Baghdad that the
Justice Ministry already was planning for the
release.
"Two days ago, we had a meeting with the Americans
at the Justice Ministry, and the Americans said
they're just waiting for the final approval from the
Iraqi government to release these 20," Ibrahim said.
Ibrahim said he didn't think the approval would come
soon, given the political implications of a Shiite
Muslim-dominated government releasing members of
Saddam's former regime.
Emotions on the issue run especially high among
Shiites and Kurds, the groups most brutally targeted
under the former Sunni-dominated government. The
once-oppressed groups are the new power brokers in
Iraq, and they're hardly unhappy about Saddam's
cronies' reversal of fortune.
"Even if they release them, they'll find a new
situation in Iraq," said Rasha Mohsin, a 22-year-old
Shiite woman who works at a hotel. They may find
that situation unfriendly, and they'll have no
chance to regain their influence.
"Nothing is like before," Mohsin said. "Their
families' lives are different. The government is
different."
Saddam and his top deputies aren't included in the
proposed release, though several other prominent
Baath Party members could be released because they
didn't play a major role in atrocities, said Badee
Aziz, the attorney for three of the 55 most wanted,
including former Vice President Tariq Aziz. Aziz,
No. 33 and the eight of spades on the U.S.
military's infamous deck of cards, isn't being
considered for release.
The most prominent people who might go free are
former Oil Minister Amer Rasheed and his wife, Rehab
Taha, the notorious scientist dubbed Dr. Germ for
her experiments with bacterial-biological programs.
Other figures include the former director of the
Iraqi Central Bank, the former minister of culture
and a man who was a top aide to Saddam's son Odai
and a member of the much-feared Iraqi Olympic
Committee, according to their attorneys and
relatives.
"But even if they're released, it's possible that
the Iraqi government will arrest them again on civil
charges for their actions against Iraqis," Deputy
Justice Minister Ibrahim said.
That's already happened with one of the 55 most
wanted, Ghazi al-Obeidi, a former Baath Party
regional director who was released from U.S. custody
April 28 because he's ill with cancer, according to
Iraqi officials. Al-Obeidi was released under the
former caretaker government, and the newly elected
officials consider that a mistake, said Laith Kubba,
spokesman and adviser to Jaafari. The government
promptly issued a new arrest warrant, but al-Obeidi's
attorney said he'd fled to Syria.
Hussam Mullah Huweish, the brother of the former
Central Bank director, said the release was long
overdue for people who had yet to be charged with
crimes. Huweish's brother, Issam Mullah Huweish,
wasn't among the 55 most wanted.
"He was one of the first people to meet with the
Americans when they came. He gave them all the
information he had," Hussam Mullah Huweish said of
his brother. "He is not accused of anything."
Some ordinary Iraqis said all the fuss about the
former regime detracted from the country's real
problems: the foreign terrorists who flood the
streets with car bombs, attack security forces and
create havoc for the fledgling government.
"It's not a problem to release these people. We know
what they've done," said Alaa, a 29-year-old Shiite
who works at a gas station and was too afraid to
give his last name. "It's more important to capture
the terrorists. What happened in the past has
happened. We have to deal with what's happening
now."
(Awsy and al Baldawy are Knight Ridder Newspapers
special correspondents. Hannah Allam contributed to
this report from Baghdad.)
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