Saddam 'killed missile chief' to thwart UN team
By David Wastell and Julian Coman in Washington
(Filed: 02/03/2003)
The Telegraph
Western intelligence agencies are investigating claims
that Saddam Hussein ordered the murder of a senior
Iraqi missile engineer to prevent him passing vital
information to United Nations weapons inspectors.
Gen Muhammad Sa'id al-Darraj, who was in charge of
Iraq's mobile Scud missiles until three months ago,
died 24 hours after talks with Saddam's officials,
according to Arab newspaper reports. The officials
wanted to discuss how the general would conceal his
knowledge if he were called for interview by the UN.
The London-based Al-Zaman newspaper said that Gen
al-Darraj told "indignant" relatives shortly before he
died that he had been slipped a poisoned drink during
the meeting at one of Saddam's presidential palaces.
Iraqi opposition groups suspect that the general's
loyalty to Saddam was in doubt after he was removed
from his post at the end of last year.
British Government officials said yesterday that they
were still trying to corroborate the report.
UN inspectors held their initial private interviews
with Iraqis involved in Saddam's weapons programme - a
biologist and a missile expert - on Friday, their
first such talks for three weeks.
Last week Britain's ambassador to the UN, Sir Jeremy
Greenstock, gave a private briefing to other members
of the Security Council on Iraq's continuing efforts
to conceal its chemical weapons and nerve gas
production from the weapons inspectors, The Telegraph
has learnt.
Officials say that Sir Jeremy will reveal more to his
senior UN colleagues this week, including sensitive
intelligence information, in an effort to boost
support for the British and American-backed resolution
on Iraq.
Donald Rumsfeld, the United States Secretary of
Defence, put further pressure on Saddam's regime by
linking senior Iraqi officials to a new list of 24
crimes for which detainees in the war on terrorism may
be tried by American military tribunals.
Mr Rumsfeld said that war-crimes suspects in Saddam's
regime might be brought to Guantanamo Bay, where about
650 al-Qa'eda suspects are currently held, after any
military action. According to Pentagon officials,
Saddam and other top Ba'ath Party activists could be
put on trial for crimes against Kurds in northern Iraq
and Shia Muslims in the south.
The war crimes list includes "employing poison or
analogous weapons", "using protected persons as
shields" and "using protected property as shields". Mr
Rumsfeld said that the 19-page list was a codification
of existing laws of war to take account of the new
landscape of international terrorism.
During an emergency Arab summit in Egypt yesterday the
United Arab Emirates became the first Arab country to
call publicly for Saddam and his aides to go into
exile, to spare Iraq's people from war.
The UAE said that the Iraqi leadership should be
offered "all suitable privileges to leave within two
weeks", plus internationally binding guarantees that
they would not face prosecution "in any form". The
proposal appeared to receive backing from Saudi
Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Saud al Faisal.
At the same summit, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria
called on fellow Arab League nations not to provide
America with military facilities to wage war on Iraq.
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John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq:
Your enemy is not surrounding your country — your enemy is ruling your
country. And the day he and his regime are removed from power will be
the day of your liberation." -George W. Bush 1/29/03
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