Iraq, U.S. working to arrest officials

[maddezmom]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's prime minister has confirmed that U.S. and Iraqi authorities are working together to arrest and prosecute Iraqi politicians and top officials suspected of links to armed extremist groups.

"There is coordination between us and the (U.S.-led) Multinational Forces (that) started at the beginning of this year ... to determine who should be arrested and the reasons behind arresting them," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told The Associated Press in an interview Saturday.

His comments were in response to a question about whether lists had been prepared of senior Iraqi officials, politicians and lawmakers targeted for arrest.

Al-Maliki said Iraqi authorities would begin preparing cases against unspecified officials and would refer them to investigative judges, who under the Iraqi legal system can issue indictments like American grand juries.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070304/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_wanted_list


Chalabi back in political limelight

~snip~

Chalabi's dogged determination to remain a player has enabled him to survive numerous setbacks, any one of which could have sunk his public career.

His dreams of running Iraq were derailed on the eve of the March 2003 invasion, when the Americans decided to administer the country themselves after ousting Saddam. Instead, Chalabi was appointed to the 25-member Iraq Governing Council, a largely powerless body that the U.S. established as the forerunner of a future government.

Chalabi's links to Iran and his complaints about U.S. administration of an oil revenue fund led to a falling-out with U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer, who picked his rival Ayad Allawi as prime minister of the first independent, transitional government.

Rather than give up, Chalabi instead nurtured his ties to the Shiite religious leadership, including anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, in hopes of softening his image as a secular outsider more at home in Washington than in the dusty towns and cities of Iraq.

more:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003596553_chalabi02.html?syndication=rss

wonder if his luck has run out yet :shrug:

[Demeter]

1. And Who Would Be Left? A Nation of Jails?

It's gone beyond ridiculous.

[rodeodance]

2. almost sounds like it. But seems like they are just going for the top guys???

[Demeter]

3. Good Joke!

[maddezmom]

8. the list supposedly contains between 50-100 people

wish we could arrest our criminals in Congress

[saigon68]

4. Chalabi back in political limelight

[Rose Siding]

5. They should be after this convicted embassy bomber in paliament-

One Shiite parliament member, Jamal Jaafar Mohammed, is believed to have fled to Iran after U.S. authorities learned that he was convicted by a Kuwaiti court in absentia and sentenced to death in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait.

Mohammed fled Kuwait for Iran before he could be arrested and returned after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. U.S. officials have alleged he was a conduit for Iranian weapons and supplies smuggled to Shiite militias.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/print?id=2921246

snip>
The Kuwait bombings in December 1983 struck the U.S. and French embassies, along with several other targets, leaving at least six people dead. An Iraqi Shiite Muslim by the name of Jamal Jaafar Mohammed was among those convicted and sentenced to death in absentia. He had fled before his trial.

"We are actively investigating these serious allegations and continue to be in close contact with the government of Iraq to pursue this case," said Lou Fintor, the U.S. Embassy spokesman in Baghdad.

A U.S. counter-terrorism official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss such matters, said U.S. diplomats had notified Iraqi leaders of their concerns about Mohammed.

"The sense I've got is that this is something that has been known, that there have been suspicions about this guy," the official said.

Ultimately, he said, the Iraqi government would have to decide how to deal with Mohammed.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-lawmaker7feb07,1,2580381.story?coll=la-headlines-world

[Kagemusha]

6. Well it's hard to snatch him back from his current location in Iran...

Kuwait has no jurisdiction there, I think.

[maddezmom]

7. A U.N. Security Council resolution gives the U.S.-led coalition the authority to detain anyon

~snip~
A U.N. Security Council resolution gives the U.S.-led coalition the authority to detain anyone suspected of presenting a security risk to multinational forces. One Iraqi general said some people on the list were believed to be providing financial help to extremists.

Deputy Health Minister Hakim al-Zamili was arrested Feb. 9 by U.S. and Iraqi soldiers for allegedly diverting millions of dollars from his ministry to the Shiite militia, the Mahdi Army.

Iraqi officials give various estimates about the number of people on the list, ranging from 50 to more than 100. The discrepancy could not be explained, but it could be due to changes in the list based on intelligence operations or linked to an effort by Iraqi leaders to pare the list down for political reasons.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070304/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_wanted_list_2