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Nucleus of Iraqi Leadership Almost Set

Monday, April 5, 2003
(2:20 PM)
By Charles J. Hanley
Associated Press Writer

The Iraqi leaders Iraq's U.S. administrator, Jay Garner, referred to were Massoud Barzani; leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party; Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress; Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan; Iyad Allawi of the Iraqi National Accord; and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, whose elder brother heads the Shiite group Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. The group has met several times, and Garner said it would probably be expanded to include a Christian and perhaps a Sunni Arab leader.

Iraqis buy newspapers in a street of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 5, 2003. New dailies have emerged in the capital following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, sometimes printed on basic paper but free of any censorship.
Image Credit: Samir Mezban -- AP

BASRA, Iraq -- AP
The nucleus of Iraq's interim government could be in place in a matter of days, and one of Saddam Hussein's top biological weapons scientists - known as ``Mrs. Anthrax'' - has been captured, U.S. officials said Monday.

The northern city of Mosul, meanwhile, took a small step in forming a municipal government, selecting a cross-section of residents to run the city alongside the American military until elections can be held, U.S. military officials said.

The captured scientist, a 49-year-old Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, was taken into custody Sunday, a Defense Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Ammash, who earned her Ph.D. from the University of Missouri, was No. 53 among the top 55 most-wanted members of Saddam's regime. U.S. intelligence officials said she is believed to have played a key role in rebuilding Iraq's biological weapons capability since the 1991 war.

The U.S. military also announced the arrest of a former Iraqi intelligence chief. The Army's V Corps had no details other than his name, Adil Salfeg Al-Azarui. Al-Azarui, a Baath Party official, also was once the mayor of Tikrit, Saddam's hometown. He was not on 55 most-wanted list.

Iraq's U.S. administrator, Jay Garner, said he expected a ``nucleus'' of Iraqis to assume leadership. The idea was discussed last week at a meeting in Baghdad.
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2003 © The Associated Press.

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