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18 April 2003

Coalition Captures Key Ba'ath Party Leader Near Mosul

(Central Command Report, April 18: Iraq Operational Update) (650)
By Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr.
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- Coalition Special Operations forces captured Samir Abd
al-Aziz al-Najim, a key member of the now defunct regime of Saddam
Hussein, near Mosul in northern Iraq April 17, says a U.S. Central
Command briefing officer.
"He was a Ba'ath Party official, a regional command chairman for the
Baghdad district, and is believed to have first-hand knowledge of the
Ba'ath Party central structure," Army Brigadier General Vincent Brooks
said April 18 at the CENTCOM daily briefing at Camp As Sayliyah,
Qatar. Al-Najim is on the list of 55 top regime leaders being sought
after the fall of the Hussein government.
Brooks said al-Najim, like other regime members who are being sought,
may have some knowledge of the regime's weapons of mass destruction
(WMD) programs or its links to terrorism.
"We know that he certainly has an insight on how the Ba'ath Party
central committee worked," Brooks said. "He had the Baghdad district
and was certainly an insider on that. There are some indications he
might have also been posted to the north to take over ... for some of
the military operations."
Meanwhile, coalition forces adjusted their locations outside Baghdad
and continued patrols in other cities to increase security and
stability there, he said.
"Fourth Infantry Division encountered paramilitary resistance as they
continued their move north between Taji and Samarra," he said. "In the
engagement, the coalition destroyed eight technical vehicles and
captured over 30 enemy prisoners."
As coalition forces improve security throughout the country, Brooks
said, efforts to restore functioning utilities and to assess future
requirements are continuing. The core problem in most communities
remains the restoration of electricity, he said, and there is progress
daily.
The process of finding nuclear, biological or chemical weapons in Iraq
that are left over from the Hussein regime is just beginning now,
Brooks said.
"We have information about testing programs and development programs,"
he said. "And this is really where we need the assistance of the Iraqi
population and regime leaders that might have some knowledge."
Brooks said that ever since the onset of military hostilities there
have been clues to the depth and duration of the regime's WMD
development programs. "We know that there was a deliberate campaign of
denial and deception that lasted for a long time, over a decade, to
hide these things from public view, to hide them from inspectors that
had been sanctioned by the United Nations and put into Iraq to find
the weapons of mass destruction in a cooperative way," he said.
Brooks said that coalition forces have found delivery systems,
atropine nerve agent antidote autoinjectors, chemical warfare suits,
and other devices, all of which provide the coalition with indications
of the presence of WMD.
"As time goes on and we get more access to individuals and more access
to information, we get pointed in new directions," Brooks said. "Each
direction that comes, though, requires detailed examination."
In other operations, Brooks said:
-- Electricity has been restored to Hadithah near the Hadithah Dam
through the efforts of coalition Special Operations forces and the
local population.
-- In the northern towns of Irbil, Dahuk, and Sulaymaniyah, there is
sufficient fuel to run electric power plants for more than 40 days.
-- Returning full electric service to all parts of Baghdad will
require more electrical plant managers and technicians to return to
work. Meetings between plant workers and the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers was held in recent days to focus on full restoration of
power.
-- Coalition forces also remain focused on providing supplies and
equipment needed for medical care in Baghdad and throughout the
country. Some of the supplies have been redistributed from captured
stocks of medical supplies, while others have come from humanitarian
donations.
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)