Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=4/21/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ/I-N-C (L-O)

NUMBER=2-302413

BYLINE=LAURIE KASSMAN

DATELINE=BAGHDAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: At least seven Iraqis on the U-S list of 55 most-wanted members of Saddam Hussein's government and inner power circle have been apprehended or have surrendered. Correspondent Laurie Kassman reports from Baghdad that some of those who surrendered are using the opposition group, the Iraqi National Congress as an intermediary to the U-S military.

TEXT: Iraqi National Congress spokesman Zaab Sethna says his group handed out more than 30 small Thuraya satellite phones to their network of supporters inside Iraq before the war and another 80 during the war.

The men working inside Iraq used the phones to stay in contact with their sources within Saddam Hussein's circle of power.

He explains how the network operated for the surrender this weekend of Saddam Hussein's son-in-law.

/// SETHNA ACT ///

We had sent them a phone before the war and then had not been in touch during the war, but reestablished contact. They were in Syria, and we made the case to him and some of the people around him that it was better to come to Iraqis who would take them to Americans who would ensure a fair process and ensure that all their rights were guaranteed, and this was a better option than spending a lifetime on the run.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Sethna says the Iraqi National Congress used the same network process for Khalil Ibrahim al-Nasseri, a senior intelligence officer under Saddam, who also has surrendered to the I-N-C for transfer to the American forces.

Mr. Sethna says more will follow.

/// SETHNA 2nd ACT ///

We have a number of people that we are in touch with or that we know the locations of. I can not talk about personalities right now because we have a number of operations under way - either to apprehend them or to convince them to surrender.

/// END ACT ///

The Iraqi National Congress spokesman says they have leads on more than a dozen other names on the U-S government's list of the 55 most-wanted members of Saddam Hussein's inner circle.

Among those the U-S military has taken into custody two of Saddam's half-brothers and the former finance minister. (SIGNED)

NEB/LMK/ALW/RAE/FC