Saddam's top adviser surrenders, first opposition leader returns

BAGHDAD, April 12 -- A top aide to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein surrendered to coalition forces on Saturday while some Iraqi opposition leaders seemed poised to seek their role in an interim Iraqi government and in the larger play of rebuilding the country.

General Amir al-Saadi, top scientific adviser to Saddam, surrendered to US forces in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, marking thefirst known surrender by top Iraqi officials since the US-led invasion of Iraq began on March 20. Al-Saadi has been put on the US list of 55 most-wanted Iraqi officials. The news of al-Saadi's surrender was broadcast by the German ZDF public television, which said it had filmed the incident. The station added that its camera crew had accompanied al-Saadi at hisrequest.

Saadi reportedly said he had decided to surrender because he felt "in no way guilty." He also said that he had no information on the whereabouts of Saddam, while reiterating his denial of the existence of chemical or biological weapons. While the Iraqi leadership vaporized in the country and coalition forces are taking increasing control of Iraqi territory,voices of the Iraqi opposition, long muffled, are now sounding louder.

The United States announced late Friday that members of the Iraqi opposition inside and outside Iraq will meet with a US delegation in Nasiriyah on Tuesday. A US State Department spokesman said the meeting to be chaired by Khalilzad would focus on the future of Iraq and formation of aninterim government in Iraq.

The opposition Supreme Assembly of Islamic Revolution in Iraq, based in Iran, has expressed its readiness to attend a summit of the Iraqi opposition in the northern Iraqi city of Nasiriya, the official Iranian News Agency reported. An official of the opposition party said his group may take part in the meeting, scheduled for April 15, if it is aimed to mapout plans to uphold the Iraqi people's interests.

The official said, however, the decision on whether to attend the summit will be made after the objectives and programs of the summit as well as the names of the participants are announced.

And the first opposition leader to return home from exile to Iraq arrived in the northern town of Mosul on Friday, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported. Wafik Samarai, former chief of Iraq's intelligence service, hasmet with leaders of Arab tribes and clans in the city. On the coalition side, the US Central Command said on Saturday additional US troops have arrived in Baghdad to focus on restoringlaw and order in the Iraqi capital. US officials said more than 1,000 police and judicial officers will be deployed in Iraq to help restore law and order.

The coalition forces have not yet imposed a curfew in Baghdad but are working with local religious leaders, who will decide whatbehavior will be acceptable in their communities, to improve security in Baghdad and elsewhere, where widespread looting and anarchy are continuing, Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told a press conference in Doha, Qatar.Throughout Iraq, US troops continued to eliminate military threats from what was left of the Iraqi military.

In Baghdad, US Marines found suicide bomb vests laden with explosives in an elementary school. Hundreds of crates of grenade launchers, missiles and ammunition were discovered in the classrooms of a high school. In western Iraq, US forces seized a bus carrying 59 men who hadlarge sums of US dollars and a letter offering rewards for killingUS soldiers.The men were arrested on their way to Iraq's border with Syria,but the men's nationalities and the author of the letter are not known yet, the US Central Command said.

Iraq, US-led coalition are both losers in Iraqi war: Iranian president

TEHRAN, April 12 -- Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said Saturday the "unequal" war on Iraq has no winner, as both the Iraqi regime and the US-led forces suffered defeat morally in the international public opinion. Addressing a gathering in Iran's southeastern istan-BaluchestanProvince, Khatami said the first loser of the war was the "dictatorial and belligerent regime of Saddam", and the next losers in the war were the invading forces. He added that the invading forces were defeated first by the world public opinion and then morally.

Khatami said the Islamic countries and many other governments makers condemned the military invasion as evidenced by the anti-wardemonstrations still being held worldwide. The invading forces also suffered moral defeat for the massacre of innocent men, women and children, and for ruining vital resources of the Iraqi nation, he said.

Khatami advised the US-led forces get out of Iraq quickly and permit the establishment of a broad-based and democratic governmentby Iraqi people themselves with the support of the world community. "It is not yet late for the US and Britain, they can get out of Iraq quickly and make up for their mistakes and blunders to some extent by preparing the ground for establishment of a popular government in the country," he said.

He also expressed hope that the UN would act more forcefully through the world public opinion's strong support and prepare the ground for Iraqis to decide their own fate.

59 men arrested in Iraq carrying cash rewards for killing US troops

DOHA, April 12 - US troops have detained 59 men who carried 630,000 US dollars in cash believed to be rewards for killing American soldiers, a US military spokesman said here Saturday.The men were caught when leaving Iraq on a bus which was stoppedat a US checkpoint in western Iraq, Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told reporters at the war headquarters of the US Central Command.

"At a checkpoint in the west, coalition special operations forces stopped a bus with 59 military aged men. In their possesion were letters offering financial rewards for killing American soldiers and 630,000 US dollars in 100 dollar bills," he said.

"The men and all their possessions were taken into coalition control," Brooks added, while declining to say if they were Iraqis or not. Before the fall of Iraqi capital of Baghdad Wednesday, Iraqi officials repeatedly warned that a number of Arab volunteers would launch suicide attacks on the advancing US troops.

About 5,000 to 6,000 Arab volunteers were believed to have entered Iraq to join the fight against the US-led invasion of Iraq. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein awarded an Iraqi suicide bomber late March with 35,000 dollars for killing four US soldiers near the central city of Najaf on March 22, two days after the start of the war.

First group of Kuwaiti doctors due for Iraq

KUWAIT CITY, April 12 -- Kuwait will send the first group of medical personnel to Iraq to help alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people inflicted by the US-led war, a health official said Saturday.

The medical group will leave for the Iraq's southern port city of Umm Qasr on Sunday, Dr. Ahmed al-Shatti of the Health Ministry told Kuwait News Agency. The group consists of Kuwaiti consultants in the fields of gynecology and obstetrics, pediatrics and surgeon, he said, adding that a mobile dental laboratory will accompany the Kuwaiti doctors.

Kuwait on Friday sent the first batch of medical aid to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, in response to an urgent request by Iraqihospitals. The oil-rich Gulf emirate has promised to provide more medical aid to other Iraqi areas.

The ongoing war on Iraq launched by the US-led coalition on March 20 has caused heavy civilian casualties in Iraq, where hospitals are overwhelmed with wounded people who are in need of urgent treatment.

Expert warns British forces may "breach" Geneva Convention in Iraq

LONDON, April 12 -- British forces in Iraq may be in breach of the Geneva Convention, an expert warned Saturday, as lawlessness continues to damage Iraq's second largest city of Basra. "Any occupying power that has destroyed a regime is responsiblefor maintenance of hospitals, medical services and food supplies,"Bradford University peace studies professor Paul Rogers told BBC News."The British are failing to fulfill their responsibilities under the Geneva Convention" and are "neither sufficient nor properly trained" to "maintain public order," said Rogers.

"They have not been able to control the looting," he lamented.On Friday, British troops in Basra shot and killed five Iraqi bank robbers.A British soldier was shot in the stomach when the robbers opened fire, according to local reports.

Colonel Bob Stewart, who was the first UN peace-keeping force commander in Bosnia during the civil war there, told BBC News thatBritish troops needed to "make it quite clear people breaking the law are liable to be shot."

"If they suddenly realize the British are prepared to open fireto stop people breaking the law, it will stop a lot of people acting in an unlawful manner and threatening the normal people of Basra," he said.

"If it continues it will become something that will not only erode the good will of the Iraqi people but be used as a stick to beat us with by the rest of the Arab world," Stewart warded.

Meanwhile, four Tornado F-3 air fighters of Royal Air Forcehavehave already returned to Britain and more planes, helicopters, field hospital units and ships, including the carrier Ark Royal, are set to follow.

Downing Street said on Friday it believed that the situation inBasra was now calm and hoped that this process could be repeated across the country.

But the BBC's Clive Myrie, who has been "embedded" with troops in Basra, said the streets remain dangerous. "The liberation honeymoon is over," he told BBC News.

"Lawlessness is rife - looting, muggings, robberies. The manpower simply isn't here to chase all Basra's criminals. There are too few troops on the streets," he said.

Earlier this week, British International Development Secretary Clare Short called on the coalition forces to make a "massively bigger effort" to stop the looting and violence that is blighting the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Basra. There are also concerns of a growing humanitarian crisis in southern Iraq as charities complain most areas are inaccessible toaid organizations.