A cluster bomb has injured U.S. soldiers:
Four U.S. soldiers on patrol were wounded Saturday when an Iraqi girl handed them an explosive and it blew up, American military officials said. They said they believed it was an accident.
The girl approached one of the soldiers with an M-42 "bomblet," a canister-size piece of a cluster bomb.
Residents of the Dura neighborhood in southeastern Baghdad have been trying to negotiate their way through what appear to be U.S. cluster pieces scattered through the area, including some found hanging in trees.
Human rights groups have criticized Americans' use of cluster bombs. They contain 200 or more small bombs, each of which can explode into hundreds of metal fragments.

A protest against the U.S. and Iranian attacks against Iranian rebels:
Some 500 supporters of an Iraq-based Iranian rebel group marched through downtown Washington on Saturday calling on the international community to halt what they said were Iran's attacks on their bases and attempts to infiltrate Iraqi cities.
A spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political wing of the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran, added that separate attacks by U.S. forces on the Mujahideen's camps were "astonishing and regrettable."
The Mujahideen said Iranian forces crossed into Iraq in recent weeks and killed 28 of their number in attacks on their bases.

Tikrit mourns the fallen statue of a fallen leader:
Crying men kissed the statue's feet and hugged his face, saying "long live Saddam". A four-year-old child was brought by his grandfather to kiss the symbol goodbye, while an elderly man fumed nearby.
"It's an insult to all Iraqis, to all Arabs," he said in reference to what the marines had done.
As US troops moved away, the feelings grew stronger and everyone had something to say.
"They are tearing our hearts out. That is what they mean by liberating Iraq?", "Tomorrow blood will be spilled. Everyone in Iraq loves Saddam", and "His statue has fallen but no one can tear him from our hearts," were just some of the comments.

North Korea has learned a lesson from the war against Iraq:
A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman told the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) that the country was reprocessing more than 8,000 spent fuel rods.
Explaining the move, the foreign ministry spokesman said North Korea had learned from the US-led war on Iraq that it needed a powerful deterrent.
"The Iraqi war teaches a lesson that in order to prevent a war and defend the security of a country and the sovereignty of a nation it is necessary to have a powerful physical deterrent force," he was quoted as saying.

Even as it attacks Iranian forces in Iraq, the U.S. is negotiating a cease-fire with them:
"We know that there's a presence of the Mujahideen i-Khalq inside of Iraq and indeed we have been targeting them for some time," Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told a briefing at Central Command headquarters in Qatar.
"There's work that's ongoing right now to try to secure some sort of agreement that would be a cease-fire and capitulation. That work is ongoing and it will most likely unfold within the coming days."
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States believed the Mujahideen i-Khalq was an integral part of Saddam Hussein's forces and therefore a legitimate target for U.S. forces.
"The Mujahideen i-Khalq's forces were fully integrated with Saddam Hussein's command and control (and) therefore constituted legitimate military targets that posed a threat to coalition forces," Boucher told reporters in Washington.

Australia seems to be abandoning Iraq:
Australia is to pull the bulk of its troops out of Iraq within two months and has no plans for a substantial peacekeeping commitment, John Howard, the prime minister, announced yesterday.
The early withdrawal is believed to be in defiance of US wishes that some soldiers be kept in place to maintain order.
"It's one thing to have a short, sharp, highly professional, highly effective contribution when it's really hot," Mr Howard told a Perth radio station. "It's another thing to have a very long commitment of a large number of regulars."

Bush aides have resigned in response to the looting in Baghdad:
Two senior cultural advisers to President Bush have resigned in fury at the US military's failure to prevent the looting of antiquities from Baghdad's national museum.
The resignations of Martin Sullivan, chairman of the president's advisory committee on cultural property, and Gary Vikan, a committee member, became public yesterday as the FBI announced it had dispat-ched agents to Iraq to help try to recover the stolen artefacts.
Earlier this week, Pentagon officials admitted there had been no specific plans in place to protect the institution from looting, or to prevent the burning of the national library there, apparently causing the loss of priceless manuscripts centuries old. Efforts had been made to protect cultural sites from being targeted by missiles or caught up in ground fighting, but not to shield them from looters.

Accusations against the U.S. military:
Save the Children yesterday accused the US military of allowing children to die after it refused to grant permission for a plane loaded with medical supplies to land in northern Iraq.
As a team of Oxfam engineers took off from Manston airport in Kent with tonnes of water sanitation equipment bound for southern Iraq, Save the Children said it had been trying for more than a week to fly in enough medical supplies to treat 40,000 people and emergency feeding kits for malnourished children.

Ahmed Chalabi faces more problems connected to his banking past:
Fresh information has emerged of banking scandals involving the family of the Pentagon's preferred candidate to shape post-war Iraq, Ahmad Chalabi.
Dr Chalabi's brother, Jawad, confirmed that he and another brother, Hazem, had been convicted by the Swiss authorities of false accounting in connection with the collapse of Socofi, an investment firm in Dr Chalabi's widespread financial empire.
He also confirmed that a Genevan bank linked to Mr Chalabi, Mebco, had its banking licence withdrawn by the Swiss federal banking commission in April 1989, and also collapsed.

London's Daily Telegraph has found papers suggesting a link between African terrorists and Iraq:
Saddam Hussein's regime was linked to an African Islamist terrorist group, according to new intelligence papers.
The papers show how Iraq's charge d'affaires in Nairobi, Fallah Hassan al-Rubdie, was in discussion with the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan guerilla group linked to other anti-Western Islamist groups.
In a letter to the head of the Iraqi spy agency, a senior ADF operative outlined his group's efforts to set up an "international mujahideen team". Its mission, he said, "will be to smuggle arms on a global scale to holy warriors fighting against US, British and Israeli influences in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Far East".

A Christian Aid worker writes from Kuwait City:
My team and I were meant to be in the heart of Basra today, bringing in life-saving medical supplies - insulin, oxygen and anaesthetics - with our Iraqi partner organisation, the Iraq Refugee Aid Council.
The need is great. The electricity supply has failed, so the insulin stock, which must be kept in cold storage, has decayed in the city heat. This week, a child underwent an amputation without anaesthetic.
However, after days of battling with US and UK military officials and Kuwait's bureaucracy, we have been told that we do not have the requisite permission to move our medical supplies in.

The Korea Times editorializes against South Korea's failure to vote against the North:
It is irresponsible and shameful that the Seoul government did not participate in voting on a resolution condemning human rights abuses in North Korea at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on Wednesday.
Twenty-eight member countries of the U.N. agency voted for the resolution, sponsored by the European Union, while 10, including China, stood against it and 14 abstained, with South Korea not participating in the vote.
It is clear that Seoul took this disappointing attitude with Pyongyang's response in mind as the Stalinist regime criticized violently the U.N. move as a Western scheme to pressure it.

The Korea Times reports that South Korean soldiers are heading to Iraq:
The first team of South Korean soldiers left yesterday for Iraq to support the U.S.-led war in the Middle East.
A 20-member advanced team, consisting of 10 military engineers and 10 medics, left Incheon International Airport for Kuwait, where they will start operations.
Their departure was marked by an anti-war protest at the airport by NGO activists.

Hamid Karzai is set to visit Pakistan next week:
During his visit President Karzai will hold talks with President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali, and meet senior officials, sources said.
President Karzai's 20-member strong entourage will include the ministers of foreign affairs, interior and reconstruction.
"We hope President Karzai's visit will further improve relations between the two countries and take them to a new level," a senior official said, adding that talks would focus on peace and security in Afghanistan.

Hans Blix will talk with the Security Council soon:
The chief United Nations weapons inspector, Hans Blix, is to address the UN Security Council on April 22 about the possibility of renewing the search for any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq , a UN source told AFP in Vienna.
"Mr Blix is going to report on Tuesday to the Security Council about the potential of the future return of UNMOVIC inspectors to Iraq," said the source, who asked not to be named.

Bechtel has won a large reconstruction contract from USAID:
The government awarded Bechtel Corp. a contract on Thursday that could reach $680 million to help rebuild Iraq, including the nation's power, water and sewage systems.
The U.S. Agency for International Development said the initial contract was for $34.6 million but it could be worth the larger figure over 18 months, subject to congressional approval.
The company has employed several officials after they left high government jobs, including former Secretary of State George Shultz and former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger.
The Bechtel Group and its employees have been among the biggest political givers in the general contracting industry, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan Washington-based group that tracks campaign finance.

AFP suggests the Iraqi Information Minister is alive and well:
"There's no looting, it's a shopping festival," says Iraqi information minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf whose spirit has survived the demise of his regime to put some spin on the orgy of plundering in Baghdad.
Sahhaf has dropped out of sight since US forces took over the Iraqi capital on April 9, abruptly ending Saddam's 24-year-rule, while unconfirmed press reports even claim he committed suicide.
And out of Jordan comes a Sahhaf "statement" that it was not Saddam Hussein's statue pulled own in central Baghdad last week, it was only that of one of the president's doubles.

The New York Times reports on the bombing of Iranians in Iraq by U.S. forces:
American forces have bombed the bases of the main armed Iranian opposition group in Iraq, a guerrilla organization that maintained thousands of fighters with tanks and artillery along Iraq's border with Iran for more than a decade.
Defense department officials who described the air attacks, which have received scant public attention, said they had been followed in recent days by efforts by American ground forces to pursue and detain members of the group and its National Liberation Army. Some members of the group were expected to surrender soon, the officials said today.
The attacks could well anger the more than 150 members of Congress from both parties who have described the Iranian opposition group as an effective source of pressure against Iran's government. In a statement last November, the group urged the Bush administration to remove the organization from its terrorist list.

Proof that the comparisons by both Bushes between Hitler and Saddam are paying off for someone:
an auction of a 250 dinar note on eBay asks, "Can you imagine what an uncirculated Hitler, or Stalin would be worth today $$$??

Number of auctions found when putting "dinar" into eBay's search engine: 2679
Number of auctions found when putting "Information Minister" into eBay's search engine: 37

The AP reports from Najaf:
In this holiest of Muslim Shiite cities, clerics are running a self-declared government. It's the same in nearby Karbala, another sacred Shiite city.
Muslim Shiite clerics have in the past week moved swiftly to fill the power void created by Saddam Hussein's ouster — appointing governors, imposing curfews, offering protection, jobs, health care and giving financial assistance to the needy.

AFP reports from southern Iraq's oil fields:
At the local school in Rumaila, more than 100 employees of Iraq's Southern Oil Co. turned out to get new employee identification cards from KBR, the US firm hired to help rebuild Iraq's ailing oil industry.
Texas-based Kellogg Brown and Root is owned by Halliburton, the US oil giant of which Vice President Dick Cheney was chairman until his election in 2000.
One KBR official said the cards would allow workers to get back to their jobs on Thursday. Two employees told AFP they were expected back at their posts later Wednesday within two or three hours of getting their cards.
"We have a responsibility to repair their infrastructure. We plan to hire as many people as we possibly can," said Crear.
Asked if that "we" meant that the workers were now effectively employees of the United States, the general said: "That's correct."

A UK cabinet member talks about the situation in Iraq:
Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, said the US and Britain were unprepared for the rapid collapse of law and order and public services, especially hospitals, water and power, in the past week.
"We should have done better. The only way to put that right is to do better now. There is an enormous amount to do; the situation is very worrying. We must very urgently bring order."

The Guardian reports on the fate of monies controlled by Saddam Hussein:
In the days before the fall of Baghdad, and the explosion of looting on the streets of the capital, a far more damaging form of looting was already under way as Iraqi bank accounts were ransacked and millions of dollars were transferred into private accounts abroad, Middle Eastern banking sources said yesterday.
The flurry of transfers that have been spotted, going mainly through Europe to accounts in Jordanian and Palestinian banks, are thought to be the tip of a vast financial iceberg, kept afloat by Saddam Hussein, his family and his regime for more than two decades.
US investigators are scrambling to track down the missing money, estimated at between $5bn and $40bn (£3.2m and £25.bn), but some financial experts believe much of it has gone for good, and may have slipped into the hands of extremist groups such as al-Qaida.

The scene in Tikrit is more unsettled than some think:
Gangs of Arab tribesmen armed with Kalashnikovs and machine guns were still in control of much of Tikrit last night, a day after US marines apparently liberated the town.
Hours after the Pentagon announced the war in Iraq was virtually over, Arab youths established their own checkpoint on the edge of Saddam Hussein's former stronghold.
American marines control Tikrit's almost deserted main square and the road south to Baghdad, as well as the main bridge spanning the Tigris. But they have failed to establish a presence on the eastern side of the river, where hundreds of youths loyal to Saddam are holed up.

The New York Times reports on rumors of a Saddam Hussein sighting last week:

At the Adhamiya Mosque in northern Baghdad, people have made a legend of the half hour last Wednesday, around the time of the noon prayers, when they say Saddam Hussein appeared in public, in the square outside the mosque, and offered what may prove to have been his last promise, or his last deceit, to the people of Iraq.
"I am fighting alongside you in the same trenches," he told a cheering crowd in the square outside the mosque.
And then, people who were in the square at the time said today, the Iraqi leader and a small group of loyalists climbed back into their cars and drove off. Within 12 hours, American aircraft bombed the neighborhood, destroying part of a cemetery behind the mosque. American troops followed up with an assault on the mosque in which the minaret took a direct hit from a tank round and a shoulder-fired rocket was used to blast open the door to the catafalque containing the body of Abu Hanifa, an eighth-century Muslim saint, apparently in the belief that Mr. Hussein might be hiding somewhere in the darkness within.

News of shootings at a protest in Mosul, and another protest in Baghdad:
Anger was also visible in the northern city of Mosul, when a firefight broke out as the newly-appointed governor was making a speech which listeners deemed was too pro-US, witnesses said.
A doctor at the city hospital, Ayad al-Ramadhani, said 12 people had been killed and 60 wounded in the shooting.
US troops guarding the governor said they opened fire after gunmen on an opposite roof began shooting.
But witnesses said US troops fired into the crowd after it became increasingly hostile towards the new governor, Mashaan al-Juburi.
US forces tried for the first time to prevent the media from covering a third day of anti-US protests outside the hotel housing a US operations base in central Baghdad.
As the Iraqi protest grew more vocal, a marine corporal held an impromptu briefing for a few reporters on the progress made in restoring security and essential services.

Russia responds to new possibilities in the weapons industry:
While recent U.S. complaints that Russia supplied Iraq with defense equipment in violation of UN sanctions cast a momentary chill on U.S.-Russian ties, the accusations could very well end up working to Russia's advantage, senior government officials and defense analysts said.
"There is no doubt that the war in Iraq has fueled the arms race not only in North Korea but in all of the world," Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said during a visit to Seoul, South Korea, last week.
"As a result of the Iraq war and the accusations of illegal Russian arms deliveries to Baghdad, applications for Russian weapons systems have soared ... over the past month," Ivanov was quoted by Interfax as saying. "Thank you for the free advertisement."
Russia desperately needs to tap new markets to keep the momentum going - and this has led to the talk about how the Iraq war might boost sales.
"[The war] will cause a surge in demand for air-defense systems and radio-electronic warfare," Alexander Nozdrachev, general director of the Russian Conventional Arms Agency, told reporters in Yekaterinburg earlier this month.
He said anti-tank systems and night-vision equipment might prove popular as well.

Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell talk about Syria:
In an appearance at the Foreign Press Center, Powell said Iraq was "a unique case" that required U.S. military action.
He rejected the suggestion that the administration has a list of countries against whom it might also retaliate militarily.
"There is no list, there is no war plan," he said. Powell acknowledged that the administration has informed both Syria and Iran that their actions during the Iraq war were not helpful. He specifically cited reports that Syria has given sanctuary to Iraqis wanted for human rights crimes.
Rice, in a parallel thrust at Damascus, said Syria's support for terrorism and "harboring the remnants of the Iraqi regime" were unacceptable. But she indicated the administration was not contemplating military action.
Rice told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, "The president has made clear every problem in the Middle East cannot be dealt with the same way."

Australia gets a reward for joining the U.S. against Saddam Hussein:
President George W Bush will highlight his bond with Australian Prime Minister John Howard next month, rewarding one of his few allies in the Iraq war with a prized visit to his Texas ranch.
Howard will meet Bush at the dusty Crawford property, dubbed the western White House, on May 2-3 to discuss efforts to rebuild postwar Iraq, the White House said.
Diplomatic efforts to ease the North Korean nuclear crisis, in which Australia has played a major role, are also sure to be high on the agenda, which will take place less than three months after Howard last met Bush in Washington.

Ahmed Chalabi disavows any interest in Iraq's politics:
"I want to take part in the reconstruction of the civilian society," the Iraqi National Congress leader told French daily Le Monde by phone from southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah.
Mr Chalabi said he had been "extremely well-received" in Iraq, where he returned after the fall of Saddam Hussein's government.
But asked if he intended to play a political role there, he said: "Absolutely not. I am not a candidate for any post."

A look at the role of religion in Baghdad:
Mosques have filled up with confiscated loot, popular committees are being organised by clergy to restore civil services and order, and some prayer leaders have taken to patrolling their neighbourhoods, forcing bakeries to feed people. The words of the new order are written on the walls. Hastily painted slogans in black convey a less-than-subtle message: "Stealing is forbidden by God."
Across the city, graffiti has cast away the 28-year-old name of Saddam City in favour of "Sadr City", designated for a leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, who was assassinated by Saddam's government in 1999.
The clergy claim credit for preventing bloodshed that many feared would erupt in the tattered sector of 2 million people, which for decades bore the brunt of repression under Saddam's government. But the rise of the clerics hints at the formidable challenges that might face any new government in Baghdad: Sunni-Shiite disputes, the spectre of warlords seizing and administering territory, and the dangerous jockeying for position with United States forces.

Two apparently impartial overviews of the history and capabilities of Syria's weapons programs, especially its chemical program:

While constrained by limited resources, Syria has shown interest in and taken steps to develop and acquire weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery systems, especially chemical weapons (CW) and ballistic missiles. Damascus has allegedly received direct assistance from Russia (and formerly the Soviet Union), Iran, and North Korea in developing its programs. Syria’s motivation to acquire WMD, and ballistic missiles in particular, appears to be a response to Israel’s superior conventional military capabilities. There are strong indications that Syria is pursuing nuclear weapons.

Syria is considered to have one of the most advanced chemical weapon programs in the Arab world. Mated with its fleet of ‘Scud’ ballistic missiles, Syria’s chemical weapons have become a significant threat to Israel.
Syria’s chemical weapon effort has relied heavily on foreign help. Former CIA Director William Webster testified in 1989 that "West European firms were instrumental in supplying the required precursor chemicals and equipment. Without the provision of these key elements, Damascus would not have been able to produce chemical weapons." In the mid 1980s, the German firm Schott Glasswerke sold corrosion-resistant glass laboratory equipment to a Damascus research institute/production plant. While Schott officials insisted they did not know the purpose of the equipment, U.S. officials believe that it was destined to be used in the production of sarin nerve gas.

A strong statement by India's Foreign Minister:
In yet another sign of growing differences with the United States, Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said on Sunday that Washington's refusal to see similarities between the situation in Iraq and Pakistan was unacceptable.
Mr Sinha said: "Pakistan possesses and proliferates weapons of mass destruction. It is also expanding such weapons. It is for this reason that America has banned the Khan Research Laboratory which is at the centre of Pakistan's nuclear programme.
"If the United States thought Iraq had a dictatorship, then Pakistan had no democracy. It is the epicentre and exporter of terrorism," Mr Sinha said.
He declined to comment on a question about a widely-discussed pre-emptive action India could take against Pakistan, saying: "I do not announce actions through the media."

Iran tells Iraq's Ba'ath party leaders they aren't welcome:
Fleeing leaders of Saddam Hussein's regime aren't welcome here, and if they sneak in they'll be tried for war crimes from the 1980-1988 war, state television reported Monday.
"If any Iraqi leader wants to enter Iran legally, we will naturally reject it. But if they come illegally, we will try them for the crimes they have committed against our people," the television quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi as saying.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw rejected fears Monday that Iran was on the target list after Iraq.
"We've been developing better diplomatic relations with Iran," he told the British Broadcasting Corp. radio from Bahrain. "We're grateful to the Iranians for the support and cooperation which they gave during the course of this military conflict."

The Bush adminstration talks of putting pressure on Syria:
"We will examine possible measures of a diplomatic, economic or other nature as we move forward," Secretary of State Colin Powell said in comments indicating greater attention on Syria as the Iraq war comes to an end.
The White House, meanwhile, branded Syria a "terrorist state" and a "rogue nation" and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Syria has conducted a chemical weapons test during the past 15 months.
"They do, indeed, harbor terrorists. Syria is a terrorist state," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

A report from Damascus:
At a Palestinian refugee camp, death notices show the role this country has played in Iraq. Young men who died in battle alongside Iraqis are praised for "fighting against the British, American and Zionist aggression against Iraq."
Anti-American sentiment is high in Syria, and perhaps nowhere more so in settlements such as Damascus' Palestine Camp, one of several for more than 400,000 Palestinian refugees living in Syria.
Syrian officials, wary of U.S. criticism, have not directly answered questions about Arabs crossing the country's border to fight alongside Iraqis. Haitham Kilani, Syria's former ambassador to the United Nations, said Syria shares a long border with Iraq and it was "only natural" for volunteers to cross it.

Donald Rumsfeld talks about Syria:
Rumsfeld said the United States has "intelligence that indicates that some Iraqi people have been allowed into Syria, in some cases to stay and some cases to transit." Rumsfeld did not identify the Iraqis to which he was referring, nor did he say where they traveled after leaving Syria.
"I would say that we have seen chemical weapons tests in Syria over the past 12, 15 months," he said, but did not give any details. "We have intelligence that shows that Syria has allowed Syrians and others to come across the border into Iraq, people armed and people carrying leaflets indicating that they'll be rewarded if they kill Americans and members of the coalition."

Jack Straw talks about Syria:
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw downplayed speculation Monday that Syria was next on the list of US and British targets after the war to topple Saddam and track down his alleged weapons of mass destruction.
"There has been much evidence of considerable cooperation between the Syrian government and the Saddam regime in recent months," Straw told a press conference in Kuwait on the second leg of a Gulf tour.
"It's very important for Syria to appreciate that there is a new reality now that the Saddam regime has gone," Straw said.
Despite the heightened rhetoric, Straw said in Bahrain that Syria was not next on the list for pre-emptive US military treatment, and "that there is no plan for Syria to be on the list."
US officials fear that Syria has been taking in fleeing members of Saddam's regime and has been developing weapons of mass destruction -- principally with the aim of threatening Israel.

Israel and Syria trade accusations:
Seeking broader benefits from the fall of Saddam Hussein, Israel hopes the United States will force Syria to oust Hezbollah guerrillas armed with thousands of rockets from southern Lebanon and boot Palestinian militant groups from Damascus.
In remarks published Monday, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel has "a long list of issues we are thinking of demanding of the Syrians, and it would be best done through the Americans."
Syrian officials have accused Israel of instigating the U.S. pressure, and Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa warned at a news conference Saturday in Damascus that Israel would "pay a price" if Syria were harmed.

Syria and Colin Powell trade accusations:
Syrian officials denied having chemical weapons, saying the United States has yet to prove similar charges against Iraq. They also accused Israel of spreading misinformation about Syria.
"Israel is the only state in the region that has nuclear, chemical and biological weapons," said Syria's deputy U.N. ambassador, Fayssal Mekdad. "We did not give any facilities for Iraqis running away, and this is our position."
"We believe in light of this new environment, they should review their actions and their behavior," said Secretary of State Colin Powell. He added that the United States "will examine possible measures of a diplomatic, economic or other nature as we move forward."

General Tommy Franks talks about Saddam Hussein:
"He'll simply be alive until I can confirm he's dead," General Franks said.
"Of course, of course," he replied when asked if the United States had samples of Saddam's DNA. He did not state how the sample had been obtained.

A short overview of torture in Iraq:
Iraqi courts have been "instruments of repression rather than impartial judicial institutions," said the New York-based Human Rights Watch.
In Nasiriyah on Wednesday, US Marines cleared out a security complex equipped with wooden stocks - contraptions to restrain the head and hands - and a crude electric chair powered by a hand-cranked generator.
Other objects, like a long steel rod, made the Marines' imaginations run wild. They also found photos of badly burned bodies.
In Basra, a putty-coloured compound once run by Iraq's internal security police has become, like other such torture chambers, an unholy shrine for people who survived a stay there, and to those who didn't.
Other visitors included those who made it out alive, telling tales of eyes gouged out, acid baths and agonising, midair suspensions by leather straps - the latter evidenced by the rusty rings stuck in the ceilings.

President Bush speaks about Syria and North Korea:
"The Syrian government needs to cooperate with the United States and our coalition partners and not harbor any Baathists, any military officials, any people who need to be held to account for their tenure," Bush told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House as he returned from Camp David.
Asked whether Syria could face military action if it does not turn over Iraqi leaders, Bush said: "They just need to cooperate."
He said he was heartened by North Korea's possible movement over the weekend toward his demand for multilateral negotiations, rather than direct talks with Washington, about the communist nation's suspected nuclear weapons program.
"That's very good news for the people in the Far East who are concerned about North Korea and their willingness to develop nuclear weapons," Bush said.

The religious struggles in Najaf continue:
Armed men have surrounded the house of a top Shi'ite Muslim cleric in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, giving him 48 hours to leave the country or face attack, aides to the cleric told Reuters on Sunday.
The siege of the home of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, a sign of religious strife at the heart of Iraq's majority community, boded ill for national unity after the U.S.-led war to topple Saddam Hussein and set alarm bells ringing across the region.
The city offers enormous financial, political and religious clout to whoever controls it as it emerges from a long isolation imposed by Iraq's secular but Sunni-controlled Baath party.
Charitable donations to the mosque already run into the millions of dollars and a visitor last week saw knee-high piles of money around Ali's tomb.