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| Thursday, 17 April 2003 |
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US hunts for Saddam loyalists BAGHDAD, Wednesday (Reuters) The United States trumpeted the capture of veteran Palestinian guerrilla leader Abu Abbas in Baghdad and accused Syria of harbouring a former spy chief in Iraq's ousted leadership. But pressure mounted on U.S.-led forces on Wednesday to find Saddam Hussein and the weapons of mass destruction Washington and London used as justification for the war that toppled the man who ruled Iraq with an iron fist for more than two decades. Saddam and his sons, Uday and Qusay, have disappeared, as have most of his aides. Only two out of 55 officials on a U.S. "most wanted" list have so far been caught. And with much of the country still in desperate need of electricity, water and medical treatment, aid agencies say they are being hampered by sporadic fighting and looting. Ordinary Iraqis appear increasingly frustrated. "Our victory in Iraq is certain but it is not complete," U.S. President George W. Bush said in Washington. Talks between British and American officials and leaders of Iraq's political and religious factions ended on Tuesday in a consensus to build a federal democracy and to meet again in 10 days' time. About 80 Iraqis at the meeting near the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur agreed on a 13-point statement that also advocated outlawing Saddam's Baath Party. But the meeting was boycotted by a major Iran-based Shi'ite Muslim group and prompted anti-American protests in the city of Nassiriya nearby, highlighting the ethnic, political and religious divides in the country. On the diplomatic front, European leaders meet on Wednesday for the first time since the Iraq war, with all eyes on British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac to see if they have buried the hatchet over the conflict. On Tuesday, Chirac and Bush broke a two-month silence between them over France's efforts at the United Nations to head off the U.S.-led war. At the United Nations, members of the Security Council said chief weapons inspector Hans Blix would brief it next week at the urging of diplomats eager to send his experts back to postwar Iraq to verify its disarmament. |
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