Saddam-era figures freed in Iraq

[cal04]

A number of former officials in Saddam Hussein's government have been released from detention by US forces in Iraq.
The military has not named any of the detainees, some of whom have already left the country, legal officials said.
"Many were originally held as suspects in possible war crimes and as material witnesses," said a US army spokesman. Reports have been circulating about a pre-election deal to free former regime figures as part to appease Iraq's Sunni Arabs, correspondents say.

There is no official confirmation of the number of detainees release, but reports range from eight to 26.
"They no longer were deemed to have information in this regard," said spokesman Lt Col Barry Johnson.
"They were released as part of an ongoing process for many months in full consultation with the Iraqi government," he added.

A legal official quoted by Associated Press said they included Dr Rihab Rashid Taha and Dr Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, who worked on the former regime's banned biological weapons programmes. Al-Arabiya satellite TV channel said two former ministers and an aide to Saddam Hussein's late son Uday were also reported to be leaving Iraq for Jordan.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4542084.stm

[hwmnbn]

1. You mean some of these folks....

were on that infamous deck of cards that was circulated world-wide? The 52 worst persons in the world? The ones that committed some of the most horrendous crimes against humanity? The ones that posed an imminent threat to the U.S.? The ones we went to war against?

Those people we are letting go? But..but...but, then why did we go to war in the first place! Damn, I'm confused.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Zarqarwi needed company?

How come they always let the bad guys go and then fill their prisons with 1000's of innocent people instead?

[rainbow4321]

3. 'Dr. Germ' among detainees released in Iraq (and Mrs Anthrax)

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/stories/122005dnintiraqrdp.24b5abae.html


About 24 top former officials in Saddam Hussein's regime, including a biological weapons expert known as "Dr. Germ," have been released from jail, while a militant group released a video Monday of what it said was the killing of an American hostage.

An Iraqi lawyer said the 24 or 25 officials from Saddam's government were released from jail without charges, and some have already left the country.

"The release was an American-Iraqi decision and in line with an Iraqi government ruling made in December 2004, but hasn't been enforced until after the elections in an attempt to ease the political pressure in Iraq," said the lawyer, Badee Izzat Aref.

Among them were Rihab Taha, a British-educated biological weapons expert, who was known as "Dr. Germ" for her role in making bio-weapons in the 1980s, and Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, known as "Mrs. Anthrax," a former top Baath Party official and biotech researcher, Aref said.

[daleo]

14. "Dr. Germ" and "Mrs. Anthrax" should sue for defamation of character

Since they were released without charges, they might want to sue Bush, Rummy, CNN, Fox, etc. for libel.

[bemildred]

4. You gotta wonder if there is something more to this.

Like maybe some negotiations with the Sunni resistance or something.

[Barrett808]

9. Yes, this is the obvious result of negotiations with the insurgency

Otherwise known as "negotiating with terrorists." Probably the payoff for keeping things relatively quiet on election day.

[Barrett808]

10. Now you have to wonder if the CPT hostages will be released.

And hope.

[TankLV]

28. Somebody on MY side of the computer is wondering if maybe - just maybe

these persons had some not so wonderful information on bunkerboy and halliburton?

Hmmmmmmmm?

Just curious minds want to know.

[deminks]

5. What? These were not the people rendered? Rendered Extraordinarily?

I thought it was the really, really, really bad people who were whisked off to the secrect prisons. This was the justification for the rendition. I am stunned. :sarcasm:

[jseankil]

6. Dr. Germ? Mrs. Anthrax? Is this a fk'in James Bond Movie?

Why give them scary names and then release them?

[dutchdemocrat]

7. unreal

:rofl:

[TankLV]

29. "GOLD FINGER" da da da da da....."

Cue the nude bimbos swimming in a red sea sporting a nifty handgun.

[onenote]

8. but but but ... only weak-kneed liberals would negotiate with terrorists

or at least that's what the repubs always say. Situational ethics anyone?

onenote

[Javaman]

11. Oh great, what am I supposed to do with my Iraqi playing cards now????

[Up2Late]

12. US military releases former Saddam era officials (AFP)

(Looks like they might be trying to slip this one past us today. So is Huda Saleh Mahdi Amash "Mrs Anthrax" or "Dr Germ"?)

US military releases former Saddam era officials

19/12/2005 17h47

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The US military has released dozens of high-level detainees from the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein, including two female weapons scientists nicknamed "Mrs Anthrax" and "Dr Germ", it was revealed.

Meanwhile, thousands of angry Iraqis took to the streets to protest government-imposed gasoline (petrol) price increases and the oil minister threatened to resign if the measure was not reversed. The public outcry follows price hikes of 300 percent introduced nationwide on Sunday, just three days after general elections for a new four-year term parliament.

The electoral commission, citing initial partial results, said that in Baghdad, the most populous of Iraq's 18 provinces, the Shiite-backed United Iraqi Alliance, currently in power, has won some 58 percent of the vote. The Sunni-backed National Concord Front came second with 18.6 percent of the vote and the Iraqi National List led by former prime minister Iyad Allawi, a secular Shiite, third with 13.5 percent....

(clip)

...Meanwhile, US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson said eight former high-value detainees, whom he declined to name, had been released. "Many were originally held as suspects in possible war crimes and as material witnesses" in cases against the regime, he said. "They no longer were deemed to have information in this regard," he said, adding that they were released Saturday.

<http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/051219174736.ciozfkr1.html>
(more at link above)

[maddezmom]

13. duplicate topic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1995590

[OKNancy]

15. kick

:kick:

[DrZeeLit]

16. Didn't Saddam used to free prisoners before an election? How quaint to

continue the tradition.

Soooo let's tally this: rape rooms, check; mass graves, check; torture, check; imprisonment w/o trial or charges, check, check.
Oh, and release bad guys before elections to show "good will," check!

Yep... things have changed for the better in Iraq.

[Judi Lynn]

17. Saddam's scientists freed as US house of cards starts to tumble

The Times December 20, 2005

Saddam's scientists freed as US house of cards starts to tumble
From Stephen Farrell in Baghdad

THE British-educated Iraqi microbiologist known as “Dr Germ” is among two dozen senior Baathist prisoners who have been freed after more than two-and-a-half years in US detention, it was disclosed yesterday.
Although those holding the British hostage Norman Kember and three other peace activists have demanded prisoner releases, coalition officials insisted that the decision to free Rihab Taha (“Dr Germ”) and the other detainees had nothing to do with the abductions.
(snip)

Huda Ammash, the US-trained scientist nicknamed “Chemical Sally” or “Mrs Anthrax”, is also among those to have been released. Both women were high-ranking members of Saddam Hussein’s party and had been accused of being central figures in his biological weapons programme.
(snip)

Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Johnson, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said: “They were released as part of an ongoing process for many months in full consultation with the Iraqi Government.” They were no longer seen as a security threat. “Many had been held as suspects in possible war crimes and as material witnesses” in cases against the regime, but they “no longer were deemed to have information in this regard”.
(snip/...)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1943882,00.html



Dr. Duhbya

[orwell]

18. Making the World Safer...

...one weapons scientist at a time.

I hear Fort Dietrick is hiring...

[LostinVA]

19. And on the backs of our dead men and women

Thanks, you son-of-a-bitch *.

[orwell]

20. And...

...more than a few Iraqi civilians.

I still can't get the image of the dead two year old girl from my mind. She looked like a lifeless doll in her father's anguished arms. What the hell was she guilty of? Being brown?

Plenty of blood for the Neocons to bathe in.

It's a human tragedy.

[madrchsod]

21. they are working for the

the usa now...well they worked for us before..

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

22. Mrs. Anthrax, with Dr. Germ in the Chemical Sally.

[Miss Chybil]

23. Who makes up these names? Is there a book on how to demonize your enemy,

or something?

[saigon68]

26. Yes demonize your enemy

The military has a phrase


"Kill all the (insert acial epithet here)"

[mike_c]

24. in other words, had they testified, they would have said...

...that Iraq was telling the truth about it's bio-WMD programs-- they were discontinued in 1991 or so.

[TankLV]

27. Oppsie! I think SOMEBODY is a tad pissed!

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

[rodeodance]

25. US freeing Saddam's 'Dr. Germ' and 'Mrs. Anthrax'

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051219/ts_nm/iraq_dc;_ylt=AiG4nbSt6UAUQ5_soIN2RnWs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-
US freeing Saddam's 'Dr. Germ' and 'Mrs. Anthrax'

By Gideon Long and Alastair Macdonald Mon Dec 19, 5:43 PM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces in
Iraq are freeing "Dr Germ and "Mrs. Anthrax," two of
Saddam Hussein's leading biological warfare experts, following the failure to find weapons of mass destruction, lawyers said on Monday.

Partial results from last week's parliamentary elections suggested that Shi'ite Islamists would hold on to their dominant position in Iraqi politics. And bomb attacks in three cities signaled an end to a lull in violence during the vote.

The two weapons experts, British-trained microbiologist Rihab Taha and U.S.-educated genetic engineer Huda Ammash, were captured by U.S. forces in May 2003 after Saddam was ousted.

The women admitted working on Saddam's biological and germ warfare projects but said such weapons were destroyed long before the U.S. invasion.