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| Iraq |
| Former Iraqi Spy Chief Taken Into Custody |
| 2003-04-25 |
| EFL Farouk Hijazi, an Iraqi diplomat who once helped run Saddam Hussein's intelligence service, has been captured by U.S. forces, American officials said Friday. The announcement came a day after the surrender of Saddam loyalist Tariq Aziz, for many years the most public face of the regime. Hijazi, who most recently served as Iraq's ambassador to Tunisia, was once a senior official in the Mukhabarat, Saddam's intelligence service. In December 1998, while ambassador to Turkey, Hijazi traveled to Afghanistan and reportedly met with Osama bin Laden, according to U.S officials who cite the meeting as Iraqi link to al-Qaida. Iraqi officials denied Hijazi met with bin Laden. Aziz was undergoing questioning Friday, a day after surrendering to U.S. forces. U.S. officials hope both Aziz and Hijazi may have information about the fate of Saddam and the status of any illegal weapons programs. Another one in the bag. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 Coalition officials thought last week that Hijazi might have escaped to Syria, a charge Damascus vehemently denied. But Pentagon officials confirmed to Fox News that he was seized on the Iraqi border coming out of Syria. Coming out of Syria? He forget something or was he "asked" to leave? |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-04-25 12:00:23 |
| #2 According to his BBC profile, Taha Yassin Ramadan also may have met with Ayman al-Zawahiri at one point as well. Hijazi would definitely be the man to know in either case. |
| Posted by: Dan Darling 2003-04-25 09:52:46 |
| #1 Looks like we'll find out for sure now if he met with UBL. I can see that soon I will be giddy with happiness over the fact that the left will soon be publicly proven wrong about Iraq. Then they'll move more towards the "They didn't have any of the weapons Bush said they had" argument. The U.S. has to find those too. Then I'll be absolutely retarded with Ululation. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2003-04-25 09:38:13 |