| Iraqi authorities released without charge the nearly two dozen security officials who had been accused this week of conspiring to revive Saddam Hussein's banned political party, the interior minister said. Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told The Associated Press that an investigating judge ordered the officials released "because they are innocent" and that there was no evidence that they attempted to restore the Baath party, whose exiled leaders staunchly oppose the current government. He said 19 were freed from custody and that charges were to be dismissed against the remaining four who were not in custody. Earlier in the day, al-Bolani told reporters that the charges were politically motivated by those trying to undermine the interior ministry. |