US detains Baghdad 'mayor,' catches General

9.00am

BAGHDAD - US forces seeking to restore order to a shattered Iraq have arrested the self-appointed mayor of Baghdad for trying to run the city without their authority and have whisked him out of the Iraqi capital.

Mohammed Mohsen Zubaidi, a former exile who declared himself mayor 10 days ago, was "removed" from Baghdad for obstructing efforts to get Iraqis back to work after the war that ousted Saddam Hussein, a US military statement said.

The military also reported it had detained General Husam Muhammad Amin, a key figure in negotiations with the UN inspectors who hunted banned Iraqi weapons before the war.

Amin, number 49 on a US list of 55 most-wanted members of Saddam's entourage, is the 13th known to be in custody. A US military source said he was caught west of Baghdad on Saturday but declined to reveal who captured him.

In a sign of the resentment facing US troops in some quarters, a gunman ambushed two Humvee vehicles stopped in traffic in Baghdad and wounded four soldiers, one seriously. There was no immediate indication of the attacker's identity.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in the Gulf to thank allies for their help in the war and to discuss possible changes to US military arrangements in the region to take account of Saddam's removal.

Washington is studying possible changes in its costly military presence in the Middle East, with the removal of Saddam being a potential opportunity to reduce US troop numbers in the politically sensitive region.

In Baghdad, retired American general Jay Garner, charged with rebuilding Iraq, promised Iraqis in a radio broadcast he would help reconstruct the country and forge an honest government.

A senior aide said Garner would meet 300-400 of Iraq's leading political, religious and ethnic figures in Baghdad on Monday to identify potential leaders and discuss forming a new government.

Barbara Bodine, Garner's coordinator for central Iraq, said pro-American Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress umbrella group, had been invited. So had the country's main Shi'ite Muslim group, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan al-Muasher in an interview on NBC's Meet the Press condemned Chalabi as divisive figure.

He said Chalabi, who returned to Baghdad after the war with the backing of the Pentagon after decades in exile, would not be the choice of the Iraqi people to head a post-Saddam government.

A spokesman for SCIRI, which is based in Tehran, said the group would probably attend the meeting on condition Washington allowed Iraqis to choose their own interim government.

The participation of SCIRI would be a boost for US officials hoping to make Monday's meeting a broad gathering of religious, ethnic and political forces.

Jordan's King Abdullah urged Washington to expedite the formation of a new government to avert possible fragmentation of the war-torn country.

"I would have thought they (U.S.) should have moved faster ... The vacuum that is there at the moment is not helping the situation on the ground," the king told CNN in an interview.

America is wrestling to restore war-damaged services across Iraq and improve its relationship with a population, often resentful, over the continuing US role in the country.

Bodine met two Saddam-era Baghdad deputy mayors on Sunday to try to get repair work going. An aide said they discussed restoring water, sewage and waste collection services, severely damaged by US bombing.

The US military statement said Zubaidi had been detained because of "subversive" activities that included telling people they could not return to work without his approval.

"(His) efforts to take political and personal advantage during this transitional period...made it necessary for coalition forces to act decisively against him," it said.

Zubaidi's Local Council of Baghdad issued a statement accusing US forces of detaining him because he had awarded pay increases to city employees.

"We demand (his) immediate release," it said.

In his broadcast, Garner tried to reassure Iraqis they would determine their own political destiny. "I will be here for just a short time. Just to help get things going. This is your country and it's your future," he said.

A US television network reported that initial tests on a 55-gallon (200-litre) barrel of chemicals found by US forces in northern Iraq had detected nerve and blistering agents.

Quoting Pentagon officials, ABC News said special forces had found 14 unmarked barrels, at least a dozen missiles and 150 gas masks at a site 112 miles northwest of Baghdad.

The United States said destroying Iraq's alleged chemical arms and other weapons of mass destruction was a main goal when it invaded Iraq last month. Iraq denied having such weapons.

The war began after President Bush lost patience with the UN process and said Saddam was duping the world.

Thousands of Iraqis have taken to the streets since US troops seized Baghdad 18 days ago, demanding the Americans leave the country to be run by its people.

Rumsfeld, on a week-long tour that will include a visit to Afghanistan where US troops are still involved in sporadic skirmishes, was due to spend Sunday night in Qatar, US command headquarters during the war. A defense official, citing security concerns, would not say whether he would visit Iraq.

Rumsfeld has denied that Washington plans to establish long-term military bases in postwar Iraq.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq