BAGHDAD, 19 April 2005 — The largest political bloc in Iraq’s new government demanded yesterday the execution of Saddam Hussein if the ousted Iraqi leader is convicted of war crimes, saying President Jalal Talabani should step down if he is not prepared to sign the death warrant.
“This is something that cannot be discussed at all,” said Ali Al-Dabagh, a spokesman for the clergy-led United Iraqi Alliance, which holds 140 seats in Iraq’s 275-member National Assembly.
“We feel he is a criminal. He is the No. 1 criminal in the world. He is a murderer.” Talabani, a former Kurdish rebel leader, told the British Broadcasting Corp. yesterday that signing a death warrant for Saddam would be contrary to his beliefs as a human rights advocate and opponent of capital punishment.
“I personally signed a call for ending execution throughout the world, and I’m respecting my signature,” Talabani told the BBC. Talabani conceded, however, that he was probably alone in the government to hold this view.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Iraqi security forces launched a major operation yesterday to root out militant Sunni insurgents at the tip of Iraq’s “Triangle of Death” after reports that up to 100 Shiite hostages may have been seized.
No captives were found as the Iraqi forces fanned through the dusty streets of Madaen and took positions on rooftops in the town south of Baghdad, and Sunni leaders dismissed the reports of a hostage crisis as a hoax. But the US military, whose forces only stood by in case they were needed, called the operation a significant step forward in the training of Iraqi forces, which is key to America’s exit strategy in the 2-year-old war.
“The city is now under full control,” interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s office said, adding that 10 suspected insurgents were arrested and large amounts of weapons seized. An Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Iraqi forces would remain in the Madaen area and move to other towns if needed.
Madaen is an agricultural town of about 1,000 families, evenly divided between Shiites and Sunnis, that is located at the northern edge of a region considered to be a stronghold of the Sunni militant insurgency. But when an AP photographer joined hundreds of police entering the town in vehicles and on foot yesterday, they met no resistance and found no hostages.
Insurgents struck back late yesterday, ambushing the head of Iraqi security forces in Madaen as he drove back to Baghdad. Maj. Gen. Adnan Thabit and his son, Aladin, were killed in the attack near their home in a southern neighborhood of the capital, Defense and Interior Ministry officials said.
— With input from agencies
