The U.S. military said it captured a rebel leader and 78 other Iraqis on Tuesday in an operation north of Baghdad as anti-U.S. attacks and demonstrations persisted in the wake of Saddam Hussein’s capture.
In a battle late Monday near Samarra, attackers ambushed a U.S. patrol with a roadside bomb, automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. No U.S. soldiers were hurt, but 11 attackers were killed, military officials said.
The clash in Samarra was one of several in the so-called Sunni Triangle. Two pro-Hussein protesters were killed Tuesday in Ramadi, three U.S. soldiers were wounded by a bomb in Tikrit and a mob stormed the mayor’s office in Fallujah.
With Hussein under American interrogation at an undisclosed site, debates raged Tuesday over what fate should befall the deposed dictator.
President Bush said he favors the death penalty for Hussein.
“He is a torturer, a murderer, and they had rape rooms, and this is a disgusting tyrant who deserves justice, the ultimate justice,” Bush said in an ABC interview. “But that will be decided not by the president of the United States, but by the citizens of Iraq in one form or another.”
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he would not support the death penalty.
Dara Nooraldin, a judge who took part in the establishment of a war crimes tribunal that was announced only days before Hussein’s capture, told the Arab satellite news station Al-Arabiya that Hussein’s “punishment would match the crimes.” Several members of the Iraqi Governing Council have predicted that Hussein would face a death sentence if convicted of numerous crimes by a tribunal.
The focus for many Iraqis is how quickly he can be brought before a tribunal, and how the proceeding will be conducted. Most Iraqi leaders are determined to see Hussein tried in Iraq by an Iraqi court for crimes against Iraqis.
People in Iran and Kuwait, two countries invaded by Hussein’s armies, called for an international tribunal to hold him accountable for the military actions. But some Iraqi leaders voiced opposition to any transfer of control from Iraqi hands.
“This court will deal will all internal and external crimes, but it must be an Iraqi court, an Iraqi trial and an Iraqi judge,” said Governing Council member Naseer Chadirji, a Sunni businessman. “If they have demands, Iran and Kuwait can come here and present evidence and witnesses against Hussein just like anyone. We mustn’t move Hussein.”
The Governing Council announced Tuesday that it would set up an office to receive complaints from Iraqis about crimes linked to Hussein’s rule.
General predicts progress
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, predicted during a Tuesday visit to Iraq that Hussein’s capture would weaken the resistance, but he added that U.S. forces’ stay in Iraq might last an additional year or more.
“I’m not saying we’re staying here for two years,” Myers said. “Nobody can say right now.”
Events Tuesday supported two predictions by U.S. officials during the weekend–that Hussein’s capture might offer some dividends and that it was unlikely to quell the resistance in the short term.
Brig. Gen. Martin Dempsey, commander of the 1st Armored Division, told CNN that information gained in the arrest of Hussein had led to the capture of “some high-level former Baath leaders … we consider to be the network that was providing the financial support for the [insurgent] cell structure in Baghdad.”
In the raid Tuesday against rebel forces in the village of Abu Safa, one of the 79 suspected guerrillas seized was Qais Hattam, who was described by military officials as a key figure in the resistance.
On Wednesday, the 4th Infantry Division said it had launched a new series of raids in Samarra along with Iraqi security forces. The military said the sweep was requested by local leaders and would “target, isolate and eliminate former regime elements and other anti-coalition cells.”
Despite efforts to nip the resistance, unrest flared in strongholds of loyalty to Hussein.
In Tikrit, the deposed dictator’s hometown, three U.S. soldiers were hurt when a roadside bomb hit their patrol vehicle, and police broke up a pro-Hussein rally by female students.
2 killed in protests
A soldier was hurt in Ramadi amid a pro-Hussein demonstration by several hundred people outside government offices there, military officials said. Two demonstrators were killed and another was injured.
In another attack, armed protesters forced their way inside the mayor’s office in Fallujah as newly trained Iraqi police “withdrew to their police station,” military officials said.
Called by the police, U.S. troops drove the demonstrators away, according to a spokesman for the 82nd Airborne Division.
On Baghdad’s routinely patrolled streets, away from the violent clashes, residents complained about waiting hours in line for gasoline, and some began to weigh the impact of Hussein’s capture on their future.
At a busy currency exchange, where one worker sat with a gun bulging from his belt, Ali Atayy was hopeful. Before Hussein’s capture, the Iraqi currency was trading at 1,800 dinars to the U.S. dollar. But the rate, he said, had dropped to 1,700.
“It’s going down because of increased security, and because people think more important things will happen now,” said Atayy, whose business was robbed two months ago. “All of this violence will slow down because with Hussein captured, people will give up.”
But newsstand operator Fahmi Wadih was absolutely glum about the future.
“Nothing has changed,” he said with a scowl as he waited for customers to come by. “Saddam was finished the day the war began.”
