Saddam's Top Adviser Surrenders, First Opposition Leader Returns

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, April 13, 2003

Saddam's Top Adviser Surrenders, First Opposition Leader Returns

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A top aide to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein surrendered to coalition forces on Saturday while some Iraqi opposition leaders seemed poised to seek their role in an interim Iraqi government and in the larger play of rebuilding the country.

General Amir al-Saadi, top scientific adviser to Saddam, surrendered to US forces in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, marking thefirst known surrender by top Iraqi officials since the US-led invasion of Iraq began on March 20. Al-Saadi has been put on the US list of 55 most-wanted Iraqi officials.

The news of al-Saadi's surrender was broadcast by the German ZDF public television, which said it had filmed the incident. The station added that its camera crew had accompanied al-Saadi at hisrequest.

Saadi reportedly said he had decided to surrender because he felt "in no way guilty." He also said that he had no information on the whereabouts of Saddam, while reiterating his denial of the existence of chemical or biological weapons.

While the Iraqi leadership vaporized in the country and coalition forces are taking increasing control of Iraqi territory,voices of the Iraqi opposition, long muffled, are now sounding louder.

The United States announced late Friday that members of the Iraqi opposition inside and outside Iraq will meet with a US delegation in Nasiriyah on Tuesday.

A US State Department spokesman said the meeting to be chaired by Khalilzad would focus on the future of Iraq and formation of aninterim government in Iraq.

The opposition Supreme Assembly of Islamic Revolution in Iraq, based in Iran, has expressed its readiness to attend a summit of the Iraqi opposition in the northern Iraqi city of Nasiriya, the official Iranian News Agency reported.

An official of the opposition party said his group may take part in the meeting, scheduled for April 15, if it is aimed to mapout plans to uphold the Iraqi people's interests.

The official said, however, the decision on whether to attend the summit will be made after the objectives and programs of the summit as well as the names of the participants are announced.

And the first opposition leader to return home from exile to Iraq arrived in the northern town of Mosul on Friday, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.

Wafik Samarai, former chief of Iraq's intelligence service, hasmet with leaders of Arab tribes and clans in the city.

On the coalition side, the US Central Command said on Saturday additional US troops have arrived in Baghdad to focus on restoringlaw and order in the Iraqi capital.

US officials said more than 1,000 police and judicial officers will be deployed in Iraq to help restore law and order.

The coalition forces have not yet imposed a curfew in Baghdad but are working with local religious leaders, who will decide whatbehavior will be acceptable in their communities, to improve security in Baghdad and elsewhere, where widespread looting and anarchy are continuing, Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told a press conference in Doha, Qatar.

Throughout Iraq, US troops continued to eliminate military threats from what was left of the Iraqi military.

In Baghdad, US Marines found suicide bomb vests laden with explosives in an elementary school. Hundreds of crates of grenade launchers, missiles and ammunition were discovered in the classrooms of a high school.

In western Iraq, US forces seized a bus carrying 59 men who hadlarge sums of US dollars and a letter offering rewards for killingUS soldiers.

The men were arrested on their way to Iraq's border with Syria,but the men's nationalities and the author of the letter are not known yet, the US Central Command said.

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