Iraq officials mistaken on capture of fugitive (Ibrahim al-Douri)

[Robbien]

BY T. CHRISTIAN MILLER

Los Angeles Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi officials thought they had the king of clubs.

On Sunday morning, the Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman announced the capture of one of Iraq's most wanted men, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a trusted confidant of Saddam Hussein and the highest-ranking regime official to remain free.

In detail, the spokesman told a U.S.-funded television station here how U.S. and Iraqi forces had stormed a medical clinic in the northern city of Tikrit where the feeble al-Douri was receiving treatment for leukemia. By midafternoon, officials from no less than four Iraqi ministries -- including two ministers and a ranking officer from the Iraqi National Guard -- had all but confirmed al-Douri's capture after hunting him for months. They were only awaiting the results of a DNA test that one said was "60 percent" done.

But by nightfall, it appeared they had come up empty-handed.

U.S. officials avoided an outright denial. No, they said, the U.S. military had not conducted operations in Tikrit on Sunday. And no, al-Douri was not being held in any U.S. facilities. U.S. officials simply said they were awaiting more information from the Iraqis.

By nightfall, U.S. officials were suggesting that perhaps there had been some other operation somewhere in Iraq where Iraqi security forces had captured somebody that might look a bit like the red-mustached, bald-headed al-Douri, an uneducated former ice seller.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/news/nation/9591620.htm

[Moderator]

1. Dupe... locking

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