Interim official arrives in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Glimmers of a new Iraq were evident Monday, as the American charged with rebuilding a ravaged country came to Baghdad, and Muslim multitudes converged on holy cities for a ritual long suppressed by Saddam Hussein's regime.

But the work of rooting out the old Iraq went on. Military officials announced the arrest of a key figure in the bloody suppression of the Shiite Muslim uprising of 1991 -- Muhammad Hamza al-Zubaydi, the "Shiite Thug" they promised to try on charges of war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Efforts to bring electricity to Baghdad progressed. Iraqi engineers started a turbine at the city's biggest power plant, and a few lights flickered in the capital for the first time since April 3. It was expected that Baghdad would have 90 percent of its prewar power in a day or two.

This, said retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, was his top priority as Iraq's postwar administrator -- to restore power and water "as soon as we can."

'I don't rule anything'

Garner's arrival in Baghdad was itself a historic moment. For now, a retired American general has taken charge of an Arab country, as Douglas MacArthur did in Japan after World War II and MacArthur's father did in the Philippines after the Spanish-American War.

Garner, though, said he has no intention of leading Iraq. "The new ruler of Iraq is going to be an Iraqi. I don't rule anything," he said.

He was careful to frame his mission in humanitarian terms: "What better day in your life can you have," he said, "than to be able to help somebody else, to help other people, and that is what we intend to do."

After his arrival, he visited Baghdad's 1,000-bed Yarmuk hospital, which was overwhelmed with Iraqi casualties in the final days of the war and then stripped by looters.

"We will help you, but it is going to take time," he told doctors.

His Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Aid is to coordinate emergency aid to the 24 million Iraqis and oversee the rebuilding of the nation's infrastructure and establishment of an interim Iraqi government.

Garner brought about 20 aides from a staff that is expected to grow to more than 450 in the next week. He emphasized that his aim is to turn over Iraq to the Iraqis, though he refused to say when. "We will leave fairly rapidly," he said.

'What liberation?'

That isn't soon enough for some Iraqis.

It is "a complete humiliation," said Naema Hamed, a nurse at the hospital. "They said they came as liberators, what liberation? This is an occupation."

Some were more equivocal. "The Americans and British liberated Iraq, and we're grateful for that," said Fadhil al-Amiri, 61, leader of a small Shiite clan. "If this American general stays for six months or a year, fine -- but not forever."

Clearly, Garner's stay will not be placid. On Monday, thousands of Shiite Muslims marched in the heart of the city in angry protest of the reported arrest of a senior cleric by the U.S. military.

They massed outside the Palestine Hotel, which has housed some U.S. military offices, to demand the release of Sheik Mohammed al-Fartusi, along with other Shiite clerics. The U.S. Central Command had no comment on the reported arrest.

Thousands of other Shiites marched, but in piety, not protest. Their destinations were Najaf -- burial shrine of Imam Ali, son-in-law of Islam's Prophet Muhammad and regarded by Shiites as his successor -- and Karbala, where Hussein, Muhammad's grandson, was martyred in the 7th century.

Authorities provided no details about the arrest of al-Zubaydi, a former member of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council and central Euphrates regional commander, who was No. 18 on a list of the 55 most-wanted figures from Saddam's regime.

But officials of the opposition Iraqi National Congress said their forces had captured al-Zubaydi -- queen of spades on the deck of playing cards distributed to U.S. forces -- about 60 miles south of Baghdad.

Infamous for bloody attacks on his own Shiite people, al-Zubaydi was one of nine members of Saddam's regime that the Bush administration has said it wants to try for war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Ahmad Chalabi, who heads the congress, told British Broadcasting Corp. radio that his group believes Saddam and his sons are alive and still in Iraq, and the group is tracking their movements.

Key developments in Iraq

Muhammad Hamza al-Zubaydi, known as Saddam Hussein's "Shiite Thug" for his role in Iraq's bloody suppression of the Shiite Muslim uprising of 1991, was arrested, the U.S. Central Command said. He is No. 18 on Washington's list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis and the queen of spades in the military's deck of 52 cards.

U.S. weapons experts in Iraq have discovered ingredients and equipment that can be used to make a chemical weapon, U.S. military officials confirmed.

Washington is sending more than 1,000 experts specializing in weapons, intelligence and computers to join the search in Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, analyzing documents, interrogating prisoners and scouring suspicious sites.

The head of the Iraqi National Congress said Saddam Hussein remains in Iraq. Ahmad Chalabi told the BBC that his group was tracking Saddam, but with a delay of at least half a day on his latest position.

The Pentagon has no interest in keeping U.S. military forces in Iraq longer than it takes to stabilize the country, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said, denying a news report that the United States was planning a long-term military relationship with Iraq.

Retired U.S. General Jay Garner, who is overseeing Iraq's reconstruction, arrived in Baghdad from Kuwait. Garner said his priority was to restore basic services as water and electricity.

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa said his country wants dialogue and not heated exchanges with the United States. Al-Sharaa also said Syria has sealed its border with Iraq and that anyone crossing into the country would require a visa.

The U.S. Army controlled Baghdad after days of looting and arson. Coalition-run radio announced an 11 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew, and a power plant in northeast Baghdad began supplying an oil refinery and a nearby district.