Iraq security service vets tapped to help U.S. forces

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi sources on Sunday said U.S. authorities were recruiting key ex-members of Saddam Hussein's feared security service, working to expand intelligence gathering and root out the resistance that has peppered U.S. forces with guerrilla attacks and now resorted to terror bombings.

The Iraqis, closely linked to the Mukhabarat service, spoke only on condition of anonymity. They said the U.S. recruitment of about 100 former intelligence higher-ups had been in progress for more than two weeks.

The Iraqis said the former agents of the secret police and intelligence operation would work with Americans inside Saddam's old presidential palace where the U.S.-led coalition has its headquarters.

"It was obvious they would have to turn to the Mukha-barat. They knew everything in this country," one of the Iraqis said.

Americans "couldn't hope to pacify such a big country as Iraq without the Mukhabarat. And the Mukhabarat men, they need money now," said a second Iraqi who worked closely with the deposed regime's intelligence operation.

L. Paul Bremer, the civilian chief of the American occupation in Iraq, acknowledged the need for better information.

"It's not a question of more troops. It's a question of being effective with our intelligence, getting more Iraqis to help us," Bremer said.

On CNN he said: "We need better intelligence, and we are seeking better intelligence."

No stone unturned

Coalition spokesman Charles Heatly, responding to questions about the recruitment of former Saddam intelligence officers, said U.S. military intelligence and civilian authorities were "not leaving any stone unturned to uncover the people who are conducting attacks against the Iraqi people and the coalition forces."

One Iraqi source told the AP: "Saddam had some really good agents in Tehran (Iran) and Damascus (Syria). They should be good for the Americans."

Gen. Richard Myers, the top U.S. military officer, told CBS he was unaware of any recruitment of former Iraqi intelligence agents.

However, he added: "The United States will not use former members of these organizations that were part of the torture, the death, the degraded treatment of the Iraqi people under the Saddam regime."

"That does not mean we do not want the Iraqi people to help. And it just has to be the right kind of Iraqi people helping," he told the TV network.

In the Najaf bombing, a gas cylinder wired to explode was placed along the outside wall of the home of Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim. It blew up just after noon prayers.

The cleric suffered scratches on his neck, according to Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, a member of Iraq's U.S.-picked Governing Council and leader of what was the armed wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, headquartered in Iran before the war.

The two men are part of an influential family in the Shiite community. Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim is the brother of Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the leader of SCIRI now believed to divide his time between Najaf and the Iranian capital.

"Obviously terrorist groups who belong to the former regime are behind this incident," Abdel-Aziz Hakim told The Associated Press. He said Najaf residents rushed to the ayatollah's house after the explosion, which shattered windows and damaged a wall.

Iraqi newspapers had reported last week that Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim had received threats against his life. He is also one of three top Shiite leaders threatened with death by a rival Shiite cleric shortly after Saddam Hussein was toppled on April 9.

A day after Saddam's ouster, a mob in Najaf hacked to death a Shiite cleric who had recently returned from exile. Abdul Majid al-Khoei was killed when a meeting called to reconcile rival Shiite groups erupted into a melee at the Shrine of Ali, the third most important Shiite religious site after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

Shiites make up some 60 percent of Iraq's 24 million population.

Mohammed Saeed Al-Hakim, in his late 60s, holds the highest theological title in Shiite Islam -- Ayatollah al-Uzma, which means Grand or Supreme Ayatollah. He was detained by Iraqi authorities in the 1980s because of his opposition to and criticism of Saddam.

Before the beginning of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March, most Shiite religious leaders in Najaf, including al-Hakim, were put under house arrest. Shortly after the collapse of Saddam's regime, al-Hakim's office went back to work, dispensing religious advice to residents.

He has many followers among the world's 100 million Shiite Muslims and representatives and offices in countries with Shiite populations.

In Baghdad, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Sunday it was scaling back the number of people working in Baghdad after receiving warnings that the organization might be a terror target.

Nada Doumani, spokeswoman for the ICRC in Baghdad, said the organization had gradually been cutting back the size of its staff since a Sri Lankan aid worker was killed in an attack on a convoy July 22 south of Baghdad.

She said the organization would keep about 50 workers in the country, with those being pull out leaving positions in Baghdad. She said she was staying, but declined to give specific numbers of those being withdrawn.

"We are concerned about the security of the staff working with us and the people who come to visit us. It seems some groups are not willing to let us work normally," Doumani said.

"We are very upset because our services are badly needed," she said, adding that the threat against the agency wasn't specific but involved warnings that they could be a target.

Agencies in Iraq have become especially concerned with security since the suicide truck bombing Tuesday of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad in which at least 23 people were killed, including the chief U.N. envoy in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Also, two U.S. soldiers died Saturday in non-combat incidents, the U.S. military reported Sunday.

A soldier from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Baghdad was killed in a friendly fire incident. A second soldier from the same regiment drowned in the Euphrates River, west of Ramadi.