(Maariv International) - Covert negotiations between the U.S. administration and senior members of the Saddam-era Iraqi power structure have been confirmed by an intelligence source. The most important negotiations are with Major General Sofian Maher Hassan el Tikrity, commander of Saddam's Republican Guards, who was reportedly "captured" by U.S. troops, but intelligence sources say he turned himself in to begin negotiations. During the war el Tikrity ordered his troops to withdraw from vital Tigris river bridges, a move which expedited the fall of Baghdad. After the war, he felt the U.S. had not lived up to its pre-war understandings with him, and subsequently encouraged his troops to become the backbone of the Sunni insurgency.
2004-08-02 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive