Iraq criticizes Syria and trade official is killed
The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse
MONDAY, MAY 23, 2005

BAGHDAD The government demanded Sunday that Syria do more to stop foreign fighters infiltrating across the border, as a senior Trade Ministry official became the latest victim in a terror campaign that has killed more than 550 people in less than a month.

The ministry's director general, Ali Moussa, and his driver were shot and killed Sunday in western Baghdad, said a ministry spokesman.

It was the latest in a spate of assassinations of government officials, administrators and clerics.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi authorities released Ghazi Hammud al-Obeidi, 65, one of the most-wanted officials from Saddam Hussein's former regime, because he apparently is terminally ill, according to the justice minister, Abdel Hussein Shandal, a government spokesman, Laith Kuba, and the suspect's lawyer on Sunday.

Obeidi, who has stomach cancer, was the former regional chairman of the ruling Baath Party in the southern Iraqi city of Kut. He was detained May 7, 2003, and released April 28, making him the first of the 55 most-wanted Iraqis to be freed. He was number 51 on the most-wanted list.

Also Sunday, three Romanian journalists and their Iraqi-American guide who had been held hostage for nearly two months in Iraq were released.

The Romanians - a newspaper reporter, Ovidiu Ohanesian, a TV reporter, Marie-Jeanne Ion, and a cameraman, Sorin Miscoci - were kidnapped in Iraq on March 28, along with their Iraqi-American guide, Mohammed Monaf. Their kidnappers had threatened to kill them unless Romania pulled its 800 troops out of Iraq, but the Romanian president refused.

Separately, the U.S. military has plans to consolidate its forces in Iraq onto four big air bases as Washington looks ahead to giving up more than 100 bases used by coalition forces, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

However, the officers told the Post that the consolidation plan was not meant to establish a permanent U.S. military presence in Iraq and that no timetable exists for turning over all U.S. bases in the war-torn country. Syria has been coming under pressure to stop foreign fighters infiltrating into Iraq, where violence has drastically increased since the April 28 announcement of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's Shiite-led government.

Kuba, who works in Jaafari's office, said Sunday: "Syria can do more. It has a regime based on security, intelligence and police" he said, arguing that Damascus must know of their presence.

"It is impossible for about 2,000 people coming from the Gulf to pass through Syria and cross from Qaim or other border points without being discovered, despite our repeated calls."

Jaafari said during a trip to Turkey last week that he would soon visit Syria to discuss the issue of foreign infiltration.

3 Iraqis sentenced to death

A court sentenced to death three Iraqis linked to a feared terrorist group on Sunday for killing three police officers, The Associated Press reported from Baghdad.

Two Syrians also were sentenced to life in prison for joining terrorist movements in Falluja.

The death sentences were the first issued since the authorities reimposed capital punishment in August after the handover of power from U.S.-led coalition authorities.

But the sentences must be approved by the three-member presidential council headed by President Jalal Talabani, who has voiced opposition to capital punishment in the past.

Executions in Iraq are carried out by hanging.

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