Iraq fugitive minister arrives in Jordan (on a US plane?)

AMMAN, Jordan - A former Iraqi Cabinet minister who escaped from a Baghdad prison this month has arrived in Jordan on a U.S. plane, Jordan's prime minister said Tuesday. Ayham al-Samaraie, a former minister of electricity with dual U.S. and Iraqi citizenship, was serving time for corruption when he escaped mid-December.

On Dec. 19, he called the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times and gloated over his escape, referring to U.S. and Iraqi officials in Baghdad as "suckers." He declined to tell the newspapers where he was, but said he was in a "a very safe place."

Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit told reporters Tuesday that al-Samaraie "arrived in Amman as an American and on an American plane," an apparent reference to a U.S. military plane. He did not elaborate on the official's escape from jail.

"Jordan did not receive any demand from the Iraqi authorities" for al-Samaraie's extradition, al-Bakhit said.

Lou Fintor, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, said the U.S. government was not involved in al-Samaraie's escape "in any way."

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