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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

No evidence of Iraqi’s capture

T. Christian Miller Los Angeles Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi officials thought they had the king of clubs.

On Sunday morning, the Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman announced the capture of one of Iraq’s most wanted men, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a trusted confidant of Saddam Hussein and the highest-ranking regime official to remain free.

In detail, the spokesman told a U.S.-funded television station here how U.S. and Iraqi forces had stormed a medical clinic in the northern city of Tikrit where the feeble al-Douri was receiving treatment for leukemia. Other government officials elaborated: Iraqi troops backed by U.S. helicopters and tanks battled their way through more than 170 loyal bodyguards, killing 70 and capturing 80. A few others got away.

By midafternoon, officials from no less than four Iraqi ministries — including two ministers and a ranking officer from the Iraqi National Guard — had all but confirmed al-Douri’s capture after hunting him for months. They were only awaiting the results of a DNA test that one said was “60 percent” done.

But by nightfall, it appeared they had come up empty-handed.

“We don’t have any information regarding this issue. What has been said of a statement by the Defense Ministry is baseless,” Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan told Lebanon’s LBC television channel. He offered no explanation for the confusion.

Wire services and Arab television stations ran stories describing the capture as a victory for the interim Iraqi government, which has struggled to prove its legitimacy in the face of repeated attacks and uprisings by insurgents.

Besieged by media phone calls, U.S. officials avoided an outright denial. No, they said, the U.S. military had not conducted operations in Tikrit on Sunday. And no, al-Douri was not being held in any U.S. facilities.

“This is likely a case of mistaken identity,” one U.S. official said. “No such operation as has been described took place.”

In Tikrit, there were no signs of a major operation. Medical officials at local clinics and store owners said they had seen no signs of U.S. helicopters or Iraqi forces in the area.