Iraq Notebook
Key aide to Saddam still at large

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More than 1,000 soldiers scoured the small town of Hawija near the northern oil hub of Kirkuk on Tuesday but failed to find Saddam Hussein's right-hand man, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri.

"We had expected to find Izzat Ibrahim himself in a house in Hawija, but he wasn't there. It was pretty clear he had been there recently," said Sgt. Todd Oliver, a spokesman for the 173rd Airborne Brigade.

In a statement, the U.S. military said 54 people had been detained and one "enemy" was killed and two wounded. There were no U.S. casualties. A cache of weapons was also seized.

The U.S. military said last month Ibrahim was directly involved in attacks on U.S. troops and put a $10 million bounty on his head.

U.S. military officials have said suspected guerrilla leaders caught in Hawija included the heads of two cells of the Saddam Fedayeen militia and were "quality targets."

Residents of Hawija were angry yesterday.

In the small hospital that serves around 30,000 people, two heavily bandaged brothers lay side by side, both having been shot, a doctor said, by U.S. troops.

Iraq's political parties would comprise paramilitary force

In the latest effort to boost security, the Iraqi Governing Council and the U.S.-led occupation administration have agreed to form a paramilitary force made up of members of militias attached to Iraq's five major political parties.

The paramilitary force would act primarily as a rapid-response team dedicated initially to tracking down and apprehending insurgents. Unlike other Iraqi armed forces — including the army, the police and the civil defense corps, most of whom are receiving basic training from the American military — this group would consist of already well-trained militiamen.

Officials also hope the militiamen, with their intimate knowledge of Iraqi society, would be better at recognizing any "foreign fighters" contributing to instability in Iraq.

The paramilitary force would include fighters from militias affiliated with the Kurdish Democratic Party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, the Iraqi National Accord and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

U.S. officials have feared that militia members would gather information on one another instead of focusing on defeating insurgents.

Army captures former general in Iraqi Republican Guard

The U.S. Army captured a former general of the Iraqi Republican Guard whom it suspects of commanding anti-U.S. resistance in the town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

The officer, identified as Brig. Gen. Daham Al Mahemdi, was detained early today in Fallujah during a sweep by an 82nd Airborne Division contingent.

Al Mahemdi is suspected of having "indirect contact" with former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, according to the military statement.

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