Iraq Notebook
U.N. rapped for 'failing' Iraqi people

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"One year ago, this Security Council was divided between those who wanted to appease Saddam Hussein and those who wanted to hold him accountable," Hoshyar Zebari told the Security Council and Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"The U.N. as an organization failed to help rescue the Iraqi people from a murderous tyranny that lasted over 35 years, and today we are unearthing thousands of victims in horrifying testament to that failure," he said. "The U.N. must not fail Iraqi people again."

The Security Council did not give its full backing to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and Annan opposed it. Annan, who has withdrawn nearly all U.N. employees from Iraq, said it was not the time to "pin blame and point fingers."

Blix believes Saddam had no illegal weapons

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Former chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said yesterday it's becoming "increasingly clear" that Saddam Hussein's regime did not have any weapons of mass destruction.

Blix, who announced the members of a new Stockholm-based independent commission on weapons of mass destruction, said he didn't think Saddam's capture would result in the discovery of any such weapons in Iraq. "My guess is that there are no weapons of mass destruction left," said Blix, who headed the team of U.N. inspectors that searched Iraq for more than three months before the war without making any significant finds.

Blix said he thought most of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were destroyed in 1991. Blix added that the group plans to analyze the amount of nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological weapons, as well as the means to deliver them, but won't do any actual inspections.

Arab volunteers recruited in Europe to fight in Iraq

MILAN, Italy — Ansar al-Islam, an Islamic underground organization based in Iraq, and al-Qaida have joined forces to recruit Arab volunteers in Europe to fight the United States and its allies in Iraq, according to Italian investigators.

A suicide bomber from Italy helped carry out the attack on United Nations headquarters in Baghdad in August, the officials said. Another recruit from Italy was involved in a rocket attack on the city's Al Rasheed Hotel in October.

Italian officials worry about threats to security in Italy, which sent troops to Iraq after the capture of Baghdad.

Investigations in Italy suggest that Ansar and al-Qaida set up a pipeline that flows from here to Syria and then into the Sunni Triangle region of central Iraq, where some of the fiercest and most persistent attacks occur.

Italian police detained a Tunisian and a Moroccan last month on charges of providing false documents to terrorist recruits. At about the same time, German authorities captured an Algerian member of al-Qaida who, authorities believe, worked with the Ansar cell in Italy. All three suspects are in custody pending trial.

U.S. military-intelligence officials in Mosul have reported that Ansar provides guide services and expertise in bomb making to foreign infiltrators.

Sedro-Woolley native killed in vehicle accident in Iraq

PORTLAND — Spec. Nathan Nakis, an Oregon State University student, was killed Monday in a vehicle accident outside Mosul, Iraq, according to Maj. Arnold Strong of the Oregon National Guard.

Nakis, 19, a native of Sedro-Woolley, Skagit County, is the first Oregon National Guard soldier killed in the conflict. Seven soldiers from Washington have died in the conflict.

Robin Williams leads performance for troops

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Robin Williams took the outdoor stage at Baghdad International Airport yesterday and delivered a barrage of raunchy comedy, beginning with the words "Goooood morning Bagh-dad!" — a play on his 1987 movie "Good Morning Vietnam." Williams was the lead performer in a U.S. military show that also featured actress Shannon Tweed, wrestler Kurt Angle and stock-car driver Mike Wallace.

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