2 Saddam brothers questioned in video

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The Iraqi tribunal investigating members of Saddam Hussein's regime released a videotape yesterday showing two of the ousted dictator's half-brothers being questioned about their alleged role in displacing and killing Kurds.

Barzan Ibrahim al-Hassan al-Tikriti, a former presidential adviser, was one of six people shown on the 15-minute video. All six were on the list of U.S. most-wanted Iraqis.

The tape, which showed them being questioned by investigating magistrates, had no audio.

The tribunal said the former presidential adviser was questioned about the killing and arresting of Faili Kurds in Iraq. The Faili minority are Shiite Kurds from an area in northeastern Iraq along the border with Iran. Saddam forcibly deported tens of thousands of Faili early in Iraq's 1980-1988 war with Iran.

Al-Hassan al-Tikriti also allegedly was the chief organizer of a clandestine group of companies and funds handling Saddam's money.

The second half-brother was Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan, al-Tikriti's brother and a former presidential adviser captured April 13, 2003. He also was questioned about the Faili Kurds.

Both men and Saddam have the same mother but different fathers.

The video also showed Latif Nusayyif al-Jasim al-Dulaymi, a Baath Party military bureau deputy chairman captured June 9, 2003. The tribunal said he was questioned about his alleged participation in an "ethnic cleansing" campaign to expel more than 100,000 Kurds from oil-rich northern Kirkuk.

Also questioned about Kirkuk was Ayad Futayyih Khalifa, the leader of a paramilitary force, who was captured June 4, 2003. He also has been charged with ethnic cleansing in Kirkuk.

It was the fourth videotape to be released this month, including one showing Saddam at the beginning of June.

Saddam's latest novel barred in Jordan

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan has barred publication of Saddam Hussein's fourth novel, "Get Out, Damned One," because of political concerns, a senior Jordanian official said yesterday.

Jordan enjoys cordial relations with the elected government in Iraq, hosting training sessions for Iraqi police cadets, army and anti-terrorism units as part of its contribution to Iraq's postwar reconstruction.

The novel tells the story of a man named Ezekiel who plots to overthrow a town's sheik but is defeated by the sheik's daughter and an Arab warrior.

The story is apparently a metaphor for a Zionist-Christian plot against Arabs and Muslims.

Saddam's eldest daughter, Raghad, said her father finished the novel March 18, 2003 — a day before the U.S.-led war on Iraq began — and expressed a wish to publish the book under his name.

The three other novels he wrote were simply signed, "Its author."