Brother of Saddam prosecutor fatally shot

Among the 60 Iraqis killed outside Balad on Monday was Imad al-Faroon, the brother of the chief prosecutor in the second trial of Saddam Hussein. Gunmen burst into his home and shot him to death in front of his wife.

Prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon said he did not know if the killing was related to his involvement in the Kurd-genocide trial of Saddam, which is due to resume today.

The killing is one of several related to the case:

• The brother-in-law of the chief judge in the trial, Mohammed al-Ureybi, was killed 10 days after the jurist was named to take over the court following the dismissal of the previous judge for saying Saddam was not a dictator.

• Three defense lawyers have been killed during a separate trial against Saddam for the killing of Shiite villagers.

The court in that trial said it will hold a Nov. 5 session at which a verdict is due.

In an open letter, Saddam called for Iraqis to forgive their American enemies and stop sectarian killings because the country's "liberation is at hand"

The letter dictated to his lawyer appeared to be an effort by Saddam to cast himself in the role of a statesman who could reconcile and rebuild a nation torn by intensifying sectarian bloodshed and worsening economic problems.

"The hour of liberation is at hand, God willing. But remember that your near-term goal is confined to freeing your country from the forces of occupation and their followers, and not to be preoccupied in settling scores," Saddam wrote in the Arabic-language letter.

Bush assures al-Maliki of support

President Bush telephoned Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Monday to reassure him of support as rumors swirled through Baghdad that the U.S. had lost patience with the Shiite leader during his little more than four months in office.

Spokesman Tony Snow said Bush used the 15-minute conversation to tell al-Maliki there was no American deadline for the Iraqi government to be able to stand on its own.

Al-Maliki canceled a planned visit to Turkey on Monday; his office cited bad flying weather.

American officials and Iraqis have expressed increasing frustration with inaction by al-Maliki, who this week indefinitely postponed measures both to disband militias and convene a reconciliation conference meant to close the widening rift between Iraq's Shiite majority and Sunni minority.

Also

An Iraqi police-training academy in Jordan will shut its doors to rookies by year's end for lack of funding. The Jordan International Police Training Center, in the desert village of Muwaqqar outside Amman, expects to graduate 41,000 Iraqi police officers by the end of its contract, bringing Iraq's police force to 188,000. Ann Bertucci, spokeswoman for the Civilian Police Assistance Training Team based in Baghdad, said the program had trained its targeted number of police officers.

Compiled from The Associated Press