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BAGHDAD, Oct. 9, 2006

Iraqi Vice President's Brother Slain

Targeted Sectarian Killings, Bombings Continue As Saddam Trial Resumes

By James M Klatell
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    • Saddam in court Monday morning, Oct. 9, 2006.

      Saddam in court Monday morning, Oct. 9, 2006.  (AP Photo)

    • A US M1 Abrams tank patrols a street in the town of Diwaniyah, south of Baghdad, 8 October 2006. A state-of-the-art US M1A2 second generation Abrams tank was destroyed in Diwaniyah during clashes with militias.

      A US M1 Abrams tank patrols a street in the town of Diwaniyah, south of Baghdad, 8 October 2006. A state-of-the-art US M1A2 second generation Abrams tank was destroyed in Diwaniyah during clashes with militias.  (AFP/Getty Images)

    • An Iraqi soldier patrols a deserted street in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, Saturday Oct. 7, 2006.

      An Iraqi soldier patrols a deserted street in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, Saturday Oct. 7, 2006.  (AP)

    • An Iraqi man mourns the death of his son outside a hospital in the restive city of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, Oct. 6, 2006.

      An Iraqi man mourns the death of his son outside a hospital in the restive city of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, Oct. 6, 2006.  (AFP/Getty Images)

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(CBS/AP)  The brother of Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president was slain early Monday in his Baghdad home — the third member of the family to be murdered in the last year, a government spokesman said.

Gen. Amir al-Hashimi, brother of Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi and an adviser in the Defense Ministry, was killed by unidentified gunmen wearing military uniforms in his home in north Baghdad, Brig. Qassim al-Moussawi said. Further details were not immediately available.

Hashimi's sister and another brother also have been murdered in the last year. Targeting of the families of prominent politicians has been widespread in Iraq in an apparent effort to intimidate politicians.

In other developments:

  • A suicide car bomber slammed into an Iraqi police checkpoint in Tal Afar, 420 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, killing one policeman and wounding 12, police Brig. Najim Abdullah said. The city was already the scene of a devastating attack on Saturday when a suicide car bomber hit another checkpoint, killing 14 and injuring many more.

  • Saddam Hussein's trial on genocide charges against the Kurds resumed Monday after a 12-day break with the former Iraqi leader and his co-defendants in the courtroom, but their lawyers absent. Chief Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa had declared a recess in the trial after a stormy session Sept. 26 during which Saddam and his six co-defendants were thrown out of court. The judge said at the time that he wanted to give the defendants time to convince their lawyers to end their boycott of the trial, or to confer with new ones. Still, Saddam's chief lawyer had said Sunday that he and his team would continue boycotting the trial to protest the removal of the first chief judge, and the court's refusal to give the attorneys time to examine thousands of documents.

  • At least 350 Iraqi policemen suffered food poisoning after a fast-breaking meal, but nobody has died, a senior spokesman for the Iraqi military said Monday. An Iraqi military spokesman says the food poisoning was probably done on purpose. "A number of people have been arrested, including the man in charge of the mess hall," said Defense Ministry spokesman, Brig. Qassim al-Moussawi.

  • U.S. and Iraqi forces clashed with Shiite militiamen Sunday in the southern city of Diwaniyah for the second time in two months in a battle sparked by a raid on the home of a leader of the Mahdi Army, accused of killing Sunnis in Iraq's spiral of sectarian violence. The U.S. military said 30 militiamen were killed in the fighting, in which a U.S. Abrams tank was seriously damaged when it was hammered by rocket-propelled grenades. Officials from the party of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, which heads the militia denied any of their fighters were killed. Sectarian death squads have killed thousands in recent months, primarily in the capital, and U.S. and Iraqi troops have been carrying out an intensified sweep of the capital to try and root out the insurgents and militias.

  • Another prominent Republican is saying President Bush should consider a new approach to Iraq. Former Secretary of State James Baker says his bipartisan commission on Iraq policy is preparing alternatives to the president's "stay-the-course" strategy. Baker, who has a long track record of service to Republican presidents and the Bush family, is not yet saying what specific strategies might be proposed. But he did say an immediate departure would plunge Iraq into "the biggest civil war you've ever seen."

  • An insurgent group purportedly says it is capable of fighting U-S-led forces for a dozen years — but it's not opposed to peace talks. An interview posted on an Islamic Web site and attributed to a spokesman for the Islamic Army in Iraq says "truce and peace talks" are a "religious duty."

    ©MMVI CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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    Add a Comment
    by alphaa10-2009 October 9, 2006 11:17 AM EDT
    Sen. Warner is right. Iraq has been drifting for some time-- say, from the moment US troops entered Baghdad. Iraq is the wrong policy, run by the wrong people, and undistinguished by anything but incredible failure and corruption. Should it surprise us to find this debacle has cost us $332.8 billion (and counting)?

    www.costofwar.com
    Reply to this comment

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