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Iraq Firefighters cancel strike in Britain
Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 19, 2003
LONDON -- With Britain braced for war with Iraq, British firefighters on Tuesday canceled a planned strike that would have forced thousands of soldiers to replace them.
The union's 55,000 members, who first demanded a 40 percent raise, have staged five strikes since last year. Their places were taken by soldiers using outmoded equipment.
Britain has ordered 40,000 troops to the Persian Gulf, and some fear a strike now could stretch the armed forces beyond their breaking point.
Ex-Iraqi general's disappearance a mystery
PARIS -- Danish police on Tuesday were investigating the disappearance of former Iraqi Gen. Nizar Khazraji, a top military defector who has aspired to a leading role in toppling Saddam Hussein even though he faces prosecution for war crimes in Denmark.
Khazraji vanished after stepping outside his home to smoke a cigarette Monday morning, according to his family. A hero of the Iran-Iraq war and a former military chief of staff, he has been under police supervision and forbidden to leave Denmark since his indictment in November in war crimes against Kurds in the mid 1980s.
The general's son said he fears Iraqi spies abducted Khazraji. Danish authorities said they were hunting for Khazraji but did not consider the case a kidnapping.
Mustafa Alani of the Royal United Services Institutes in London, which are affiliated with Britain's Defense Ministry, asserted that Khazraji had traveled clandestinely to the Persian Gulf with the help of U.S. agents to participate in a propaganda campaign aimed at the Iraqi military.
Eyes on Iraq
Reports from a region in conflict
Today's coverage
Iraq: Graham tones down criticism of Bush over war
Iraq: U.S. warns Iraqis: If you attack, you'll die
Iraq: Firefighters cancel strike in Britain
Iraq: Hussein vows to stay, but he has lied before
Iraq: Q&A
Iraq: Pentagon: Chemical weapons risk high
Iraq: U.S. lists haste among strategic advantages
Iraq: Closed streets, talk of bullets in Washington
Iraq: Forced reunions
Iraq: For many, an all too-familiar exodus
Iraq: Television networks line up their own troops
Iraq: Republicans sharply criticize Daschle
Iraq: Hussein: I'm not budging
Iraq: Bush, allies have mixed results around world
Dispatch from the 101st: Silence may be Hussein's first clue
World in brief: Cuba jails dissidents, restricts U.S. envoys
China's new leaders vow reform to help rural poor
Arafat loses political battle
Formula clears haze over smokers' lung cancer risk
Nation in brief: Kidnapped teen was tethered to tree, threatened with death
Susan Taylor Martin: Turks are tea'd off over drink shortage
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