Iraq

Troops prepare for Christmas

On military bases around Iraq on Tuesday, coalition troops were getting ready for brass bands, turkey dinners, sports matches and holiday carols. David Letterman, host of CBS's Late Show, will visit troops in Baghdad today.

North of Baghdad, in Tikrit, soldiers from the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division, which captured Hussein, were planning brass band concerts and talent contests for Christmas.

Asked who received the best Christmas present, Sgt. Gilbert Nail from Fort Hood, Texas, said: "Of course, Saddam. He received free food and boarding for the rest of his life."

The Army's 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry, took out a front-page advertisement in Tuesday editions of the local Arabic Azzaman newspaper that showed a mocking photo of the deposed Iraqi dictator with his beard whitened and wearing a Santa hat.

Near the western border with Syria, coalition troops dubbed an ongoing series of raids in the town of Rawah as "Operation Santa Claws."

CIA DELIVERS FOR HOLIDAYS: The CIA, experiencing its largest overseas deployment since the Vietnam War, delivered holiday goodies to its hundreds of personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The shipment totals about 7 tons and consists mainly of items that are difficult to obtain in those countries, CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield said.

That includes 2,750 pounds of coffee, tea and hot chocolate, 5,150 pounds of chocolate and candy, 400 pounds of DVDs and CDs and 6,000 pounds of books and magazines, he said.

WASHINGTON - The president's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board has concluded that the White House made a questionable claim in January's State of the Union address about Saddam Hussein's efforts to obtain nuclear materials because of its desperation to show that Hussein had an active program to develop nuclear weapons, the Washington Post reports, quoting an unnamed source it said is familiar with the board's findings.

In the speech Jan. 28, President Bush cited British intelligence in asserting that Hussein had tried to buy uranium from an unnamed country in Africa. The White House later said the claim should not have been made because of doubts about it in the U.S. intelligence community.

After reviewing the matter for several months, the intelligence board - chaired by former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft - has determined that the story was not deliberately fabricated, the newspaper reported, quoting the unnamed source. Instead, the source said, the board believes the White House was so anxious for evidence of Hussein's nuclear ambitions that it disregarded warnings from the intelligence community that the claim was questionable.

BAGHDAD - U.S. soldiers arrested dozens of rebel suspects including several associates of a former aide to Saddam Hussein who is believed to have a leading role in Iraq's insurgency. Early today, explosions rocked Baghdad as the U.S. military conducted an antirebel operation.

American commanders have said they had planned operations over the Christmas period after receiving intelligence that there might be rebel attacks. Asked about the repeated explosions south of the city center, a military spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity that operations, including "aerial activity and artillery," were under way.

A U.S. task force in Baquba, 30 miles northwest of Baghdad, arrested five Iraqis on Tuesday, including one suspected of recruiting guerrillas, said Maj. Josselyn Aberle of the 4th Infantry Division.

Two other military sources said the other four were believed to be associates of former Vice President Izzat Ibrahim, the top remaining figure from the U.S. list of 55 most wanted Iraqis. U.S. commanders say he could be organizing anti-American resistance. Thirteen fugitives from the list remain at large, with Ibrahim at No. 6 in the original ranking.

WASHINGTON - Iraq suffers serious energy and communications shortages and harbors an increasingly sophisticated insurgency, the White House said in a report to Congress that emphasizes the successes of the U.S.-backed coalition in restoring order and security.

The report, obtained by the Associated Press, states that even with a buildup in Iraqi security forces, "it is not possible to know at this time either the duration of the military operations or the scope and duration of the deployment" of U.S. troops. Under current Pentagon plans, the number of American troops in Iraq is to drop from the current level of 130,000 to about 110,000 by May.

SOUTH KOREA: The Cabinet answered Washington's call for help, approving a plan to send 3,000 troops to join 460 military medics and engineers already in Iraq. That deployment, for nine months from April 1, would make the South Korean contingent the third largest in the 26-nation coalition after the United States and Britain.

ARAB LEAGUE: An Arab League delegation met Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, the most powerful cleric in Iraq, in Najaf. Assistant Secretary-General Ahmed bin Heli said the leader of Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims expressed "willingness" for the league, which opposes the U.S. occupation, to play a role in the transition to democracy.

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