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Tape shows kidnapped U.S. reporter
Associated Press
Published January 31, 2006
BAGHDAD - U.S. journalist Jill Carroll, weeping and veiled, appeared on a new videotape aired Monday by Al-Jazeera, and the Arab television station said she appealed for the release of all Iraqi women prisoners.
The video was dated Saturday - two days after the U.S. military released five Iraqi women.
The U.S. military was believed to be holding about six more. It was unclear how many women were held by Iraqi authorities.
Carroll, 28, a freelance reporter for the Christian Science Monitor , was seized Jan. 7 by the previously unknown Revenge Brigades, which threatened to kill her unless all women prisoners were released. Al-Jazeera did not report any deadline or threat to kill her Monday.
In Jordan, Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer said the former president and his lawyers will boycott the next session of his trial in Iraq to protest what they say is the bias of the new chief judge.
Chief Judge Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman cracked down Sunday in a chaotic trial session, ordering one of Hussein's co-defendants and Jordanian lawyer Saleh Armouti expelled from the courtroom. The entire defense team left in protest and Hussein was escorted out after shouting at the judge.
Lawyer Khalil Al-Dulaimi said the ousted leader would refuse to attend Wednesday.
"If he was forced to attend, he won't sit in the place designated for him, but will stand in a corner to protest against the measures taken by the judge," he said.
Dulaimi declined to say when the lawyers would resume attending court sessions, but he insisted several demands be met first.
He said the chief judge must apologize to Armouti for "offending" the Jordanian lawyer, ensure "complete protection" to the lawyers and their families and transfer the trial to a venue outside Iraq.
A report released Monday by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction warns that it will take far more U.S. support before the Iraqi government can take control over billions of dollars in reconstruction projects, including problem-plagued oil and electricity improvements.
The report says 2006 will be a critical year of transition in Iraq. And it questions whether the Iraqi government has the needed resources to rebuild and protect the infrastructure, develop the country's major cities and support private sector projects.
The report - the eighth quarterly assessment done by Special Inspector General Stuart W. Bowen Jr. - makes no recommendations on how much money is needed.
[Last modified January 31, 2006, 00:31:49]
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