US gives out cards of 55 'most wanted' Iraqis

The US military has issued a most wanted list of 55 former leaders in Saddam Hussein’s regime to be pursued, captured or killed.

A “deck of cards” carrying pictures of the wanted figures has been given to the thousands of US troops in the field to help them find the senior members of the government.

It was also being put on posters and fliers for the Iraqi public, US Brig Gen Vincent Brooks said at Central Command in Qatar.

He did not identify figures on the list, except to suggest they included Saddam and his minister of information, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, who boasted of battlefield successes right up to the time he disappeared on Tuesday.

“There are jokers in this deck, there is no doubt about that,” Brooks said.

He said the whereabouts of some of the most wanted figures were unknown, while others might well be dead.

“The population will probably confirm that for us,” he said.

“The key list has 55 individuals who may be pursued, killed or captured, and the list does not exclude leaders who may have already been killed or captured,” Brooks said.

The US forces have twice bombed sites where they believe Saddam may have been staying, and his fate is still unknown.

One key figure who British and US officials believe is dead is Ali Hassan al-Majid, a former Iraqi defence chief known as “Chemical Ali” for his role in the 1988 chemical weapons attacks on Iraqi Kurds.

Brooks also said US forces found and destroyed five small aircraft covered by camouflage netting near the northern city of Tikrit, Saddam’s birthplace.

The planes, he said, could have been used for escape or to distribute weapons of mass destruction.

Brooks was asked about US efforts to control looting in Baghdad and other cities, and said US troops would act to control the situation but would not be used as a police force.

“At no time do we really see becoming a police force,” he said, adding that at some point there would be a replacement force for the Saddam government police.

“We have to be patient with that. We are not exercising the same kind of grip over the population that the regime had,” he said.