Spanish PM makes surprise Iraq visit
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Aznar addresses Spanish troops at their base in Diwaniyah, Iraq.
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The Spanish prime minister makes a morale-boosting visit.
Several hospital doctors in Baghdad are complaining of medical shortages.
Raghdad Hussein, daughter of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, discusses her father's capture.
Iraqis quickly buy up papers showing an imprisoned Saddam Hussein.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- In a morale-boosting show of support, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar Saturday made a brief, whirlwind visit to 1,300 Spanish peacekeeping troops in southern Iraq.
The visit comes as the violence persists throughout Iraq nine months after the war began. The Coalition Provisional Authority told CNN that 15 insurgents engaged a 4th Infantry Division in a gunbattle north of Fallujah. Three insurgents were killed, and there were no coalition casualties.
Aznar -- in what is his first trip to Iraq since the U.S.-led war began in March -- appeared to be taking a cue from President Bush, who made an unannounced visit last Thanksgiving to see U.S. troops in Baghdad. The trip wasn't made public until Bush arrived at his Iraqi destination.
The prime minister and a 17-member delegation traveled to Spain's main base of Diwaniyah, the Spanish news agency EFE reported, a city about 100 miles south of Baghdad. Defense Minister Federico Trillo and several senior aides were among those in the delegation.
Aznar arrived in Iraq at 10:45 a.m. (2:45 a.m. ET), and ate lunch with the troops. He headed home four hours later after the surprise trip, a Spanish reporter told CNN partner station CNN+. (Full story)
For security reasons, the trip was kept a secret to outsiders until after Aznar's party arrived in Iraq, Aznar's office told CNN+.
The area around Diwaniyah has suffered fewer attacks than the Baghdad area and the northern area around Tikrit.
Aznar has been one of Bush's staunchest allies before and during the war in Iraq, and in the U.S.-led coalition that is trying to rebuild the nation.
The Spanish combat-trained forces are stationed in the Polish-controlled sector south of Baghdad. They arrived last August, with Spain's commitment to keep them in place at least through the end of this year.
About a week ago, the Spanish government announced, as expected, that its troops would remain on duty an extra six months, through June 30, 2004.
It was also a week ago that Saddam Hussein was captured, and demonstrators congregated in the Baghdad square, where the famous statue of the dictator was toppled April 9, demanding that he be tried in Iraq for war crimes.
A couple of hundred Shiites demonstrated in Al Firdaws Square in the peaceful rally. They carried banners of their leaders and shouted anti-Baathist chants.
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division in Mosul seized a range weapons over the last 24 hours and made arrests, the division said.
Soldiers detained a suspect for Baath Party activities, "including continuing to hold Baath Party meetings, planning possible attacks on U.S. Forces and for possible war crimes to include torture and murder."
Also, five people were apprehended in the village of Qabr Abed, a taxi driver was detained at the Qayarrah Bridge, and three people were taken into custody in Tal Afar.
Among the weapons found were two 107 mm rockets in high weeds near Mosul on an island in the Tigris River.
Other developments
• An explosion Friday morning destroyed a Baghdad building occupied by Iraq's major Shiite political party, killing a woman and injuring eight others, according to Iraqi police and a Shiite party official. The building housed the headquarters for Badr Brigade, the military branch of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
• As many as 3,500 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade may go to Iraq after the new year, according to U.S. military officials. The troops will spend 120 days in Iraq. In addition, 3,500 troops from the division's 3rd Brigade, now in Fallujah, have been ordered to stay for an additional 60 days, extending their deployment until the end of March.
• Raghad Hussein, Saddam's eldest daughter, said Thursday she believes an international court should handle the case of her recently captured father if he faces trial. (Full story)
• David Kay, the CIA's man in charge of the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, likely will leave his post in the next couple of months, before the work is completed, U.S. officials said. They added no final decision has been made. Kay met recently with CIA Director George Tenet and others to discuss the weapons search, while he is in Washington for the holidays, officials said. He declined to comment. (Full story)
