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Powell: Iraq biological labs intelligence was shaky


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Veiled Iraqi women parade in Baghdad's Sadr City on Saturday. Thousands took part in a parade of the Al-Mehdi army, a Shiite group founded by Muqtada Al-Sadr

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(CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday that part of his dramatic testimony to the U.N. Security Council before the Iraq war was based on intelligence that appears to have been unreliable.

Powell's speech before the Security Council on February, 5, 2003 --detailing possible weapons of mass destruction in Iraq -- was a major event in the Bush administration's drive to justify a war and win international support.

Powell told reporters at a press briefing that his testimony about Iraq possibly using mobile biological weapons labs "was presented to me ... as the best information and intelligence that we had" but "now it appears not to be the case that it was that solid."

Powell said he hopes the 9/11 Commission looking into pre-war intelligence "will look into these matters to see whether or not the intelligence agency had a basis for the confidence that they placed in the intelligence at the time."

"Now, if the sources fell apart, then we need to find out how we've gotten ourselves in that position." Powell told reporters. "I've had discussions with the CIA about it." (Full story)

Spokesman says cleric's aide taken

A spokesman for Spanish-led coalition forces in Najaf denied that the troops participated in the "arrest and detention" of Mustafa al-Yaacoubi, deputy to influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The Spanish-led coalition controls the Najaf area.

Sayid Haidar, a spokesman for Sadr's office in Najaf, claimed coalition forces staged an early Saturday raid on al-Yaccoubi's Najaf house.

The office issued a statement claiming coalition forces opened fire on al-Yaaqoubi's door at 3 a.m., broke it down, barged in the room among women and children, and took him into custody.

The report of the incident comes a day after Sadr announced his support for two of Israel's biggest enemies -- the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Hezbollah, based in Lebanon.

"They can consider me their striking hand in Iraq whenever there is a necessity and whenever there is a need," said Sadr, sermonizing Friday in Al Kufa mosque in Najaf.

Sadr frequently has condemned the United States and its presence in Iraq.

Members of Sadr's militia, known as the Mehdi army, marched in Baghdad Saturday in support of the cleric.

Men and women clad in black walked in tight formation throughout Sadr City, the Baghdad neighborhood where the cleric has widespread support.

The al-Mehdi army was set up to protect religious shrines and sites, a cleric at the demonstration said.

Iraqi police chief, driver killed

Also Saturday, an assailant dressed in an Iraqi police uniform shot and killed the police chief in Mahmudiya and his driver, Iraqi police sources said.

Col. Wesam Hussein was on his way to work when a man in a police uniform stopped to ask a question, and then shot him and his driver, the sources said. Mahmudiya is south of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, a rocket struck a house in Baghdad's al-Dura district, killing one person and wounding three others, Iraqi police said. No other details were available.

And violence broke out Saturday morning as about 150 Iraqi police applicants, turned away from the Baghdad Police Academy for not having proper credentials, threw rocks at U.S. military police, a senior coalition official.

At one point, someone in the crowd fired a weapon, prompting the military police to fire on the crowd, wounding three Iraqis, the official said.

After the exchange of gunfire, the crowd dispersed.

Fallujah attack investigated

U.S. military officials are investigating whether the horrific attack that killed four U.S. civilian contractors in Fallujah, this week was planned.

CNN has identified Jerry Zovko, 32, of Euclid, Ohio, and Mike Teague, 33, of Clarksville, Tennessee, as two of the four men killed in the attack.

The normally busy streets in the city about 30 miles west of Baghdad were empty and shops were closed at the time of the attack, the officials told CNN.

Also, a number of local Iraqi media were in the area.

Officials said there is no indication residents knew what was being planned, but there was talk on the street that trouble might erupt.

Fallujah is part of al Anbar province in the Sunni Triangle, a region north and west of the capital that has been a hotbed of opposition to the U.S. presence.

U.S. Marines are expected to go back to Fallujah and try to subdue some of the unrest.

Iraqis protest in Baghdad

Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of Baghdad, chanting anti-American slogans, in protest of the closure of a Baghdad newspaper.

On Sunday, the U.S.-led civil administration in Iraq closed newspaper Al Hawza for 60 days, accusing its publishers of inciting violence against coalition troops.

Protesters walked toward the Convention Center, where the coalition holds many of its activities. They set up a stage near the center, where Sheikh Hazim al-A'ragr, imam of Khadimiyah Mosque, led Friday prayers.

The streets leading up to the center were packed with people shouting: "Long live Sadr," "America and the Governing Council are infidels," and "Allow us to fight America."

The cleric has been increasingly outspoken since Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin was killed by Israel last month.

Israel considered the wheelchair-bound Yassin a promoter of terrorism, responsible for many killings.

Sadr said that even though Yassin "has killed a large number of people this does not justify the way he was brutally murdered."

CNN's Kevin Flower, Susan Kroll, and Kianne Sadeq contributed to this report.


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