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Commander: 'Not enough hate' for Iraqi civil war

Iraqis take legal custody of Saddam


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A U.S. soldier rolls up a flag Wednesday in Baghdad.
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The transfer of sovereignty hasn't eased violence in Iraq.

Rebuilding Iraq remains difficult after the U.S. handover.

Iraqi authorities take legal custody of Saddam Hussein.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As Iraq's interim government took legal custody of the country's ousted regime Wednesday, a U.S. Army commander said there wasn't enough hate in Iraq to fuel a civil war.

However, Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack, the commander who led the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq, said the city of Fallujah remains "a flashpoint" and a security issue for the new Iraqi government.

Swannack said the challenge is whether to marginalize local power brokers in that city, or acquiesce to those who want autonomy from the new central government.

Swannack said he had "never agreed to self-rule" in Fallujah while commanding security action there during postwar unrest. His strategy, he said, was to invite ad hoc militias to help fight those opposed to coalition forces, while not giving them the authority to act on their own.

He said the strategy was successful since it avoided a siege of the city.

Swannack commanded the 82nd from October 2002 through last month.

Taking questions from reporters at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Swannack said there is "not enough hate" for civil war to break out between Iraq's traditional rival Sunni and Shia Muslim populations. He said those two groups, and the Kurdish population in the north, are more likely to "coalesce for the future of Iraq."

He said there would be a "huge threshold" to have to breach before there could be any civil war, and urged the new Iraqi government to embrace all factions as it takes power.

Commander: Encourage Iraqis to ask questions

Swannack said "exported terrorists" from outside Iraq remain the brains and financing behind a loosely organized campaign of roadside bombs and other attacks.

"They facilitate operations with money or mind," he said, adding that the nature of Arab culture may unwittingly support the flow of outside insurgents.

"When an Arab invites another Arab into his home, it is as friends and not many questions are asked," Swannack told CNN. He said Iraqi leaders will have to encourage citizens to ask more questions and provide more tips to authorities when suspicious strangers pass through.

Swannack, at news briefings from the region during his time in Iraq, often complained he was unable to obtain warfighting hardware to help equip and prepare Iraqis to take charge of local security. Wednesday, he repeated his frustration at that problem as he recounted challenges while on the job there.

He also leveled some criticism at the now-disbanded Coalition Provisional Authority.

Swannack said top leaders were "great," including Coalition Administrator Paul Bremer, but that his ability to provide guidance and obtain support was hampered by lower-level "bureaucrats" who sometimes changed out after 60 days, leaving their discussions unpursued.

"My comments fell on deaf ears," he said.

Swannack in recent weeks completed his tour of duty in the region, and is now Deputy Commanding General of the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Saddam reported looking shaken during transfer

The United States relinquished legal custody of Saddam Hussein and 11 high-profile members of the former regime to Iraq's interim government, according to Salem Chalabi, executive director of the Iraqi Special Tribunal.

The detainees will face trial on charges of crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes at the tribunal, which was set up last year, interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Tuesday.

After Wednesday's transfer, Saddam looked visibly shaken, Chalabi said. He was advised that he had the right to legal counsel, Chalabi said, and he wanted to ask questions but was told he would be able to do so in a court appearance Thursday.

The ousted Iraqi leader is expected to be charged Thursday; however, the formal indictment could take months.

Saddam and the 11 others are no longer prisoners of war, but they will remain in the hands of the U.S.-led coalition's military until the Iraqi security apparatus is ready to hold them.

Legally, Saddam and his aides will be in Iraqi custody until their trials, which are not expected before next year. (Full story)

Other developments

  • The bounty on the head of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the accused mastermind of terror in Iraq, has been raised to $25 million, the State Department announced Wednesday. Spokesman Adam Ereli said Secretary of State Colin Powell authorized the increase from the previous reward of $10 million for Zarqawi's capture or conviction.
  • Coalition forces launched a strike late Wednesday on a safe house in Fallujah believed to have been used by the terrorist network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the fourth such strike in less than two weeks, U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said.
  • A mortar attack Wednesday wounded 11 American soldiers on a U.S. Army base near the Baghdad International Airport Wednesday morning, according to military sources.
  • Just north of Iraq's border with Kuwait, a Task Force 1st Armored Division soldier was killed and four other soldiers were injured in a "non-combat related" single-vehicle accident early Wednesday, the Army said in a written statement.
  • Tens of thousands of troops in the Middle East and Pacific region will for the first time be vaccinated for smallpox and anthrax, the Pentagon announced Wednesday. The vaccinations will be mandatory for troops in the region managed by U.S. Central Command, which stretches from Afghanistan in the north to Kenya in the south and encompasses Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
  • Pope John Paul II on Wednesday sent a message of congratulations to Iraq's interim president, Ghazi al-Yawar, on the re-establishment of the country's sovereignty.

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