(CBS/AP) U.S.-backed Iraqi forces stormed the Health Ministry and arrested the No. 2 official Thursday, accusing him of diverting millions of dollars to the biggest Shiite militia and allowing death squads use of ambulances and government hospitals to carry out kidnappings and killings.

Shiite politicians allied with anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr denounced the arrest of Deputy Health Minister Hakim al-Zamili as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and demanded that the prime minister intervene to win his release.

CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan spoke to Ali-al-Shammari, the outraged Iraqi Health Minister, who protested the innocence of his deputy.

"I will not accept that he will work with me and at the same time he is kidnapping or killing other people," he said.

But Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his senior advisers remained silent. Al-Maliki, a Shiite, is under strong U.S. pressure to crack down on Shiite militias and has pledged not to interfere in the security operation to rid Baghdad's streets of gunmen from both Islamic sects.

Logan reports that al-Zamili is suspected of allowing al-Sadr loyalists easy access to Baghdad's hospitals, where the militants would often kill doctors, nurses, and family members who came to visit loved ones injured in the daily attacks - or to collect their bodies.

The arrest took place at 9 a.m., an hour after Iraqi government offices generally open. Iraqi troops pushed through the iron gates of the Health Ministry building in northern Baghdad, ordered people to drop to the ground and rushed to al-Zamili's ground-floor office, witnesses said.

One of al-Zamili's bodyguards said American soldiers accompanying the force asked everyone to step aside and approached the deputy minister, who introduced himself. A U.S. soldier handcuffed al-Zamili and led him away, the guard said on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisal.

AP Television News footage of al-Zamili's office showed overturned chairs and smashed computers along with scattered files and telephones on the floor. Dusty, white boot prints marked the door, apparently because the troops had kicked it in.

This arrest is seen in Iraq as a test of wills that will reveal how far the Iraqi Prime Minister is prepared to go in alienating his allies and supporting the latest U.S. effort to secure Baghdad, Logan reports.

Meanwhile, in Anbar province west of Baghdad, a U.S. air strike killed 13 insurgents in a raid on two safe houses where intelligence showed foreign fighters were assembled near Amiriyah, the military said. Five militants were detained and a weapons cache was found in an initial raid on a target near the safe houses.

Police and hospital officials in the area offered a conflicting account, saying the airstrike hit the village of Zaidan south of Abu Ghraib and flattened four houses, killing 45 people, including women, children and old people.

In other developments:

House Democratic leaders said Thursday that members will vote next week on a nonbinding resolution stating opposition to President Bush's decision to send more forces into combat and voicing support for the troops.

A military judge granted a Marine corporal's request Thursday to withdraw his guilty plea to charges of murdering an unarmed Iraqi civilian who was dragged from his home and shot. Cpl. Trent Thomas asked to change the plea, saying he no longer believes he is guilty. Thomas now says he believes he was following a lawful order.

The Senate handily confirmed Gen. George Casey as the next U.S. Army chief of staff Thursday in a roll call vote that some lawmakers used to dramatize their anger over his direction of the war in Iraq. Casey was confirmed by a bipartisan 83-14 vote. He had been top U.S. commander in Iraq since July 2004, but President George W. Bush replaced him with Army Gen. David Petraeus as part of an overhaul of his Iraq policies and his team of top U.S. officials in the Middle East.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said Thursday that officials were investigating a previously-unreported incident involving a civilian helicopter on Jan. 31 but gave no further details. The New York Times reported Wednesday that insurgents attacked the helicopter with ground fire and another American helicopter rescued passengers and crew. A quick reaction force suffered several casualties while responding to the crash scene, the newspaper said, citing unnamed American officials.

The Bosnian government said Thursday it would keep a team of Bosnian ordnance experts in Iraq through the end of the year. A 36-member Bosnian team has been working in the West Zone near Fallujah to identify and destroy unexploded ordnance. It had been scheduled to leave in April, without replacement.

Continued

 1  |   2  

© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

E-Mail Story

Print Story

Sphere

Share

Text Size:  A  A  A

Comments [ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not CBS News stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

Back To Top