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Iraq's 'Dr. Germ,' military leader in US custody
( 2003-05-13 12:51 ) (7 )

US forces have taken into custody two more key figures from Iraq's toppled government, the British-educated microbiologist dubbed "Dr. Germ" and the former armed forces chief of staff, officials said on Monday.

Rihab Rashid Taha Al-Azzawi Al-Tikriti, who received her doctorate from Britain's University of East Anglia before spearheading Iraq's biological arms development, was taken into custody over the weekend, said a defense official speaking on condition of anonymity.

The defense official said Ibrahim Ahmad Abd al Sattar Muhammad al Tikriti, listed as No. 11 on the U.S. list of the top 55 most-wanted Iraqis and designated as the jack of spades in the U.S. deck of cards of fugitive Iraqis, also was in the control of U.S. forces.

"We have him in custody," the official said.

Best known for playing a prominent role in the recapture of the al-Faw peninsula during the Iraq-Iran war of the 1980s, he became armed forces chief of staff in 1999, was considered "very loyal to Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)" and was thought to be close to the Iraqi president's son Qusay, said another U.S. official, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

Twenty of the 55 on the list had been apprehended, with three others dead, the defense official said.

Only one other captured official from Saddam's former government ranks higher on the U.S. most-wanted list -- Air Defense Force Commander Muzahim Sa'b Hassan al Tikriti, who was No. 10 on the list and was taken into custody on April 23, according to U.S. Central Command.

'OBVIOUSLY IMPORTANT TO US'

Taha is married to former Iraqi Oil Minister Amir Muhammed Rasheed, who surrendered to U.S. forces on April 28. Ranked No. 47 on the U.S. list, he ran Iraq's military industries until becoming oil minister in 1995. Taha is not on the list.

"She has a background in biological weapons, and so that is obviously important to us," said Maj. Brad Lowell, a spokesman for Central Command, which described her as "former director of the Iraqi bacterial/biological program."

Officials indicated that Taha surrendered to U.S. forces, but did not provide details.

The announcement of her apprehension came a week after it was disclosed a second Iraqi female scientist linked to Saddam's biological weapons program had been apprehended. American-educated microbiologist Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, the only woman on the U.S. list of most-wanted Iraqis, is known by the nickname "Mrs. Anthrax."

The United States accused Saddam's government of possessing large stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons, and cited those arms as a key justification for war. U.S. search teams have not found any such weapons.

Taha has admitted producing germ warfare agents in the past, including anthrax and botulinum. She has said all such Iraqi weapons were destroyed.

Biological weapons are living microorganisms and biological toxins harnessed deliberately to kill or sicken others.

U.N. weapons investigators tagged her with the nickname "Dr. Germ" based on her work in germ warfare agents.

In an interview this year with ABC News, Taha said her work helped protect Iraqis from Israel. "We haven't done anything to harm other people. It is our right to be capable enough to defend ourselves -- all what we have done is just a deterrent."