Former Iraqi oil minister, other Iraqi officials sought in Greek waters

By an OGJ correspondent

NICOSIA, Apr. 14 -- As US-led forces put a former Iraqi oil minister on their most-wanted list—to be killed, captured, or pursued—the Greek coast guard was reported to be seeking three oil tankers in the Eastern Mediterranean carrying fugitive Iraqi officials.

The Greek coast guard was placed on high alert over the weekend after US authorities warned that 3 tankers, said to have sailed from "a Middle Eastern port," were carrying top Iraqi officials and could be heading for Greek waters.

Coast guard sources said air and sea patrols were stepped up in response to the US tanker tip-off, according to Greek press reports.

The Greek daily, Kathimerini, citing official sources, said senior Baath party officials, together with members of their families, may have escaped US and UK forces that entered Baghdad and Basra, then boarded the tankers.

The paper did not name the country or port the ships may have sailed from, but US officials repeatedly have said that Syria has been receiving Iraqi officials fleeing coalition forces.

Washington responds
President George W. Bush and Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Sunday that some top members of Saddam Hussein's government had taken refuge in Syria, while others have moved on to different countries.

Syrian officials have denied the charges.

The ships, according to information made available to the Greek coast guard, were headed for a European Union port and would probably pass through international waters south of Crete within the next few days.

Greek coast guard vessels, including patrol boats equipped with advanced electronic tracking devices and manned with special forces, have already set off for Crete from the eastern Aegean. The coast guard also is in close cooperation with the Greek navy and NATO officials.

US-led coalition forces earlier said they were committed to capturing Iraqi leadership attempting to flee via sea, and they were using all available military assets to capture them.

"This includes using the full capabilities of US and coalition military aircraft, warships, submarines, and satellites," the US Fifth Fleet said in a statement on Mar. 21. "As part of this search operation, US Fifth Fleet and coalition forces are currently querying commercial vessels in the region, particularly those operating in vicinity of Umm Qasr and Khor Abd Allah waterways.

"Anyone suspected of assisting or transporting Iraqi leadership should expect to be boarded, and will risk the sinking or seizure of vessel, and will be detained and jailed," the Navy said.

Rasheed tops wanted list
The stepped up search in the Eastern Mediterranean follows an announcement that Iraq's former oil minister Amer Mohammad Rasheed is one of 52 officials being sought by US-led coalition forces. Central Command spokesman US Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said the list of 52 includes Hussein, his two sons, Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, and others linked to Hussein's administration and Baath Party.

Apart from his service as oil minister, Rasheed was a general in the Iraqi army and is believed to have overseen previous manufacture of weapons. Rasheed became oil minister in June 1995, but was unexpectedly removed from the position in January this year. The official reason for his removal was that he was beyond Iraq's mandatory retirement age of 63.

Experts questioned whether the sudden departure of Rasheed was connected to the role of his wife, Rihab Taha, known to be near the top of a list of biological weapons scientists UN arms inspectors were trying to interview.

Taha is thought to have carried out work on germs that cause botulism poisoning and anthrax infections at the top-secret biological research laboratory al-Hakim in the late 1980s.

Almost as suddenly, Rasheed was reappointed Iraq's oil minister and, shortly after the outbreak of the war in March, denounced coalition forces during a press conference at Baghdad's Daura refinery.

"We shall fight a just way. We shall win it and we will rid the world of their poison," Rasheed said at that time. "Yes, there will be great losses, but what's important in war is the end result."