Google news lets me catch big news stories which, for one reason or another, aren't getting any coverage in the US. There are a number of versions of this story. I have no idea if it is true. Here's a version of the story from the (London) Times :
Baghdad chief 'betrayed Saddam'Paris: A Special Republican Guard chief, who is a cousin of Saddam Hussein, ordered forces not to defend Baghdad after making a deal with the United States, a French newspaper said yesterday.
Le Journal du Dimanche cited an Iraqi source close to Saddam's former regime. It said that General Maher Sufian al-Tikriti left aboard a US military transport aircraft bound for a US base outside Iraq.
His departure, along with that of a 20-strong entourage, came on April 8 - the day before US forces swept into Baghdad, and after US Marines said that the general had been killed. He ordered his troops to lay down their weapons before he left.
An Arab diplomat told the paper that it was a CIA plot, planned much earlier. (AFP)
It looks like something close to a coup may have taken place in Iraq after all.
| Iraq | War |
