600 Held in Shooting of Hussein’s Son

More than 600 officials have been arrested following an assassination attempt on the eldest son of President Saddam Hussein, according to former Iraqi intelligence chief. “The arrests were made within what is called in Iraq an emergency plan, which stipulates the detention of all suspected figures within the army, government and party,” said former intelligence chief Wafiq Samaraei, who defected to Syria in 1994. Authorities said Uday Hussein, 32, was shot in an ambush Dec. 12 while driving in a suburb of Baghdad, the capital. He has since been shown on television greeting well-wishers from his hospital bed. Uday blames the attack on Iran, but Iran has denied having any role in the shooting.