After Arrest, Sunni Leader Urges Unity

A prominent Sunni Muslim politician briefly detained by U.S. troops urged Iraqis on Tuesday to continue to participate in the new government and not use his “extremely aggressive and humiliating” arrest as an excuse to deepen the nation’s sectarian divides.

Appearing on national television, Mohsen Abdel Hamid, head of the Iraqi Islamic Party, thanked Shiite Muslim and Kurdish politicians, including Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari and President Jalal Talabani, for their support after his arrest early Monday.

“Iraqis from north to south objected to my detention. All the political parties contacted me and condemned the act,” said Hamid, who was released after being interrogated for more than five hours. “We are here with others trying to end sectarianism ... so the Iraqis can unite to draft the constitution so we can all participate in the next elections.”

Hamid’s arrest offered Iraq’s often-fractious ethnic and sectarian groups the chance to make a rare show of unity. But it was a severe embarrassment for U.S. officials, who have been urging wider inclusion of Sunnis in a political process largely controlled by Shiites and Kurds. And it raised questions about how effectively U.S. diplomats guiding the democracy-building process have shared strategy and priorities with the military contingent.

Hamid had encouraged his party to boycott the Jan. 30 election that brought a Shiite-led government to power. Lately, though, he has been a conciliatory voice among Sunnis, urging participation in the drafting of the constitution.

But he has also criticized recent military crackdowns aimed at containing insurgents, saying he feared that the sweeps would be used as pretexts to target Sunnis, who enjoyed favored status under former dictator Saddam Hussein.

The arrest of Hamid threatened to undermine Iraq’s fragile political process. Posters quickly appeared in some neighborhoods condemning his detention and disparaging the U.S. and Jafari’s government for the arrest.

“The present government is either incapable or [is a] collaborator in the attack on our symbols and leadership,” said one poster in a west Baghdad neighborhood.

In Washington, Pentagon officials said U.S. troops had never planned a specific operation to capture Hamid, who once served as head of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, which has since been dissolved. Instead, troops arrived at the house of the politician, officials said, after getting intelligence from two previous raids that insurgents might be hiding there.

No senior commander in Iraq or Washington had ordered Hamid captured, Pentagon officials said.

“As soon as [top U.S. generals in Baghdad] figured out who this guy was, they released him,” said one senior Defense Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the political sensitivity of the situation.

A second official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Defense officials could not ascertain whether the Americans were deliberately given bad information. The official said the earlier raids had taken place soon before the operation at Hamid’s residence. “My sense was that they did not recognize who they had on their hands,” the second official said.

But Hamid cast aspersions on U.S. claims that his arrest was a simple mistake. Angry and shaken, he told reporters that U.S. soldiers had been “extremely aggressive” and that as they stormed his home before dawn they called him by his full name. This, he said, “proves that it was not a mistake but that it was done intentionally.”

He said the troops then threw a hood over his head and took him away by helicopter. The soldiers, who brought along dogs and broke furniture, also arrested his sons and bodyguards, Hamid said.

Jafari reiterated that his government was surprised by the arrest and condemned it. Iraqi officials had contacted the U.S. command and “asked for an explanation,” he said. “We are taking serious measures to prevent this from happening again.”

Hamid’s detention comes as both U.S. and Iraqi forces are trying to contain a wave of violence. Hundreds of people, mostly civilians, died in a barrage of assassinations and suicide bombings in May.

On Tuesday, the attacks continued as a car bomber in Baqubah struck a passing convoy of Iraqi national guardsmen, killing two and injuring 10.

“When we got close to the pickup, a huge explosion took place,” said Luay Hasab Allah Enad, an injured guardsman. “The driver and the one who was sitting beside him were charred. Almost all the Iraqi national guardsmen with me were harmed. Some were critically injured.”

In Mosul, gunmen killed Jerges Mohammed Sultan, a local TV anchor, police said.

In Al Anbar province west of Baghdad, the governor-elect was found dead Sunday, apparently killed in a clash between U.S. troops and insurgents, officials said Tuesday.

Raja Nawaf, kidnapped three weeks ago, was found blindfolded and bound in a house near Rawah, an Iraqi government spokesman said.

The U.S. military said fighters in the house fired on American troops patrolling the area. After a brief, heavy gunfight, soldiers entered and found the body of the governor-elect, as well as four dead and four injured fighters, plus weapons and explosives.

The discovery of Nawaf’s body ended a mystery as to his whereabouts. Days after he was abducted, an Iraqi official and relatives reported, erroneously, that his captors had freed him. U.S. officials said they hadn’t seen the politician until his body was found.

The U.S. military confirmed that a Marine had been killed in combat Monday near Ramadi.

Near the southern city of Nasiriya, a military helicopter went down, killing four Italians, Associated Press reported.

In Baghdad, Iraqi security forces swept through the streets in convoys Tuesday. New checkpoints have been set up encircling the city as part of a crackdown by Iraqi security personnel.

Nevertheless, gunmen attacked Iraqi police commandos, killing three near the Khadra neighborhood, officials said.

Times staff writers Raheem Salman, Caesar Ahmed and Shamil Aziz in Baghdad, Mark Mazzetti in Washington and special correspondents in Mosul and Baqubah contributed to this report.