US special forces have said they arrested Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, one of Saddam Hussein's three half-brothers, in Baghdad early yesterday, writes Lara Marlowe in Baghdad
"Early this morning, coalition special operations forces, supported by US Marines, captured Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti," Brig Gen Vincent Brooks told a news conference at war headquarters in Qatar yesterday.
He said Barzan was captured alone based on a tip from Iraqis.
"Barzan is . . . an adviser to the former regime leader with extensive knowledge of the regime's inner working. There were no friendly or enemy casualties," Gen Brooks said.
Barzan was No 52 and the five of clubs in a pack of cards distributed to US troops featuring the 55 most-wanted Iraqis.
However, Barzan, although an adviser to Saddam, was not one of the top-ranking members of the regime.
Like Watban al-Tikriti, another half-brother who was arrested soon after US forces entered Baghdad, Barzan al-Tikriti was the offspring of Saddam Hussein's mother Subha and her second husband, Ibrahim Hassan al-Majid.
The regime was founded on family ties and intermarriage. Saddam's eldest son Uday took Barzan's daughter as his first wife, but later divorced her, remarried and divorced again. Uday had a reputation for kidnapping women and murdering their brothers or husbands.
It was Uday who shot his Uncle Watban in the leg during a reception in August 1995. Both of Saddam's sons, Uday and Qusay, distrusted Barzan, accusing him of trying to undermine the regime during his long stay in Geneva.
But it is Barzan al-Tikriti's long stint as head of the Ba'athist secret police that may prompt human rights groups to seek his trial for crimes against humanity. Barzan earned a fearful reputation as one of the regime's most cruel torturers. In 1991, he was sent to Geneva, ostensibly as Iraq's ambassador to UN organisations there. But insiders said he oversaw Saddam's fortune in Europe, and possibly helped in procurement for weapons programmes. Despite his usefulness, Barzan angered Uday and Qusay by criticising the lack of democracy in Iraq.
Three rival clans vied for influence around Saddam: his sons, his half-brothers and the Majid sons-in-law and cousins. The sons have so far not be touched by US invaders. Only one half brother, Sabawi, who served as head of security after the last Gulf War, remains at large. Saddam allegedly suspected Sabawi and Barzan of colluding against him. Though they officially remained his advisers, he kept his distance from them in recent years.
Uday helped plan the murder of two of the Majid sons-in-laws after their defection to Jordan in 1996. A third Majid cousin, "Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majid, was recently killed by British forces in Basra.
Though Iraqis were pleased to hear of Barzan's arrest, there is still widespread dissatisfaction - and suspicion - about the fact that neither Saddam, his sons, nor any of the regime's top leaders have been found.
Thousands of unmarked graves have been found outside the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
Kurdish officials said at least 2,000 unmarked graves were discovered just outside the oil-rich city, in an area where Saddam's forces had repressed Iraqi Kurds in the past. The officials said the area was a mass grave where the Iraqi army killed Kurds in the late 1980s.