Saddam Hussein's ex-army chief has disappeared from his home in Denmark, where he was in exile, writes Brendan Killeen, in Copenhagen
The Danish government has requested an assurance from the US that the CIA was not involved in the disappearance of Gen Nizar al-Khazraji, one-time chief of staff of the Iraqi army, who was being held under house arrest in Denmark pending an investigation into war crimes allegations.
Gen al-Khazraji was reported missing from his home in Denmark by his family, after he apparently failed to return from a walk to smoke a cigarette on March 17th. The Danish police have been investigating Gen al-Khazraji for over a year after a Kurdish refugee living in Denmark reportedly recognised him on the street and reported him.
The highest-ranking military official to defect from President Saddam's regime, Gen al-Khazraji was the head of the Iraqi armed forces in the late 1980s.
He became a military adviser to the Iraqi President but fell from favour after advising against the invasion of Kuwait. In 1995 he fled with his family to Jordan before travelling to Denmark in 1999, where he has been living since.
Last November, al-Khazraji (64) was put under de facto house arrest in the town of Søro, 50 km south of Copenhagen, after being indicted for the organisation and implementation of war crimes against the Kurdish minority of northern Iraq from 1984 to 1988.
He was charged with violating articles 146 and 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which deals with the protection of civilians in time of war.
"Al-Khazraji maintains that he was not involved in these attacks. However, a division that he was in charge of is believed to have been responsible, so there is a major contradiction," said Mr Stig Nielsen, Amnesty International's Denmark spokesman.
Gen al-Khazraji could not be sent back to Iraq because of international law protecting individuals from persecution. However, he was subject to police surveillance, and had his passport confiscated. "It is extremely regrettable that the chief of staff has apparently vanished into thin air. This is a deeply troubling situation," Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister, said during a press conference.
The government has promised an investigation into events surrounding the disappearance. The Justice Minister in particular is facing cross-party criticism over lax security around the general and a crucial five-hour delay during which police failed to act on news that he had disappeared.
This delay fuelled speculation in the Danish press that Gen al-Khazraji was spirited away by the CIA and is now in northern Iraq, assisting allied forces and using his considerable experience and strong connections within the Iraqi military, in an attempt to convince Iraqi generals to switch sides and bring an end to the war.
One newspaper has claimed that four CIA agents staying in separate hotels around Copenhagen had the general under surveillance before making contact. They then drove him to a military air base near Hamburg, Germany, before flying him to Saudi Arabia.
Last Wednesday, giving in to increasing pressure, the Danish government made the official request for an assurance from the US that the CIA was not involved.
A spokesman for the US embassy in Denmark said he could not say how long the response would take.
"We have no knowledge of the general's whereabouts, how he left the country - if indeed he has left. The embassy has had no contact with him before or since his disappearance."
Gen al-Khazraji's name was mentioned at two recent high-level Washington think-tanks on a new regime in Iraq, and he has openly admitted his desire to lead a coup against Saddam's regime.
However, the Danish government, an active supporter of the US-led attack on Iraq, may find itself at the centre of extradition proceedings against this potentially key figure in US plans. At the very least, the government would find it difficult to support any new regime that included Gen al-Khazraji.
A spokesperson for the Danish Ministry of Justice agreed the government would be obliged to try to have the general extradited back to this country, if he resurfaces. However, the lack of any formal extradition agreements between Denmark and Iraq may make any real attempts to bring the general to justice impossible.