THE LAST 24 HOURS

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THE LAST 24 HOURS

U.S. soldier who deserted Iraq-bound regiment accuses U.S. of war crimes.

VANCOUVER (AP) - A U.S. soldier who deserted his Iraq-bound regiment and sought asylum in Canada said the U.S war in Iraq was illegal and he accused the United States of committing war crimes. Pte. Jeremy Hinzman, 25, also defended his decision to leave his unit with the 82nd Airborne Division on Jan. 2, about two weeks after he learned his unit would be deployed to Iraq. He fled to Toronto along with his wife and child. "The Iraqi war is illegal according to international standards. It was condemned by most the international community," Hinzman said in a speech Tuesday sponsored by an anti-war group and an Arab advocacy group. "If I had participated in the Iraq occupation, I would have participated in a criminal enterprise," he said. Hinzman is believed to be the first U.S. soldier to apply for refugee status in Canada after refusing combat duty in Iraq. A spokeswoman for the North Carolina-based 82nd Airborne Division has said Hinzman could be arrested, but that the army would not search for him. Hinzman served three years in the army prior to January. He had applied for conscientious objector status before his unit was sent to Afghanistan in 2002, but the army told him it had lost his application. The Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board is due to begin hearings in July on Hinzman's case. Last week, a U.S. soldier who refused to return to his Florida National Guard unit after a two-week furlough last October was sentenced to a year in prison for deserting his unit in Iraq.Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia had said that he disobeyed orders to return to his unit because his war experiences in Iraq made him decide to seek status as a conscientious objector. He later turned himself in to army officials.

Iraqi spiritual leaders consent to remove militias from Najaf

Photo: Iraqi children run as away from a burning street barricade at the entrance to the suburb of Sadr City, Baghdad.

NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - U.S. troops said they scored a major success against Iraqi Shiite Muslim militiamen , arresting a key lieutenant of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in clashes hospital and militia officials said killed 24 people and wounded nearly 50. Later, Iraq's national-security adviser said al-Sadr had offered to remove his fighters from Najaf - except for those who live there. Al-Sadr demanded U.S. and other coalition troops "return to base," allowing Iraqi police to regain control of the city. Mouwafak al-Rubaie, a Shiite and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government's national-security adviser, said the offer was made in a letter from al-Sadr to the city's Shiite religious leadership. The young radical also demanded "broad discussions" within the Shiite community over the future of his al-Mahdi Army militia and that legal proceedings against him in a murder case be deferred until then. Al-Sadr said he is making this offer because of "the tragic condition" in Najaf after weeks of fighting between his militiamen and the Americans and the damage suffered by the city's holiest shrine, the Imam Ali mosque. There was no confirmation from al-Sadr or the city's Shiite hierachy, which has been trying to mediate an end to the crisis for weeks. Riyadh al-Nouri, al-Sadr's brother-in-law, offered no resistance when U.S. troops raided his home during a series of clashes in the Shiite holy city, said Azhar al-Kinani, a staffer in al-Sadr's office in Najaf. Also Wednesday, three U.S. marines were killed in Anbar province "while conducting security and stability operations," the military said, decline to release further details because of security concerns. The province includes the western suburbs of Baghdad, as well as Fallujah, Ramadi and Qaim. In other developments, diplomatic sources in Baghdad confirmed reports published Wednesday that Prof. Hussain al-Shahristani, a Canadian-educated science adviser to the Iraqi government who spent years in Abu Ghraib prison, was among several people under consideration for the job of prime minister of an interim government to take power June 30. The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, emphasized that no decision had been made and other candidates were under consideration. Also Wednesday, masked gunmen opened fire on a convoy taking Russian technicians to work at a Baghdad power station, killing two and wounding at least five, Iraqi and Russian officials said. It was the latest in a number of attacks on employees with the Interenergoservis company. In Moscow, the executive director of the company, Alexander Rybinsky, said Wednesday the firm would evacuate all its staff from Iraq. The attacks on the Russians could be an attempt to undermine international efforts to rebuild the country, since Russian expertise has played an important role in reviving Iraq's electricity industry and other infrastructure. A roadside bomb exploded Wednesday on Baghdad's Tahreer Square near a main bridge across the Tigris River, damaging a U.S. army vehicle. There was no word on casualties. In Baqouba, about 50 kilometres northeast of Baghdad, five people were killed and seven injured when a roadside bomb exploded near a convoy in which Ali Hussein, the police chief of Baladrooz, was travelling. Hussein escaped injury. Elsewhere, the Polish command said a coalition base outside of Karbala, 80 kilometres north of Najaf, came under mortar fire late Tuesday. Demolition teams also defused three roadside bombs in the area, a spokesman for the Polish-led multinational force said Wednesday. The mortar rounds were fired at Camp Kilo, where mostly Bulgarian troops are based, Maj. Slawomir Walenczykowski said. The attack resulted in no injuries or damage. Al-Sadr's fighters have cleared out of Karbala following weeks of heavy clashes with U.S. and coalition forces. But clashes persist in Najaf and its twin city, Kufa. Al-Sadr fighters fired rocket-propelled grenades and mortars during three hours of skirmishes in Najaf that ended about dawn Wednesday, residents said. Some exchanges of fire were also reported around the city's Revolution of 1920 Square. Fighting around some of the holiest cities of Shia Islam has angered many Shiites in Iraq and elsewhere and has led to calls for both the Americans and the militiamen to pull back from the shrines.

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