BAGHDAD — A nephew of Saddam Hussein serving a life sentence in a northern Iraqi prison escaped Saturday in what authorities believe might have been an inside job.
Ayman Sabawi, the son of Hussein's half-brother, was captured last year during a raid near Tikrit, Hussein's hometown. He was convicted of possessing illegal weapons and manufacturing explosives for Sunni insurgents.
Police said Sabawi fled Saturday afternoon in a car that had been waiting outside the prison in Badush, about 45 miles west of the northern city of Mosul. Authorities are investigating whether night-shift guards helped him escape.
Sabawi's escape came as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld made a trip to Iraq in his final days at the Pentagon. Air Force Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed that Rumsfeld left Washington on Friday for Iraq, saying, "He wanted to take this opportunity to express his thanks to the troops, and also let them know that he certainly appreciates the sacrifices they make every day."
Meanwhile, leaders from the western province of Al Anbar, the heartland of the Sunni insurgency, met with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad in Baghdad to ask for help in rebuilding the local economy, arming police and securing the main highway from the Jordanian border to Baghdad, which runs through their province. They also asked him for a halt to U.S. bombings in the military's hunt for insurgents.
"Our goal is to bring Anbar to a safe shore, because any security failure or deterioration in Anbar would reflect poorly on all Iraq," Al Anbar Gov. Mamoun Sami Rasheed said.
Two U.S. soldiers were killed and three injured Saturday while patrolling Ramadi, Al Anbar's provincial capital, when a roadside bomb exploded near their Humvee, the military said in a statement. A Marine died Thursday in Al Anbar combat, the military said, raising the number of troops killed to 2,913. According to icasualties.org\o7,\f7 more than a third of the U.S. and allied foreign troops killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion have died in Al Anbar.
The delegation of provincial leaders asked Khalilzad for an Army brigade to patrol the highway and help recruit police officers, said Haqi Ferhan, who identified himself as a lawyer representing tribal leaders opposed to the insurgents.
Police in the province have already recruited 11,000 officers, Ferhan said, but are struggling to outfit them.
