US frees 'Dr. Germ' and other Iraq detainees

BAGHDAD -- Saddam Hussein's weapons specialists, nicknamed ''Dr. Germ" and ''Mrs. Anthrax" in the Western media, are being released by US forces, an Iraqi lawyer said yesterday, and the US military confirmed several ''high-value detainees" were being freed.

The State Department said Rihab Taha, who was dubbed Dr. Germ by the press and admitted to producing germ warfare agents, was released because US forces could not justify keeping her as a security threat.

''Her internment was no longer necessary for imperative reasons of security," a State Department spokesman, Justin Higgins, said by telephone. ''She has been fully screened. We do not believe she is linked to terrorists or other violent actors in Iraq."

The State Department said it had no more details about any other releases over the last few days. Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson said eight leading detainees had been freed Saturday.

He said they were among 27 prisoners, considered senior members of the administration overthrown by US forces in 2003, who now posed no threat to security, were neither charged with crimes nor material witnesses, and had no intelligence value.

Johnson declined to identify any of the detainees or comment on the fate of those still being held. Lawyers said Tareq Aziz, Hussein's right-hand man in diplomacy, was among other detainees being considered for release.

Baghdad lawyer Badia Aref said 26 people, including five who were ill, were now in the process of being released. He said among them were Huda Ammash, nicknamed ''Mrs. Anthrax" by the media, and Taha.

Aref declined to say whether they had already left Baghdad airport, where they were held.

''There were no accusations against them. Other lists are being prepared and might include Tareq Aziz," said Aref, who acts as a lawyer for Aziz and Ammash.

Ammash and Taha were both detained in May 2003.

Lawyers acting for Ammash have said she is gravely ill with cancer. She was the only woman included in the US military's list of the 55 most-wanted members of Hussein's regime. She has a master's degree from Texas Woman's University and a doctorate in microbiology from the University of Missouri.

Taha has a doctorate in plant toxins from the University of East Anglia in Britain, and is married to Amir Muhammed Rasheed, a former Iraqi oil minister also in US detention.