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Tariq Aziz, a prize catch for U.S.

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington APRIL 25. Administration officials here are pleased at the surrender of Tariq Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister in the Saddam Hussein regime, and are hopeful that many more members of the deposed regime will be captured or will be turning themselves in over the next several days. Mr. Aziz, who made it to America's "Most Wanted List of 55'' is seen in many circles here as an important catch but he is not seen as belonging to the inner circle of Mr. Hussein. Yet, the kind of prominence Mr. Aziz enjoyed has led to an impression that he could perhaps lead the United States to where some of the prominent members of the former regime may be hiding.

The last time Mr. Aziz was seen publicly was on March 19 and since the fall of Baghdad, there has been speculation about his fate including that he had put a gun to his head or was executed.

What surprised many in this part of the world was why Mr. Aziz dropped out of sight during the war and much of the talking for the Saddam Hussein regime was done by its Information Minister, who was giving bizarre briefings and was the butt of jokes.

Senior officials here acknowledge that being a Christian and not being a member of the Tikriti clan, Mr. Aziz was not a part of the inner circle of Mr. Hussein; yet, he could have a wealth of information on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

Mr. Aziz, like other officials in the fallen regime, has denied that Iraq had any weapons of mass destruction.

Meanwhile, in an interview to NBC News and during a tour of Ohio, the United States President, George W. Bush, talked of two important issues pertaining to Iraq — the fate of Mr. Hussein and the question of the weapons of mass destruction, the existence of which was the basis of going to war. Mr. Bush told NBC's Tom Brokaw that there was some evidence that Mr. Hussein might have died in the first round of air strikes. But Mr. Bush made it clear that no declaration will be made until the U.S. is certain.

"The people will wonder if Saddam Hussein is dead or not. There's some evidence that... suggests he might be. We would never make that declaration until we are more certain, but the person who helped direct the attacks believes that Saddam, at a very minimum, was severely wounded'', Mr. Bush said.

On a tour of Ohio promoting his tax cuts, Mr. Bush, for the first time, raised the possibility that Iraq could have moved or destroyed its weapons of mass destruction.

"It is going to take time to find them. But we know he had them and whether he destroyed them, moved them or hid them, we're going to find out the truth'', the President remarked.

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