IRAQ Ex-official is captured

He was once Iraq's second-most powerful man.
TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) -- Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former Iraqi vice president known as "Saddam's knuckles" for his ruthlessness, was turned over to U.S. forces in Mosul today.
Ramadan was captured today by Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq and an Arab satellite television station said he was disguised in peasant clothing.
The 65-year-old former vice president was once considered Iraq's second-most powerful man, but his influence declined in the later years of Saddam Hussein's regime. He was No. 20 on the U.S. most-wanted list of former regime figures.
Also today, the top American official in Iraq accused Syria of letting "terrorists" cross the border.
The U.S. military also reported another attack on U.S. forces. Assailants driving alongside an ambulance for cover fired on soldiers in one of Saddam's palaces on Monday night, a military official said. No soldiers were injured.
Who caught Ramadan
Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite broadcaster, said Ramadan was captured today by troops of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
Pentagon spokeswoman Chief Diane Perry confirmed that Ramadan had been turned over to the U.S. Army today.
Ramadan, who became vice president in March 1991 and was a Revolutionary Command Council member, headed a 1970 court that executed 44 officers for plotting to overthrow the regime.
The U.S. civilian administrator of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, said in remarks published today that Syria, which opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, was allowing "foreign terrorists" to sneak across the border into Iraq.
"We held talks with the Syrians in this regard, we hope to see better cooperation," Bremer told the London-based Arabic newspaper Al Hayat.
Iran
Bremer also said he was "still worried" over Iran's meddling in Iraq's affairs, accusing Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Iranian intelligence of actively working against the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.
"This is irresponsible conduct and runs counter to Iraq's interests. We believe that a free Iraq must not be subject to any interference by its neighbors," Bremer was quoted as saying.
Monday night's attack came shortly after a bomb blew up along the same road in Tikrit, 120 miles north of Baghdad, Lt. Col. Steve Russell of the 4th Infantry Division said.
"We don't believe that the ambulance itself was engaged" in the firing on the troops, Russell said. "This is not the first time we've seen ambulances used in cross fire."
But Maj. Josslyn Aberle, also of the 4th Infantry, said that while no gunfire came from the ambulance, soldiers found an automatic rifle and ammunition inside. The three occupants, one of whom was wounded, were detained for questioning.
An audiotape, purportedly from an Al-Qaida militant, calls on Muslims around the world to travel to Iraq and fight the U.S.-led occupation.
The speaker on the audiotape, obtained by The Associated Press and aired Monday on Al-Arabiya television, claimed to be Abdur Rahman al-Najdi, a Saudi-born militant sought by the United States.
A wanted poster for al-Najdi was circulated by U.S. forces in Afghanistan earlier this year, alongside others for Osama bin Laden, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and other militants. Western intelligence sources believe the Taliban, Al-Qaida and fighters loyal to Afghan rebel leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are working together to oppose U.S.-led forces and the Afghan government.
The tape was thought to be the first public call by bin Laden's Al-Qaida terror network for Muslims to join the fight in Iraq.
In Washington, a U.S. official familiar with the audio message could not confirm its authenticity. However, the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said al-Najdi is a known senior Al-Qaida propagandist and financier who has released messages in the past to boost the morale within Al-Qaida's ranks.
Pipeline fire
Today, a suspicious fire continued to rage on Iraq's main northern oil export pipeline into Turkey, the U.S. Army said. Accounts varied over whether the blaze was accidental or an act of sabotage. It would take at least 10 days to repair the damaged pipeline once the fire is extinguished, U.S. military officials said.
Bremer said Monday that the sabotage of water, petroleum and electrical lines was slowing U.S. efforts to rebuild Iraq.
"It's people who do not share the vision of a free Iraq with a vibrant economy the president has set forth and which Iraqis share," Bremer said on CNN. "These are probably people left over from the old regime who are simply fighting a rear guard action."
In the past three months, such attacks have cost billions of dollars in damage, according to Bremer. But he warned that the United States would not be pushed out of Iraq.
Most people in Baghdad had water service today after saboteurs blew an enormous hole in a 5-foot-diameter water main in the north of the city.
In other attacks, a U.S. soldier was killed by an explosive device in Baghdad on Monday, but the military said it was not clear if the blast was the result of a hostile act.
Two 4th Infantry soldiers also were wounded in a separate incident when their patrol was fired on with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire in the town of Balad, the army said. Both soldiers were evacuated to an Army support hospital in stable condition.