IRAQ Insurgents target 2 hotels

COMBINED DISPATCHES
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein got his day in court, and Iraqi leaders and U.S. troops got back to the task of fighting an insurgency that shows no sign of abating, as rebels fired rockets at two hotels today.
One rocket struck the Sheraton Hotel on Firdous Square in central Baghdad but caused only minor damage. Another veered northward and exploded near the Baghdad Hotel, used by Western security contractors. One man was wounded.
"This is the sixth time that the Sheraton hotel has been hit since August," said Hussein Hadi, the night shift manager. "They think we have American troops here, [but] it's a civilian hotel. We have companies who have come to help reconstruct Iraq."
Firdous Square is where a statue of Saddam Hussein was hauled down April 9, 2003, in what became one of the defining images of the U.S.-led invasion.
Saddam in court
The attacks occurred a day after Saddam made a defiant court appearance to hear charges of war crimes and genocide against him. Some Iraqis questioned whether the court proceedings against him had come too early in the process of Iraq's political transition.
"This is not the time," said Mohammed Mahdi, watching with several co-workers at a hotel. "Yes, he needs to be brought to justice. But the country has too many other problems now that should be fixed first."
In an encouraging sign, Jordan's King Abdullah II said Thursday that his country might become the first Arab state to send troops to Iraq. Abdullah told the British Broadcasting Corp. "Newsnight" program, "I presume that if the Iraqis ask us for help directly it would be very difficult for us to say no."
There was no immediate comment today from Iraq because of prayer day.
Insurgent element
In Washington, a former Coalition Provisional Authority official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters that American officials now think the insurgency in Iraq is being carried out by about 4,000 to 5,000 Saddam loyalists.
Other violent acts are being committed by a couple hundred supporters of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and another group made up of hundreds of foreign fighters, said the official, who spoke on condition he not be identified. In addition to the hard-core members of these three groups, there are untold numbers of "supporters or facilitators," said the official, who is deeply familiar with the security situation in Iraq.
American officials think the followers of Saddam, not al-Zarqawi, pose the greatest threat to the new government.
Little information
But there is little Saddam has provided in the seven months since his capture to help illuminate the threat.
The CIA and other intelligence agencies learned virtually nothing of value from former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during more than six months of interrogations that ended this week with his hand-over to Iraqi legal custody, three senior U.S. officials said Thursday.
The officials, who had access to secret transcripts of Saddam's debriefings, said he provided no clues to the fate of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs and no information on whether his regime had contacts with terrorists.
Both were key Bush administration justifications for invading Iraq, but have since been called into serious question.
Saddam provided "very little -- almost nothing," said a former top official of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which dissolved June 28.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he stopped reading the transcripts after a couple of months.
In them, Saddam reminisced at length over his rise to power 35 years ago and the history of his Baath Party, he said. Those familiar topics apparently were raised by his CIA interrogators in a tactic meant to put captives at ease.
The former dictator was transferred to Iraqi legal control Wednesday but remains under U.S. guard.
L. Paul Bremer, who ran Iraq until a few days ago, said Thursday that the nation's future as a democracy hinges on whether security forces can curb violence enough to permit elections.
"Looking forward over the next six to eight months, the key question is going to be: Can they get security enough under control that credible elections can be held in January -- on schedule?" said Bremer, former administration of the now-defunct CPA in Iraq. "I believe they can. There's a lot of work to be done."
Momentous event
Whether it was time or not, Saddam's court appearance was momentous. Unaccompanied by a lawyer, he was presented with seven preliminary charges that included gassing thousands of Kurds in 1988, the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the suppression of 1991 revolts by Kurds and Shiites, the murders of religious and political leaders and the mass displacement of Kurds in the 1980s.
He brushed off the charges, suggesting he had immunity as Iraq's president. And he refused to sign a statement listing the accusations.
Afterward, 11 other defendants appeared one by one to hear the charges against them. Most appeared to be tired, broken men, shadows of their former roles as masters of Iraq.
Best-known among the 11 are former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, long Saddam's spokesman in the West; Ali Hasan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali;" and former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan.
Aziz denied personal involvement in any of the regime's crimes, saying, "I never killed anybody by any direct act."
Saddam's appearance overshadowed the rest of the day's proceedings and gave Iraqis their first look at him since a humiliating video showing the rumpled, tired ex-dictator submitting to a medical exam by his American captors.
It was not immediately clear what punishment Saddam would face, but the new Iraqi government has said it wants to reinstate the death penalty, suspended under the U.S. occupation. Saddam's trial will not take place until 2005 at least.
Turkish hostages freed
Also today, Iraqi insurgents freed two Turkish hostages whose company had reportedly promised to stop working with the U.S. military in Iraq to with their release.
The two hostages, an air-conditioner repairman and his co-worker with the Kayteks company, were reported missing June 1. CNN-Turk television in Turkey had reported last week about the deal to let them go.
A Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two were released at about 10:30 a.m. The official at the Turkish Embassy said no ransom was paid.
Standing trial
In London, a British soldier will stand trial over the shooting of a 13-year-old Iraqi boy, the government general said today.
Attorney General Lord Goldsmith said the soldier, identified only as Pvt. Johnson of the King's Own Scottish Borderers, would be tried for unlawful wounding over an episode Sept. 15 in which the boy was hurt.
No date was set for the trial.