Iraqi dissident disappears
The week's news at a glance.
Copenhagen
An Iraqi defector considered a possible replacement for Saddam Hussein disappeared this week, Danish police said. Nizar al-Khazraji, the Iraqi chief of staff in the late 1980s, defected in 1995 and later claimed political asylum in Denmark. An advocate of democracy, he is frequently mentioned as a candidate to head an interim Iraqi government after Saddam is gone. But Danish prosecutors recently forbade him to travel abroad pending an investigation into his possible role in the 1988 poison-gas attack on the Kurds. Kurdish groups say he is innocent, and al-Khazraji has said the case against him was fabricated by Iraqi agents, who’ve tried several times to kill him. Last week, his son Mohammed said, the 64-year-old went out for a morning cigarette and didn’t come back. “My feeling,” Mohammed said, “is that he was kidnapped by Iraqi intelligence.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Trump 'not joking' about unconstitutional 3rd term
Speed Read The president seems to be serious about seeking a third term in 2028
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Myanmar quake deaths rise as survivor search intensifies
speed read The magnitude-7.7 earthquake in central Myanmar has killed a documented 2,000 people so far, and left scores more trapped beneath rubble
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'We should end this betrayal of man's best friend'
Instant Opinion 'Opinion, comment and editorials of the day'
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published