Apr 3, 2007 2:45 pm US/Central
Trial Begins In Chicago For Alleged Saddam Agent
Prosecutors: Sami Latchin Spied On Iraqi Dissenters In U.S.
CHICAGO (AP) ―
The trial of an alleged "sleeper agent" for Saddam Hussein's intelligence service got under way Tuesday with a federal prosecutor accusing him of spying on Iraqi dissidents in this country.
"There is a spy in this room," Assistant U.S. Attorney James M. Conway told the federal jury.
He said three former Iraqi intelligence officers will testify that Sami Latchin, a 59-year-old former airline employee, spied on U.S.-based critics of the deposed Iraqi dictator, who was sent to the gallows Dec. 30.
In her opening statement, however, defense attorney Mary Higgins Judge scoffed at the government's claims, saying the three former intelligence officers "are professional, career, trained liars."
"By definition their job involves trickery, deceit and pretending," the defense attorney told the jury in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer. "It is what they have done all their lives."
Latchin, born in Iraq but now an American citizen, is not accused of espionage -- an offense that involves obtaining U.S. military secrets. Prosecutors say his spying was aimed only at Iraqi civilians living here.
He was arrested in August 2004, when prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging him with making false statements to immigration authorities on a U.S. citizenship application.
In response to a question on the application asking him to list membership in organizations, Latchin failed to list that he had been a member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, according to the indictment.
He also neglected to say that he had been a member of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, the foreign intelligence arm of the Iraqi government, and said three overseas trips he made were vacations when, in fact, he met with his intelligence handler, according to the indictment.
Two of the three former Iraqi intelligence officers who are expected to be the government's chief witnesses are planning to testify under pseudonyms -- "Mr. Khalil and Mr. Ali" -- out of concern about reprisals.
The third former intelligence officer, Muhammad Al-Dani, will testify under his real name, prosecutors said. But they said that all three will testify in disguise to ensure that any sympathizers of the old regime in Baghdad won't be able to identify them by their appearance.
Defense attorney Judge told jurors that Al-Dani had been paid "close to a million dollars" as a government witness and suggested that he had to come up with testimony that would justify the money. She called it his "million-dollar story."
Conway said the amount was closer to $700,000 or $800,000.
First to take the witness stand after opening statements was FBI agent Ronnie Walker, now based in Portland, Ore., who received a stack of documents while working in Baghdad in October 2003.
Walker testified that the documents were provided by an anti-Saddam Hussein group, the Assyrian Democratic Movement.
Prosecutors contend the documents tie Latchin directly to the Iraqi intelligence service but defense attorneys say they do not.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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