NORWAY: An Islamic militant suspected by Washington as having ties to both Baghdad and al-Qaeda is becoming a hero to some in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, where he lives with his family as a refugee.
Reviled by the United States but free because NATO-member Norway has been unable to find legal grounds to jail him, Mullah Krekar is sometimes cheered by well-wishers or stopped by autograph-hunters in Oslo.
His lawyer says he feels like the manager of a rock star.
"I feel safe here in Norway," said Mullah Krekar, the founder of the Ansar al-Islam (Supporters of Islam) rebel group which controls a sliver of land in north Iraq where it battles other Kurdish groups opposed to Baghdad. It has perhaps 700 fighters.
US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell, laying out evidence against Baghdad to the UN Security Council on Wednesday, said Ansar harboured members of al-Qaeda. Mr Powell also said that Ansar included a senior Baghdad agent and that it may have tried to make chemical weapons.
"These are wrong things about me and chemical bombs, about link with Osama bin Laden, about link to Saddam Hussein," Mullah Krekar said, walking home from police questioning.
Two men of Moroccan origin stopped Mullah Krekar in the snow to shake his hand. "He's a good man. It's good that he lives here," said one taxi-driver of Pakistani origin.
Officials concede that Mullah Krekar's freedom is a deep embarrassment to Norway's government. "Despite all the accusations, we haven't yet found any cause to detain him under asylum or other Norwegian laws," one said.- (Reuters)