US Arrests Chief Fallujah Negotiator after He Says Zarqawi Not in City

Negotiator arrested after he made these statements yesterday:

A Fallujah negotiator, Hatem Karim, challenged claims that al-Zarqawi is in the city. “We want to know what evidence there is of al-Zarqawi’s presence in Fallujah,” Karim said in an interview with Al-Jazeera television. “We hear this name, but it doesn’t exist. More than 15 to 20 houses were destroyed in Fallujah because they were accused of harboring al-Zarqawi or al-Zarqawi’s followers.”

He said Iraqi government officials never raised the issue of al-Zarqawi during closed-door talks with the Fallujah delegates.

Earlier Wednesday, Fallujah’s chief negotiator, Sheik Khaled al-Jumeili, insisted there were “only a handful” of non-Iraqi Arab fighters in the city – a claim the Americans dismiss – and they would leave if a deal was reached with the government.