Someone in the Iraqi Interior Ministry has some explaining to do, according to the AP. An Iraqi lawyer says that two dozen of Saddam's henchmen have been let out of prison and have fled the country, including two notorious leaders of Saddam's biological-weapons programs:

An Iraqi lawyer said Monday that about 24 former top officials in Saddam Hussein's government have been released from jail in Iraq, and some have left the country.

A legal official in Baghdad said Rihab Taha, known as "Dr. Germ," and Huda Salih Ammash, known as as "Mrs. Anthrax," were among those released. Iraqi officials did not immediately confirm the information.

No other details have come out as yet. If true, it could either mean a jailbreak with help from Ba'athist sympathizers within the outgoing Iraqi government, or it could also indicate some kind of plea deal. The latter seems rather unlikely, especially since the top officials in the Hussein government had many of their own crimes for which to answer, as well as complicity in Saddam's crimes. It sounds more like a foul-up of the worst order.

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