One of Saddam Hussein's closest aids is trying to sneak over to Mecca, using the pilgrimage as a cover. 

The Pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the 5 principal duties of every Muslim, begins this year in February and in all of Iraq. People are overflowing Mosques to sign up with the hope of being chosen to go.

The quota established for Iraq by Saudi authorities allows for 300,000 faithful to go. And 200,000 Iraqis, who have been chosen by lottery, already have obtained passports.

This religious obligation was generally denied to believers under the former regime, with only elderly persons being permitted to go granted they had relatives living in Iraq guaranteeing the pilgrim's re-entry in the homeland. Now all have the right to go; yet despite the quotas issued by Saudi Arabia, it is still difficult to convince people that not everyone can go.

Such reclaimed religious freedom has caused passport offices to be literally invaded.

The difficulty in choosing who will have the right to go to Mecca was resolved via a system in which those requesting to travel there are picked based on a list of persons signed up in various mosques. In order to speed up the bureaucratic processes state officials are conceiving the possibility of issuing not passports, but rather  laissez-passers, valid only for one trip to Saudi Arabia.

Like all things in Iraq, even the pilgrimage is filled with suspense.

Khodr Hassan, vice commander of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in northern Iraq admitted being in possession of "reliable information regarding 7 heads of the Ba'ath Party close to Ezzat Ibrahim Al-Duri, who are ready to go Saudi Arabia –using the Mecca pilgrimage as cover to secretly sneak (Ezzat Ibrahim) into the country".

Ezzat Al-Duri is one of the most wanted men of the former Iraqi regime. His capture is set a reward of 10 million US dollars.

According to Khodr Hussan, 7 fake pilgrims will go from Kirkuk to Mecca with false passports and a huge sum of money. (PB)

• islam
• iraq
• saudi
• arabia
• pilgrimage
• mecca