Americans arrest 'mayor' as Garner struggles for control

Jay Garner, the retired American army general whose job is to impose order in post-Saddam Iraq, has arrested Baghdad's self-proclaimed mayor in an attempt to assert his authority.

The US military said that Mohammed Mohsen al-Zubaidi, a former Iraqi exile, was detained yesterday afternoon for his "inability to support the coalition military authority" and for "exercising authority that was not his".

He was arrested on the eve of a meeting between General Garner and hundreds of prominent Iraqis to discuss the path towards setting up a new government – the next step in his difficult task of establishing authority in the country.

Nearly three weeks after the US-occupying forces took Baghdad, that task is still in its early stages. Anti-US demonstrations are growing, and attacks on soldiers appear to be becoming systematic and daily.

Four American soldiers were wounded yesterday, one seriously, when their Humvees were fired on. They had been conducting a public-health assessment. And an American soldier was killed when a road-block in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, came under fire.

In a move sure to spark anger in the capital, US soldiers arrested Mr Zubaidi and seven others at his headquarters in downtown Baghdad. This will strengthen the conviction that Washington is only willing to cooperate with politicians of whom it approves. The Americans have repeatedly said they do not recognise the authority of Mr Zubaidi, a self-proclaimed mayor who casts himself as a volunteer inspired by patriotism to help his nation. "He was misrepresenting himself as mayor, a position which he was not appointed to," said Captain David Connolly. He has been snubbed by the Iraqi National Congress, which represents many former exiles.

US forces made the arrest after Mr Zubaidi spent the weekend trying to restore order in government ministries, most of which were wrecked and looted as US troops looked on.

Hours before the arrest, US forces interrupted him as he was being interviewed by several television networks. His bodyguards evicted the journalists while he negotiated with the Americans. When they emerged, his supporters lifted a beaming al-Zubaidi on their shoulders and chanted: "Yes! Yes! Al-Zubaidi!" His conduct has become increasingly irksome to the Americans, not least because he appeared to Iraqis on the street to be doing more than them.

Yesterday morning his headquarters was a hive a activity. Officials were laboriously compiling lists of employees. Aides were collecting job- application forms from thousands of men who descended on the building brandishing forms bought on the streets for 250 dinars (10p).

A different reception met those job-seekers who took the same forms to General Garner's headquarters in one of Saddam's former palaces. They found their path was barred by razor wire, US soldiers and an Abrams tank. "I was just told to go away," said Muhammad al-Mandalawi, an accountant. "It was just the way the bureaucrats behaved under Saddam."

Today's meeting is likely to hear of concern among Iraqis that senior Baath party officials and lackeys of Saddam will be restored to their jobs. This issue was preoccupying a group of engineers and managers waiting to resume work under US supervision in the Oil Ministry. "We are really worried that they will be back," said one middle-ranking physicist. "Some of them have to be discarded. We are going to tell the Americans who's good and who's not. We will make a list."