20 Dec. Washington Times - U.S. Frees 'High-Value' Detainees from Iraq.

U.S. forces yesterday flew eight newly released "high-value" Iraqi detainees out of the country aboard a special military aircraft, in a move other officials said was aimed at furthering a secret peace process with Sunni hard-line groups.

The releases, made Saturday but announced only yesterday, angered Iraqi government officials who pledged to hunt down and recapture some of the detainees, including former leaders of Saddam Hussein's government and security forces.

Among those released or about to be freed is Rihab Taha, who was dubbed "Dr. Germ" by the popular press in the West and admitted to producing germ-warfare agents. A State Department official told the Associated Press she was no longer considered a security threat.
20 Dec. Reuters - U.S. Freeing Saddam's 'Dr. Germ' and 'Mrs. Anthrax'.

U.S. forces in Iraq are freeing "Dr Germ and "Mrs. Anthrax," two of Saddam Hussein's leading biological warfare experts, following the failure to find weapons of mass destruction, lawyers said on Monday.

The two weapons experts, British-trained microbiologist Rihab Taha and U.S.-educated genetic engineer Huda Ammash, were captured by U.S. forces in May 2003 after Saddam was ousted.

Baghdad lawyer Badia Aref said Taha and Ammash were among 26 senior detainees in the process of being released. U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson said eight "high-value detainees" had been freed on Saturday, and were among 27 senior prisoners judged to be eligible for release.