American military police raided the new Iraqi police academy Saturday and detained 15 senior officers holding a secret meeting of Saddam Hussein Baath party, the US policing supremo Bernard Kerik said. "Fourteen people were arrested for taking part in an illegal activity and one for resisting arrest," said the former New York police commissioner. Those held included the dean of the academy, Major General Akram Abdul Razak, five brigadier generals, three colonels and a lieutenant colonel. Mr Kerik said the raid on the meeting had followed a tip-off to his office and was greeted with celebration by some 100 to 150 ordinary policemen gathered outside. He blamed intimidation by the Baath conspirators for the failure to uncover the underground sleeper cell sooner despite the tough crackdown on the Baath party it launched earlier this month. "There was huge applause by police officers. I think they knew this was going on but were afraid to come forward," he said. The head of the US-led administration in Iraq, Paul Bremer, set up Monday the Iraq De-Baathification Council to advise on his May 16 decision to bar former middle- and high-ranking Baathists from public service.
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