Hussein Judge Is Said To Quit

"We certainly hope and expect that the trial will continue without delay," said the Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. "This is not the first time this issue has come up, and it's important to hear from the judge himself or the Ministry of Information."

"I think he will go back on his decision," Mussawi said. "A lot of people are talking to him to try to change his mind." Mussawi said that if Amin stepped down, another judge on the five-member panel would replace him as chief.

Outside this political tempest, most Iraqis enjoyed a fifth straight day free of major attacks by insurgents in the country.

However, gunmen assassinated a Shiite cleric in northern Baghdad, the Associated Press reported.

U.S. military authorities also reported that a Marine was killed by gunfire Friday in Ramadi, a restive city in western Iraq.

Meanwhile, a British freelance journalist recounted in several newspapers Saturday how he had been inadvertently rescued by U.S. troops five days after he was kidnapped in Iraq on Dec. 26.

No one in authority, not even the newspapers he had worked for, had realized Phil Sands, 28, was missing when American troops on a routine mission raided the house in which he was being held hostage.

Another freelance journalist, Jill Carroll, 28, is still missing a week after she was kidnapped by gunmen in Baghdad's Adil neighborhood.

Correspondent Ellen Knickmeyer and special correspondent Naseer Nouri contributed to this report.