...Into the Fire

AMMAN, JORDAN: Iraqui Defectors Lt. General Hussein Kamel al-Majid and his brother Col. Saddam Kamel returned to Iraq with their wives, both daughters of Saddam Hussein on Tuesday. The party moved back to Iraq in a 25-vehicle caravan after the Iraqi Revolutionary Council answered al-Majid's request for a pardon with the vague promise that he would be treated like "an ordinary citizen." Even though Al-Majid's defection last August to Jordan was considered a blow to Saddam's regime, al-Majid was ignored by Western governments and the Iraqi dissidents he had hoped to lead. He lived in isolation in a palace outside Amman as a guest of the Jordanian monarchy. He said he left Iraq disgusted with the regime's "savagery" and "oppression", but returned because he became "bad tempered" and "homesick." "Al-Majid probably will not be welcomed back as warmly as he hopes," says TIME's Dean Fischer "But Saddam is unpredictable, and it's likely that he considers Al-Majid's return a victory."