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Kurds Captured, Drugged
Saddam Before US Got Him
Sydney Morning Herald
The
Courier-Mail
12-21-3
- Saddam Hussein was found by US troops only after he
had been taken prisoner by Kurdish forces, drugged and abandoned ready
for American soldiers to recover him, a British newspaper reported
yesterday.
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- Saddam came into the hands of the Kurdish Patriotic
Front after being betrayed to the group by a member of the al-Jabour
tribe, whose daughter had been raped by Saddam's son Uday, leading to a
blood feud, reported the Sunday Express, which quoted an unnamed senior
British military intelligence officer.
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- The newspaper said the full story of events leading up
to the ousted Iraqi president's capture on December 13 near his hometown
of Tikrit in northern Iraq, "exposes the version peddled by American
spin doctors as incomplete".
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- A former Iraqi intelligence officer, whom the Express
did not name, told the paper that Saddam was held prisoner by a leader
of the Kurdish Patriotic Front, which fought alongside US forces during
the Iraq war, until the leader negotiated a deal.
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- The deal apparently involved the group gaining
political advantage in the region.
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- An unnamed Western intelligence source in the Middle
East told the Express: "Saddam was not captured as a result of any
American or British intelligence".
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- "We knew that someone would eventually take their
revenge, it was just a matter of time."
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- However US military intelligence said in Baghdad
yesterday the man who led US troops to Saddam was one of his top
aides.
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- "He was someone I would call his right arm," said
Major Stan Murphy, head of intelligence for the 4th Infantry Division's
First Brigade in Tikrit.
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- Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar
yesterday paid an unannounced visit to Iraq.
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- Aznar flew by helicopter from Kuwait and spent about
five hours at a base in Diwaniya, south of the capital, where he had
lunch with the mostly Spanish troops stationed there.
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- "The visit had to be a surprise for security reasons.
Very few people knew about it," said Major Carlos Herradon, spokesman
for the Spanish troops based in Iraq.
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- Mr Aznar said he wanted to support the Spanish
soldiers and their allies in "their struggle for a just cause, one of
liberty, democracy and respect for international law".
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- Later, a senior US officer said four Iraqis died and
an unspecified number of US troops were wounded during a Baghdad
demonstration in support of Saddam five days ago. Three more Iraqi
policemen were gunned down by mistake by American soldiers about 90km
south of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, local police said, adding that they
were mistaken for rebels.
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- The Courier-Mail
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- http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8233746%255E2,00.html
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The
Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in
anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans
l'anarchie"
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