Bombs crush hope of new era

8.30am UPDATE

Two car bombs exploded outside Baghdad police stations yesterday, killing nine people and dashing hopes that the capture of Saddam Hussein would end the violence.

The bombs came as American officials ended an interrogation of Saddam in an effort to find out what he knows about resistance to Coalition forces in Iraq.

Saddam had come to symbolise opposition to the occupation, even if it was not clear whether he was actually leading it.

Sources say Saddam, who is being held at an undisclosed location, has denied having any weapons of mass destruction and is giving short, rote answers to questions.

Time magazine correspondent Brian Bennett in Baghdad told CNN that the former Iraqi leader claimed the US had invented the presence of such weapons to justify its actions in invading Iraq.

"He also said he didn't play nice with UN [weapons] inspectors so that he could protect the privacy of his presidential areas," Bennett said on CNN's Newsnight.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, laid out their priorities in interrogating Saddam.

They want to:

* Find out whether Saddam Hussein knows of any impending guerrilla attacks planned against United States troops or Iraqis.

* Ask where Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri and other remaining senior regime officials and insurgent leaders are hiding.

* Get Saddam to paint a picture of the resistance - if he knows much, which some US officials doubt.

* Then, try to answer questions about Iraq's efforts to develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and ties to terrorists.

During the arrest of Saddam, US troops discovered "descriptive written material of significant value", one US commander said . He declined to say if the material related to the anti-Coalition resistance.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Saddam "has not been co-operative in terms of talking or anything like that".

The immediate hope of American officials is that Saddam will have a wealth of knowledge on the guerrilla war being waged against the US-led occupation force and their Iraqi allies, officials say.

It is a race against the clock since his information grows more outdated by the hour, and other regime leaders and cells take precautions to avoid capture.

Iraqi officials said the ex-dictator, who ruled Iraq ruthlessly for 24 years, was brought back to Baghdad pending trial on charges of crimes against humanity in a special court.

"If the case against him is completed with all the necessary proof, he will be the first to appear before this court," said Dara Nuredin, a member of the interim Iraqi Governing Council and the chairman of its legal committee.

Council member Ahmed Chalabi said Saddam's trial would be open.

Mr Rumsfeld said Saddam would be treated as a prisoner of war under the Geneva Conventions.

Allied forces have had little time to celebrate the capture of Saddam with the latest wave of attacks. Saddam loyalists are blamed for most attacks on American soldiers and allied Iraqi security forces.

An explosion ripped through the Zuhour police station at Husseiniyah village, 30km north of Baghdad, killing the bomber and seven victims and wounding more than 20.

A second car bomb exploded outside a police station in Baghdad, killing the driver and injuring at least 12 people.

The explosion at the Amiriyah criminal investigation department in Baghdad took place after police found and defused a car bomb at another post in the neighbourhood.

Another car bomb killed 17 people at a police station west of Baghdad on Sunday.

Bombers have targeted police in an effort to stop them working with Coalition forces to establish authority in Iraq.


Herald Feature: Iraq