End of a dictator

Saddam denies weapons exist



Saddam Hussein has denied he had weapons of mass destruction and has not been very co-operative since his capture, Time magazine reported yesterday quoting a United States intelligence official.

"No, of course not," Saddam was quoted as saying about Iraq's alleged weapons programmes, "the US dreamed them up itself to have a reason to go to war with us".

Time said that after being captured Saddam was moved to an isolation cell at the US base at Baghdad airport.

The official paraphrased some of the discussion. When asked "How are you?" Saddam responded, "I am sad because my people are in bondage".

When offered a glass of water by interrogators, Saddam replied, "If I drink water I will have to go to the bathroom and how can I use the bathroom when my people are in bondage?"

Film inspires Red Dawn


Operation Red Dawn, the codename for the US raid in which Saddam Hussein was captured, appears to have been inspired by a 1984 film in which US teenagers battle a Soviet invasion of the US.

Operation Red Dawn was conducted by US troops against locations identified as Wolverine One and Wolverine Two.

Red Dawn, starring Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen and Harry Dean Stanton, takes place in a typical midwest town at the outbreak of World War III.

Following an invasion of the US high school students band together to form a guerrilla resistance unit known as the Wolverines.

Quick-fire DNA test


A DNA test like the one that helped confirm Saddam Hussein's identity can be done in as little as 12 hours, a forensics expert says.

New York City's DNA lab had done such speedy tests for very rare high-priority cases, said Robert Shaler, director of forensic biology for the city's chief medical examiner.

"If you have a single sample and you stop everything else you're doing, you can get it done," he said.

An American defence official also said Saddam admitted his identity when captured and that more conclusive tests were being done.

DNA confirmation would show the captured man was not a body double of Saddam, who was said to have several lookalikes.

POW rights considered

The US weighed protections afforded prisoners of war against the need to show the world Saddam Hussein had been captured in releasing video images of him in military custody, says a senior US defence official.

"Clearly, the images are compelling and the likeness is unmistakable," a senior US defence official said. "And it is important for the Iraqi people to know that this tyrant is going to be held accountable for his actions.

Article 13 of the Geneva Conventions adopted in 1949 requires that countries protect prisoners of war in their custody from insults or public curiosity, an issue raised vehemently by Washington this year when Iraq aired videotapes of captured American soldiers.

Saddam, whose legal status has not been determined, was being afforded protections consistent with those provided POWs under the Geneva Conventions, the official said.

Dictator had few friends

Worldwide jubilation yesterday at the capture of Saddam Hussein showed how friendless the fugitive Iraqi dictator was.

Even France, Russia, Germany and the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia, all fierce opponents of the US-led war to oust Saddam, lauded his arrest.

"This is a major event which should strongly contribute to the democratisation and the stabilisation of Iraq and allow the Iraqis to once more be masters of their destiny in a sovereign Iraq," said French President Jacques Chirac.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder saluted Bush by telegram and urged greater efforts to mend the shattered oil state.

"Until he was finally killed or captured, there was always the fear he would come back. This will lift an enormous psychological burden off the Iraqi people," Australian Prime Minister John Howard said.

A spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the arrest could give fresh impetus to efforts to pacify Iraq.

Many in the Arab world greeted news of Saddam's capture with disbelief. Then, when it became official, emotions ranged from joy, to hunger for revenge against the tyrant, to sadness that an Arab leader - even Saddam - should come to such a tawdry end.

Herald Feature: Iraq