Saddam betrayed by bodyguard - BBC

11.00am

LONDON - The man who led US forces to Saddam Hussein's underground hiding place in Iraq was one of the deposed president's closest bodyguards, a BBC programme says.

It found Mohammed Ibrahim Omar al-Musslit betrayed Saddam shortly after he himself had been arrested and interrogated in December.

Saddam, who had a $25 million (13.7 million pounds) bounty on his head after being ousted in last year's US-led invasion, was number one in Washington's list of 55 most wanted Iraqis.

The BBC's Panorama programme quoted US soldiers as saying Musslit, a loyal lieutenant in Saddam's security organisation and Fedayeen militia, would not get the reward because he had not given the information willingly.

Musslit was one of the people in a car with Saddam when he fled Baghdad after the fall of the city last April, the BBC said on its website ahead of Sunday night's Panorama broadcast.

It said Musslit led troops to their prize hours after being arrested. He was flown to Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, where US officials interrogated him and made him point out where the deposed leader was hiding.

Troops found Saddam in a hole in the ground near farm buildings. Footage of him shortly after he was discovered, having been in hiding for eight months, showed a man with a long grey and black beard and looking dishevelled and bewildered.

Washington has never said who tipped off troops to Saddam's secret bunker and there was no independent confirmation of the BBC report, but the broadcaster said people close to Saddam confirmed to Panorama's reporter that it was Musslit.

Top US commander Major-General Raymond Odierno denied the source who revealed Saddam had been tortured, but told the programme he was "a shady character", adding that he believed "the US Treasury gets to keep the money".

- REUTERS


Herald Feature: Iraq