Global Security Newswire

U.S. forces in Iraq captured former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein during a raid Saturday, according to CNN.com (see GSN, Dec. 9). Hussein was captured during a U.S. raid on the Iraqi village of Ad Dawr, where U.S. soldiers found Hussein inside a six-foot-deep hole beneath a hut inside a small, walled compound, said Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division forces involved in the operation. In addition, U.S. forces also found several weapons and about $750,000 in U.S. currency with the former Iraqi leader, said Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, head of U.S. forces in Iraq (CNN.com I, Dec. 15).

U.S. authorities first plan to interrogate Hussein about the continuing insurgency attacks against U.S. forces, according to the Miami Herald.

“Always first is force protection,” a senior U.S. official said. “We want to know what he knows about anyone wanting to do anything bad to us,” the senior official said.

Once that line of questioning is completed, U.S. authorities will then interrogate Hussein about alleged Iraq WMD efforts and possible ties to al-Qaeda, U.S. officials and intelligence experts said yesterday. They also said that Hussein will probably be questioned about the use of chemical weapons against Iraqi civilians and about which foreign companies supported Iraq’s WMD programs (Jonathan Landy, Miami Herald, Dec. 15).

Already, however, Hussein has denied that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, according to a U.S. intelligence official in Iraq.

When asked if Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, Hussein replied, “No, of course not. … The U.S. dreamed them up itself to have a reason to go to war with us,” the intelligence official said. 

Hussein also explained why Iraq did not fully cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors, according to the U.S. intelligence official. The official quoted Hussein as having said, “We didn’t want them to go into the presidential areas and intrude on our privacy.”

The intelligence official said he doubted the United States would obtain much valuable information from Hussein, noting the lack of cooperation by other captured senior Iraqi officials, such as former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz. 

“I would be surprised if he [Hussein] gave any info,” the intelligence official said (Brian Bennett, Time, Dec. 14).

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said today that he too believed Hussein would not provide any useful information on alleged Iraqi WMD efforts.

“Frankly I’m not holding my breath for any confessional statement from Saddam Hussein,” Straw said. “I think that his history of mendacity is so intense and so long-lasting that he wouldn’t understand the truth if he fell over it,” he added (CNN.com II, Dec. 15).

U.S. Has “Clear Evidence” of WMD Programs, White House Says

Meanwhile, the Bush administration said in a report released Saturday that the invasion of Iraq had produced “clear evidence of Saddam’s illegal weapon program,” according to the Washington Post.

The report, 2003: A Year of Accomplishment for the American People, also notes new intelligence linking Iraq to terrorist organizations, the Post reported. A senior Bush administration official said that the new information connecting Hussein to terrorism came from Iraqi intelligence files recovered by the CIA (Mike Allen, Washington Post, Dec. 14).

The acting head of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission has said, though, that much of the evidence of Iraqi WMD activities found by coalition forces was known to the United Nations before the war, according to the Washington Post (see GSN, Dec. 4).

In an interview with the Post and in a report to the U.N. Security Council, Demetrius Perricos said that the only significant find made public by the Iraq Survey Group, which is conducting the hunt for Iraqi WMD evidence, was that Iraq paid North Korea $10 million for missile technology that was never delivered (see GSN, Dec. 1).

A senior U.S. intelligence official said that the Iraq Survey Group stood by its report and that Perricos had only seen the unclassified version. The unit’s search is still not complete, the official said (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, Dec. 14).