'Saddam showed no remorse'

2003-12-16 11:07

Washington - A member of the Iraqi Governing Council who was able to meet with Saddam Hussein shortly after his capture said he had found the toppled Iraqi leader unrepentant and without remorse.

"We found him tired, haggard, and obviously a spent force," council member Adnan Pachachi, who was foreign minister of Iraq before Saddam Hussein's party took power in 1968, told PBS television.

"He seemed to be unrepentant and there was no remorse and even sometimes there was a hint of defiance," Pachachi continued. "Sometimes he wasn't very coherent and he seemed to say the same thing over again - you know, all the slogans, all the excuses - and one wonders whether he believes his own slogans."

Pachachi was one of three council members who were taken to help identify Saddam after his capture late on Saturday in a hole in his northern hometown of Tikrit.

He said he had asked Saddam to explain why he killed so many people, to which the deposed ruler replied that Iraq needed a firm but just ruler.

According to Pachachi, Saddam accepted no responsibility and tried to justify everything he did.

He said executed people were either plotting against him or they were aiding outside enemies.

"He blamed everybody except himself obviously," Pachachi said of Saddam Hussein.

He said at times Saddam seemed to be lucid but at other times a little incoherent.

"He was under tremendous strain, and I think he knew that the game was up, and that was the end as far as he was concerned," said the council member.

US President George W Bush said earlier on Monday he would like to see Saddam face a public trial in which he is confronted with "all the atrocities" carried out in Iraq.

He also said the United States will work with the Iraqis to develop a way to try him that will stand international scrutiny.

Pachachi said the trial will be open, and due process will be respected "to make it acceptable to the world."

- AFP