Bodyguard betrayed Saddam

2004-03-27 17:43

London - Ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was betrayed to the US occupying forces in his country by a relative who was one of his closest bodyguards, the BBC reported on Saturday.

"After eight months on the run, the hiding place of the ousted Iraqi leader was given away by an aide known as 'the fat man'," the BBC said on its internet site.

It said Mohammed Ibrahim Omar al-Musslit, "a loyal lieutenant" of Saddam's, gave away the secret after being arrested and interrogated.

"But because he did not willingly offer the information, the man who led the Americans to Saddam Hussein's secret bunker near his home town of Tikrit will not benefit from the $25m reward that was on offer," the BBC said.

The details are due to be broadcast in a Panorama programme on BBC television on Sunday.

'Broken by interrogators'

The BBC said Musslit was captured by US troops in Baghdad in December 2003 but was "quickly broken by interrogators... and led American troops to his boss just hours after being arrested".

The United States has never revealed the identity of the person who led them to Saddam on December 13, 2003.

Speaking to the BBC, senior US commander Major General Ray Odierno, denied Washington's vital source had been tortured but said he was "a shady character". He said he believed "the US treasury gets to keep the money".

The BBC described Musslit as "a key figure in Saddam Hussein's security organisation (who) had been in the Fedayeen".

"By the end, Mr Musslit was believed to be the only man who knew of Saddam Hussein's full movements," it said.

Musslit was among the people who accompanied Saddam when he fled Baghdad on April 9, 2003, as US-led troops entered the city.

The BBC said Musslit had been captured by the US 4th Infantry Division. It quoted the division's Colonel James Hickey as saying their prize detainee was "a middle-aged man who went pear shaped", without giving his name.

But people close to Saddam had confirmed it was Musslit who betrayed the former Iraqi president, the BBC said.

- AFP