'Saddam is not talking'

2004-03-30 07:59

Washington - He doesn't have a lawyer in the room, but Saddam Hussein apparently is practicing what most attorneys would advise: Don't talk.

Diplomatic and military officials say the former Iraqi leader has provided little useful information in interrogations so far.

The questioning of Saddam - initially handled by the CIA - is now a joint CIA-FBI operation, a sign that the aim is changing from finding intelligence to gathering evidence for any eventual trials.

The people asking the questions at the moment are from the FBI, said a US intelligence official.

Defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld has indicated in interviews that interrogators aren't learning much from the former president of Iraq.

In a recent interview, Rumsfeld's deputy Richard Armitage said: "He's a pretty wily guy, and he's not giving much information that I've seen. But he seems to be enjoying the debate."

Haggard

When Saddam was captured, haggard in an underground room in December, officials hoped the interrogation would yield details about the Iraqi insurgency, Saddam's weapons programmes, and human rights violations.

Instead, house intelligence chair Porter Goss now calls the questioning a "patience project".

On Sunday, Jacques Verges, a French lawyer who claims to be representing Saddam at his family's request, said he expects that a trial is still some time away.

A team of 50 justice department prosecutors, investigators and support staff has travelled to Iraq to help assemble a war-crimes case against Saddam and others in his former government.

Verges said he believes the United States has violated the Geneva conventions in its detention of Saddam, and said the world must wait for a trial to determine whether Saddam was guilty of wrongdoing.

"We know that Mr Bush has said he's guilty," said Verges. "But what does that mean? Mr Bush is not a judge. We cannot accept him as a judge. He is an enemy of Saddam Hussein."

- AP