'Bodyguard betrayed Saddam'
2003-12-18 13:41
Amman - Saddam Hussein was betrayed by a relative who was his personal
bodygyard and who led US troops to the ousted Iraqi leader's
hideout after drugging him, a Jordanian newspaper reported
Thursday, quoting a source close to the US-led coalition in Iraq.
"A source close to the occupation forces ... revealed that the
one who informed on Saddam, betrayed him and handed him over to the
American forces is his relative, General Mohammed Ibrahim Omar
al-Muslit," Al-Arab Al-Yawm daily said from Baghdad.
Muslit was Saddam's "personal bodyguard and companion throughout
the period of his disappearance as he moved from one hideout to
another," the report said.
According to the source, Muslit was the link between the former
Iraqi president and his relatives and knew of his various hideouts.
He informed some of his relatives of his plans to betray Saddam
and "contacted the Americans through one relative he trusted," the
newspaper said.
They agreed on a plan by which Muslit had "to drug the Iraqi
president ... to guarantee his capture alive, without giving him a
chance to resist or to escape from the trap that was laid out for
him," the report said.
The officer "succeeded in drugging Saddam in his hideout," the
report added.
There was no independent confirmation of the report.
The US Army has not identified the person who provided the
tip-off on Saddam, who was captured on Saturday near his hometown
of Tikrit, in northern Iraq.
The following day the commander of the army's 4th Infantry
Division responsible for nabbing Saddam said he had been betrayed
by a family member close to him.
"There were a lot of people involved in this ... as we continued
to chat to people we got more and more information on a family that
was considered close to Saddam Hussein," Major General Raymond
Odierno said.
"Finally we got the ultimate information from one of the
individuals," he said, refusing to identify him.