- Saddam Hussein was found by US troops only after he had
been taken prisoner by Kurdish forces, drugged and abandoned ready for
American soldiers to recover him, a British newspaper reported yesterday.
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- Saddam came into the hands of the Kurdish Patriotic Front
after being betrayed to the group by a member of the al-Jabour tribe, whose
daughter had been raped by Saddam's son Uday, leading to a blood feud,
reported the Sunday Express, which quoted an unnamed senior British military
intelligence officer.
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- The newspaper said the full story of events leading up
to the ousted Iraqi president's capture on December 13 near his hometown
of Tikrit in northern Iraq, "exposes the version peddled by American
spin doctors as incomplete".
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- A former Iraqi intelligence officer, whom the Express
did not name, told the paper that Saddam was held prisoner by a leader
of the Kurdish Patriotic Front, which fought alongside US forces during
the Iraq war, until the leader negotiated a deal.
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- The deal apparently involved the group gaining political
advantage in the region.
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- An unnamed Western intelligence source in the Middle
East told the Express: "Saddam was not captured as a result of any
American or British intelligence".
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- "We knew that someone would eventually take their
revenge, it was just a matter of time."
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- However US military intelligence said in Baghdad yesterday
the man who led US troops to Saddam was one of his top aides.
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- "He was someone I would call his right arm,"
said Major Stan Murphy, head of intelligence for the 4th Infantry Division's
First Brigade in Tikrit.
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- Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar yesterday
paid an unannounced visit to Iraq.
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- Aznar flew by helicopter from Kuwait and spent about
five hours at a base in Diwaniya, south of the capital, where he had lunch
with the mostly Spanish troops stationed there.
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- "The visit had to be a surprise for security reasons.
Very few people knew about it," said Major Carlos Herradon, spokesman
for the Spanish troops based in Iraq.
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- Mr Aznar said he wanted to support the Spanish soldiers
and their allies in "their struggle for a just cause, one of liberty,
democracy and respect for international law".
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- Later, a senior US officer said four Iraqis died and
an unspecified number of US troops were wounded during a Baghdad demonstration
in support of Saddam five days ago. Three more Iraqi policemen were gunned
down by mistake by American soldiers about 90km south of Kirkuk in northern
Iraq, local police said, adding that they were mistaken for rebels.
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- The Courier-Mail
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- http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8233746%255E2,00.html
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