- LONDON (Reuters) - Ousted
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is refusing to cooperate with his American
captors, who are taking a gentle approach to get intelligence from him,
Washington's chief ally Britain said Friday.
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- But documents found with him after his mid-December capture
in a hole near his home town of Tikrit have provided better than expected
information, a senior British official also said.
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- "The results of the capture of Saddam were greater
than we were ever expecting," the official, who requested anonymity,
said at a briefing for reporters.
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- "He has not talked himself, but the papers found
with him led to further information that led to further operations."
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- Saddam's capture in mid-December was a massive boost
for the U.S.-led occupiers of Iraq but has not ended guerrilla activity.
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- U.S. interrogators were "taking their time, trying
to get him to feel comfortable that he can talk in captivity," the
official said.
-
- But so far, "he is not offering information of a
useful operational kind," he added.
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- Washington and London blame former Saddam loyalists and
"foreign terrorists" for ongoing violence in Iraq. The British
official conceded security problems will continue for as long as U.S. and
British troops remain in the country they invaded in March.
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- "JIHADISTS" A THREAT
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- However, with Saddam gone and intelligence-gathering
improving, guerrilla cells were finding it harder to communicate and coordinate
large pre-planned attacks, he said.
-
- But individual cells continued to pose a serious threat.
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- The British official warned of trained "jihadists"
who see Iraq as a theater in which to fight against the West, and who have
more sophisticated means than the local groups.
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- Friday, six people were killed when a bomb exploded during
prayers outside a mosque in the central town of Baquba, local police and
witnesses said.
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- Earlier in the day, guerrillas fired rockets at a Baghdad
hotel used by foreign businessmen and U.S. army contractors.
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- "We are going to take punishment now and again but
we are just going to keep going," the British official said.
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- Tackling the situation was "do-able" and British
troops would continue to make their "best possible efforts" to
counter insurgent violence.
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- The occupation of Iraq is scheduled to end on June 30,
when Washington and London want a transitional Iraqi authority to take
over guiding the country toward full elections in 2005.
-
- The British official added that London will continue
to offer support to Iraq until the country reaches a "sustainable
level of economic development."
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- "Little by little, the majority of Iraqis are trying
to start to consolidate the mosaic pieces of a new Iraq," the official
said.
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