- Saddam Hussein was finally betrayed by a relative who
was one of his closest bodyguards, a BBC programme reveals.
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- Panorama reports that 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".
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- The programme, to be broadcast on BBC One on Sunday,
says Mohammed Ibrahim Omar al-Musslit gave away the secret after being
arrested and interrogated.
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- Saddam Hussein was captured on 13 December near his home
town of Tikrit.
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- Mr Musslit was a loyal lieutenant of Saddam Hussein.
He was one of the people who accompanied the Iraqi leader as he fled Baghdad
in a white Oldsmobile, as US troops entered the city on 9 April 2003.
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- But Panorama will reveal that he was quickly broken by
interrogators after being captured in Baghdad, and led American troops
to his boss just hours after being arrested in December.
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- No reward?
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- After his arrest, Mr Musslit was flown to Tikrit where
he was interrogated. He was then made to point out the remote farm where
Saddam Hussein was hiding.
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- The 600 American soldiers there found nothing in the
farm buildings, but discovered Saddam Hussein hiding in an underground
passage.
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- 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.
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- A senior US commander, Major General Ray Odierno, denied
the source had been tortured but told the programme that he was "a
shady character", adding that he believed "the US treasury gets
to keep the money."
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- To this day the US will not reveal the identity of the
man who led them to Saddam Hussein.
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- Key figure
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- Colonel James Hickey, of the 4th Infantry Division, the
unit that captured him in "Operation Red Dawn" would only say
that he was "a middle aged man who went pear shaped."
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- However, people close to Saddam Hussein confirmed to
Panorama reporter Jane Corbin that it was Mr Musslit who betrayed the former
Iraqi president.
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- Mr Musslit was a key figure in Saddam Hussein's security
organisation and had been in the Fedayeen.
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- By the end, Mr Musslit was believed to be the only man
who knew of Saddam Hussein's full movements.
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- © BBC MMIV
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/3572659.stm
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