coming soon to a theater near you : the trial of saddam
Saddam disputes US version of his capture
Brunei Press Sdn Bhd.
CAIRO (dpa)december 27, 2004 - A lawyer for Saddam Hussein has disputed the US version of how the former Iraqi dictator was captured a year ago, reports said Sunday.
In an interview with the weekly al-Osbou magazine to appear Monday, Saddam's lawyer Khalil al-Duleimi said that the toppled dictator had described the US account of his capture as "a silly fabricated cowboy movie."
Saddam was captured on December 13, 2003. US forces said the deposed leader was found hiding in a hole in the ground near a farmhouse in al-Dour, south of his hometown Tikrit.
Al-Duleimi, who had a four-and-a-half hour meeting with Saddam last week in an unidentified location, quoted the former president as saying he was at a friend's house praying just before sunset when US soldiers surrounded him.
"I found the Americans around me and I did not have a back-up force. My weapon was far from me. I was arrested and terribly tortured in the first two days. If I knew they were near I would have fought them to death," al-Duleimi quoted Saddam as saying.
Saddam also reportedly urged Iraqis to boycott the upcoming elections and accused Iran of being responsible for the 1988 chemical attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja which claimed thousands of lives.
Prior to the US invasion, US officials offered to lift sanctions against Iraq if Saddam recognised Israel, al-Duleimi reported Saddam as saying.
"There were many offers but they do not know Saddam Hussein and do not know the honest Iraqi who will only live in honour," Saddam reportedly said.
The former dictator also "praised the Iraqi resistance" and said that those running the resistance in Fallujah were former Iraqi army officers "who received high military training."
"What is happening now is not a coincidence or a spontaneous reaction. It was planned before the invasion," al-Duleimi quoted Saddam as saying.
Brunei Press Sdn Bhd.
CAIRO (dpa)december 27, 2004 - A lawyer for Saddam Hussein has disputed the US version of how the former Iraqi dictator was captured a year ago, reports said Sunday.
In an interview with the weekly al-Osbou magazine to appear Monday, Saddam's lawyer Khalil al-Duleimi said that the toppled dictator had described the US account of his capture as "a silly fabricated cowboy movie."
Saddam was captured on December 13, 2003. US forces said the deposed leader was found hiding in a hole in the ground near a farmhouse in al-Dour, south of his hometown Tikrit.
Al-Duleimi, who had a four-and-a-half hour meeting with Saddam last week in an unidentified location, quoted the former president as saying he was at a friend's house praying just before sunset when US soldiers surrounded him.
"I found the Americans around me and I did not have a back-up force. My weapon was far from me. I was arrested and terribly tortured in the first two days. If I knew they were near I would have fought them to death," al-Duleimi quoted Saddam as saying.
Saddam also reportedly urged Iraqis to boycott the upcoming elections and accused Iran of being responsible for the 1988 chemical attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja which claimed thousands of lives.
Prior to the US invasion, US officials offered to lift sanctions against Iraq if Saddam recognised Israel, al-Duleimi reported Saddam as saying.
"There were many offers but they do not know Saddam Hussein and do not know the honest Iraqi who will only live in honour," Saddam reportedly said.
The former dictator also "praised the Iraqi resistance" and said that those running the resistance in Fallujah were former Iraqi army officers "who received high military training."
"What is happening now is not a coincidence or a spontaneous reaction. It was planned before the invasion," al-Duleimi quoted Saddam as saying.
posted by dsekou at 7:19 PM
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