Saddam's capture led to arrests of other top regime figures

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BAGHDAD -- Interrogations of Saddam Hussein and documents in the personal briefcase seized with him have led to the arrest of several prominent regime figures in Baghdad, a U.S. general said yesterday.

Suicide bombers attacked police stations in the capital, killing eight persons as the insurgency showed no sign of letting up.

"My name is Saddam Hussein," the fallen Iraqi leader told U.S. troops in English as they pulled him out of his hiding place in the village of Adwar, north of Baghdad, Saturday night. "I am the president of Iraq, and I want to negotiate."

A U.S. Special Forces soldier replied: "Regards from President Bush," according to Maj. Bryan Reed, operations officer for the 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division.

Mr. Bush expanded on that message to Saddam in his remarks Monday: "Good riddance. The world is better off without you, Mr. Saddam Hussein."

American officials said interrogations of Saddam, whose location has not been disclosed, will focus first on getting intelligence on the insurgency that has taken the lives of nearly 200 American soldiers.

Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview with Fox News Channel that Saddam "is talkative now, but not cooperative. He is talking."

The general explained that Saddam mainly was complaining about being a victim of the U.S. government, but not offering useful intelligence about the insurgency or his weapons-of-mass-destruction programs.

But Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling of the 1st Armored Division said in Baghdad that officials were "connecting the dots" about the insurgency based on the initial questioning of Saddam and documents in a briefcase found with him.