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

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.

“It was reported as his personal briefcase,” Gen. Hertling said. “There were a lot of things that can be exploited.”

Since Saddam was detained on Saturday night, U.S. Army teams from the 1st Armored Division have seized a high-ranking former regime figure, who has yet to be identified, and that prisoner has given up a few others, Gen. Hertling said. All the men are being interrogated, and more raids are expected.

Gen. Hertling described the newly arrested figures as “key” but did not indicate whether they were on the U.S. military’s list of 55 most-wanted regime officials. Thirteen of those figures remain at large, the highest-ranking being Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a close Saddam aide who U.S. officials say might be organizing resistance directly.

“We’ve already gleaned intelligence of value from his capture,” Gen. Hertling said of Saddam. “We’ve already been able to capture a couple of key individuals here in Baghdad. We’ve completely confirmed one of the cells. It’s putting the pieces together, and it’s connecting the dots. It has already helped us significantly in Baghdad.”

Gen. Hertling added, “I’m sure he was giving some guidance to some key figures in this insurgency.”

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