PARIS, April 19: When he lived in Geneva between 1987 and 1999, Barzan al-Tikriti, the half-brother of Saddam Hussein who was arrested on Thursday by US special forces in Baghdad, lived in a villa overlooking Lake Leman which adjoined the residence of the French consul to Geneva.

French diplomats who were able to observe the Iraqi during most of the years spent in Geneva, have told this correspondent that “already in the late 1990s Barzan was negotiating with US authorities his defection to the United States. “

Which is why they say they find it “strange” that he so easily allowed himself to be located and arrested by the Americans, and “wonder whether he is not a member of Saddam’s entourage who probably betrayed the Iraqi head of state’s presence at various super-secret sites which were most heavily targeted by US missiles during the first days of the war.”

They also note that Barzan had arranged to leave behind his family in Geneva, where they still reside today, and, with probable US assistance, could very well be planning to rejoin them after a pro-forma interrogation by US authorities who officially had placed him on their list of the 55 “most-wanted” confederates of Saddam Hussein.

At the time of Barzan’s residence in Geneva, he was officially Iraq’s ambassador to the United Nations.

The true purpose for his presence in Geneva was, they say, to play the very same role played by the local representative of other petroleum giants, and invest petroleum revenues in such a way that the money remained under the control of Saddam Hussein, his family and other notables of his regime.

Which was the precise moment, they say, that Barzan al-Tikriti decided, through his wide-ranging diplomatic contacts, to seek out local US authorities and began arranging for his defection to the United States, perhaps in a first stage, say the French, to a third country.

It was also at the time, note the French, that Barzan decided to associate himself, very discretely, with another major local investment group, headed by Yeslam Bin Laden, brother of Osama, in a bid to put aside sufficient funds to arrange for his permanent retirement to Geneva, that is for the day when he could execute his plan to defect to the United States.

But, say the French, word of Barzan’s meetings with the US representatives made their way back to Baghdad, where President Saddam decided to personally take care of the matter, but with US connivance chose to disappear from Geneva for several months, that is until the day, in 1999, where he reappeared, “as if nothing had happened,” say the French, to eventually make preparations for his return to Baghdad where he had since resided, perhaps serving, suggest the French, as a mole for the United States.