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WASHINGTON, Jan 9: The United States has formally declared former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, captured on Dec 13 and held by US forces, as an enemy prisoner of war, the Pentagon said on Friday.
Air Force Major Michael Shavers, a Pentagon spokesman, said Saddam Hussein is entitled to and is being given all the rights due him under the Geneva Convention for enemy prisoners of war. The spokesman said the declaration of his status did not change the conditions under which US forces are holding Saddam.
"The bottom line is that Saddam Hussein was the leader of the old regime's military forces, and therefore he was a member of the military, and he was captured. That makes him an enemy prisoner of war," Major Shavers said. Officials said the decision on Saddam's status was made this week.
TIGHT LIPPED: Saddam Hussein is refusing to cooperate with his American captors, who are taking a gentle approach to prise intelligence from him, a British official said in London. But documents found with him after his capture have provided better than expected information, the official also said. "The results of the capture of Saddam were greater than we were ever expecting", the official said at a briefing for reporters.
"He has not talked himself, but the papers found with him led to further information that led to further operations." U.S. interrogators were "taking their time, trying to get him to feel comfortable that he can talk in captivity", the official said.
But so far, "he is not offering information of a useful operational kind", he added. The British official conceded security problems would continue for as long as U.S. and British troops remain in Iraq.
However, with Saddam Hussein gone and intelligence-gathering improving, guerilla cells were finding it harder to communicate and coordinate large pre-planned attacks, he said. But individual cells continued to pose a serious threat.-Reuters
