DUBAI, Aug 1: Saddam Hussein’s eldest daughter, Raghad, on Friday accused his aides of “betraying” the former Iraqi president and causing the fall of Baghdad to US-led forces in April.

“The main betrayal came from the people whom he trusted fully ... (In fact) they betrayed their country before betraying Saddam Hussein,” she said in an interview with the Dubai-based Al Arabiya television network from Amman.

Raghad, who arrived in the Jordanian capital with her sister, Rana, and their nine children on Thursday after being granted refuge, termed the fall of Baghdad on April 9 “a great shock”.

Describing the hours leading up to the abrupt end of her father’s 24-year rule, Raghad said she spent them in Baghdad’s posh Mansur district with Rana and their children, knowing it was “all over”.

Apparently referring to April 9, she said her father sent cars to the house in which they were staying after midday with instructions to leave.

At the time, she said, the wife of her brother Qusay, who was gunned down by US forces along with his teenage son and elder brother Uday in the Mosul on July 22, was with them in the house along with her children.

“The moments of saying goodbye were horrendous,” Raghad recalled in snippets of the interview.

“We left Baghdad and met up with my mother (Sajida) and (younger sister) Hala after a few hours. We were brought together in a house on the outskirts of Baghdad.

“Links were all but cut with my father and brothers because matters had gotten out of hand. I saw with my own eyes the (Iraqi) army withdrawing ...

“We were a group of women having to decide the next step ... We parted company, until another day.” —AFP