GI 'punched Saddam for spitting at his captors'

By David Rennie in Washington

www.telegraph.co.uk/

(Filed: 22/12/2003)

Saddam Hussein spat at American soldiers moments after his capture and was promptly punched by one of them, according to US government sources.

Time magazine, citing officials familiar with confidential accounts of Saddam's capture, cast doubt yesterday on the Pentagon version, that a defiant Saddam offered to negotiate, only to be told by one GI: "Regards from President Bush."

That exchange is "apocryphal", an intelligence official told Time. The true version involved Saddam spitting on his captors as they dragged him from his "spider-hole" hiding place.

"A soldier promptly slugged the old tyrant," Time reported. Coalition military spokesmen in Baghdad claimed no knowledge of the fateful punch.

Saddam's capture led to the arrest of hundreds of Iraqis, including some of the leaders of the insurgency, Gen Richard Myers the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff said yesterday. He added that Saddam was not co-operating with US interrogators.

• "The American Soldier" was named yesterday as Time magazine Person of the Year.

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