Saddam's top science adviser surrenders, US says
( 2003-04-13 10:03 ) (7 )

Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser, who once liaised with UN weapons inspectors and was on an American most wanted list, surrendered to US forces on Saturday, the US military said.

Amer Hammoudi al-Saadi was in custody after surrendering in Baghdad, but no other details were available, a spokesman at U.S. Central Command war headquarters in Qatar told Reuters.

Saadi arranged the surrender after learning he was on a U.S. most wanted list of 55 people issued on Friday, according to German public TV station ZDF, which transported him to a U.S. warrant officer in central Baghdad and filmed the event.

Its footage showed Saadi, in an open-collared beige shirt, bidding farewell to his German wife Helga before being led by two American soldiers into the front seat of a military jeep.

"He is crucial to our understanding of what has been going on with their WMD (weapons of mass destruction) program for years," a U.S. intelligence official told Reuters in Washington.

"He knows where stuff is hidden and he also knows the names of the major scientists associated with the program, and what their roles were and what they did. And how far along Iraq was in certain areas," the official said.

In an interview, Saadi told ZDF he did not know where Saddam was and insisted that Iraq did not possess chemical or biological weapons, as alleged by the United States and Britain, who have cited that as the main reason for their war on Iraq.

He also said he had been honest in his dealings with chief weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, whose teams failed to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq during inspections from November to March.

FOR POSTERITY

"I was knowledgeable about these programs. I was telling the truth, always telling the truth. I never told anything but the truth and time will bear me out. You will see. There will be no difference after this war," Saadi said in the ZDF interview.

"I am saying this for posterity and for history and not to defend a regime...I am saying exactly what I believe in, I knew. Nobody told me what to say. Never," he continued.

The U.S. intelligence official said: "Hopefully he will be more forthcoming now that he has surrendered than he was prior to that."

U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq on March 20 to oust Saddam because of his alleged banned weapons and ties to terrorist groups.

Saadi, a former head of Iraq's Ministry of Industry and Military Industrialization, had frequently denounced the pre-war United Nations weapons inspections, which were not completed before the US launched its first missiles.

Saadi told ZDF he had stayed at home even after U.S. forces arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday. He said he felt in no way guilty and had therefore voluntarily surrendered to US forces. He denied being a member of Saddam's Baath Party.

His surrender appeared to be the first from the group of 55 the United States wants pursued, killed or captured.

US commanders are planning to issue decks of playing cards to troops depicting the 55 most wanted leadership figures. Saadi, number 55, appears on the seven of diamonds card.

Saddam is represented by the ace of spades, the most valuable card in the pack.