Saddam moved to Qatar over rescue fears

Saddam Hussein has been moved out of Iraq because of fears he would be rescued from American captivity by insurgents.

The deposed dictator is being held on a US airbase in Qatar, where he is being interrogated by the FBI and CIA. Ironically, he is now living a few miles from his wife, Sajida Kheirallah Talfah, who has been given safe haven by the Qatari royal family and a home in one of their palaces. Saddam is unlikely to have been informed of the presence of his family or have been visited by his wife.

He was being held under such secrecy at the Al-Udeid airbase, on the outskirts of the capital Doha, that the ruling royal family was initially not told. Despite the move he is not co-operating with his interrogators and is said to give "vague" answers.

He has repeated the Iraqi government's official position on the invasion of Kuwait, the United Nations sanctions regime and the Iran-Iraq war without giving any extra insight.

Some of the FBI interrogators who had hoped he would crack through techniques which have included sleep deprivation, being subjected to rapid changes of room temperature and being offered rewards for co-operation have lost hope.

They have concluded he was so surrounded by sycophants he had no real idea of what was happening in his country. His former deputy prime minister and international envoy Tariq Aziz, who is being held at Baghdad Airport, is being equally unco-operative.

US authorities are no nearer to putting Saddam on trial for war crimes, despite having set up a tribunal in Baghdad six weeks after his capture.