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Is Saddam Hussein in Moscow?

By Zeeshan Bhutta

Saddam Hussein may be in Moscow while Britain and the United States continue their ‘search’ in Iraq. There are many rumours concerning the fate of Saddam Hussein and the most persistent one, according to the Arab News, is that he is in Moscow after having cut a deal brokered by the CIA.

The war on Iraq is “almost over” and the “liberation” of the Iraqis is somewhere around the corner but Saddam, like Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar, remains at large. The ‘Moscow theory’ is just one of many speculations and is further substantiated by reports that Saddam Hussein’s secret archives are also in Moscow. The CIA tried to block the evacuation of these archives by firing at the Russian diplomatic convoy near Baghdad on Sunday.

The Nezavisimaya Gazeta, on Wednesday, reported that Sunday’s attack was a “direct clash” between the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and CIA.

“CIA was under the impression that SVR was evacuating Saddam’s secret archives under the diplomatic cover of ambassador’s convoy... this also explains why at several occasions after the firing the American troops had tried to search Russian vehicles,” Gazeta wrote.

Earlier, Russia was accused of helping to foil the hunt for Saddam Hussein and of providing his regime with assistance for months before the war on Iraq began.

Media reports claimed that Russia had also given Iraq the intelligence on private conversations between Tony Blair and other western leaders. The Sunday Mail claimed “other sources have independently told this newspaper that Moscow has already smuggled the dictator out of Baghdad in a convoy led by the Russian Ambassador and bombed, unsuccessfully, by the Americans”.

The article said that according to intelligence reports, Saddam and his son were travelling in a convoy to Syria along Highway 11. The CIA ordered US Delta Force and field agents to the scene.

“The field agents got there first and ordered the convoy to stop. When it refused the Americans opened fire. Then the soldiers arrived,” the report said.

It added: “By this time, they had established that this was a Russian convoy led by the country’s ambassador, Vladimir Titorenko. With a diplomatic disaster in the offing, a ceasefire was hurriedly ordered.”

The report quoted Russian sources as saying that Saddam and his son Uday then went across the Syrian border to safety.

Refusing to be drawn into the controversy a Downing Street source said: “It’s the first time that we have heard of these reports. Our priority is to work with international community to rebuild Iraq.”

It is still not clear if Saddam was travelling in the convoy to Syria. There are rumours that he left Iraq ages ago but no one is sure of his whereabouts. The latest on this issue was a statement by the British Ministry of Defence in which Mr Geoff Hoon claimed that “Saddam is still in Iraq”.

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