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U.S. hopes scientist will spill beans

WASHINGTON April 13. The Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser who surrendered to U.S. forces was the key player of Iraq's suspected biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programmes and holds the secrets to their hidden locations, a U.S. intelligence official said.

Gen. Amer Hammoudi al-Saadi turned himself in to the U.S. soldiers in Baghdad yesterday and was driven away in a military jeep. ``He is crucial to our understanding of what has been going on with their WMD (weapons of mass destruction) programme for years,'' the U.S. intelligence official told Reuters.

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

The U.S. main stated reason for launching the war against Iraq is that it posed a threat because it had suspected weapons of mass destruction, which Baghdad denied. The U.S. troops have not uncovered any confirmed weapons of mass destruction.

`No WMD'

In Baghdad, Mr. Al-Saadi said he had no information on Mr. Hussein's whereabouts. Before leaving his Baghdad villa with his German wife, Helga, and presenting himself to an American warrant officer, he insisted that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction.

``He's a really big fish,'' said Ewen Buchanan, spokesman for the U.N. weapons inspection team. ``But who knows whether he will tell them anything or just stick to his guns.''

Mr. Al-Saadi is believed to be the first of the 55 regime figures sought by the U.S. forces to enter custody. His official title was Mr. Hussein's science adviser and he negotiated with inspectors on behalf of the regime.

In February, the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, vilified Mr. Al-Saadi in a speech to the U.N. Security Council, accusing him of being on a committee set up by Mr. Hussein to spy on inspectors.

Mr. Powell said Mr. Al-Saadi's job was ``not to cooperate, it is to deceive; not to disarm, but to undermine the inspectors; not to support them, but to frustrate them and to make sure they learn nothing.''

Mr. Al-Saadi denied the charges then and suggested that evidence Mr. Powell presented to the Council was fabricated. A month later, U.N. nuclear inspectors said a piece of intelligence on Iraq's nuclear programme provided by the United States was a forgery.

Former and current inspectors describe Mr. Al-Saadi, a scientist in his mid-50s with an advanced degree in chemistry, as extremely intelligent, professional and mild-mannered.

Educated in Britain and Germany, his excellent command of the English language made him an ideal spokesman and he often led news conferences about the inspections when they resumed in November.

Mr. Al-Saadi's main areas of expertise are in the fields of chemical and biological weapons but U.N. inspectors have long believed that he had a deep understanding of the country's missile and nuclear programs as well.

On Saturday, Mr. Al-Saadi told ZDF he had spent the war in his cellar and emerged after he saw a British TV report that he was being sought.

``I know the programmes for weapons of mass destruction and have always told the truth about these old programmes, and only the truth. You will see, the future will show it, and nothing else will come out after the end of the war,'' he said in an interview with ZDF, according to the broadcaster's German translation.

``Because I know the programme, together with my colleagues, because we have always worked together and nobody intervened. Nobody ever told me what I should say.''

Mr. Al-Saadi first caught Mr. Hussein's attention with his scientific and organisational contributions as Iraq expanded its arsenal to include long-range missiles and chemical weapons.

Mr. Al-Saadi is a member of Iraq's Shia Muslim majority.

Reuters, AP

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