Le Jounral De Dimanche: Saddam Hussein was betrayed by his cousin, assistant of the republican guards commander
Iraq, Politics, 5/26/2003

The French weekly "Le Jounral De Dimanche" yesterday issued results of investigations which said that Saddam Hussein was betrayed by his cousin Maher al-Takreiti, who was an assistant for his son Qusai in leading the Republican Guard, noting that Maher al-Takreiti instructed his forces not to defend Baghdad following an agreement he had with the Americans.

On April 8, on the eve of the collapse of Baghdad, and after controlling its airport, the American forces announced the death of Maher al-Takreiti.

The weekly said that the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said he was "betrayed" as he went out on April 7, to the street in one of Baghdad quarters which was occupied later, according to the French weekly. On April 9th, according to most of the sources which tackled this issue.

According to "Le Journal De Dimanche" the investigation is based to statements by one official in defense of the Iraqi capital Lt. Gen. Mahdi Abdullah al-Duleimi in a statement to the French TV channel II.

Al-Duleimi said "at that time ( April 4, the date when Saddam airport, which is named by the American forces the International Baghdad airport,) we had lost control on the city. We asked orders from Lt. Gen. Maher al-Takreiti and the orders came not to fight and to withdraw." The weekly quoted "an Iraqi source that al-Takreiti "made a contract" with the Americans "one year earlier" stating that 100,000 troops of the Republican guards will not take part in the fighting and that he was taken with his family on April 8 in secret on board of an American " C- 130 plane" to an American base. He said, therefore news about his death was not true.

The French weekly also talked about other "violations" carried out by Iraqi officials, including another relative to Saddam Hussein, who was Abdul Rasheed al-Takreiti who used to "brief the Americans on the moves of the Iraqi army and moves of the leader of "Saddam Fedayeen," Ode Saddam Hussein.

The weekly also indicated that an officer at the Iraqi presidential palace "delivered the Americans information on the place where Saddam Hussein was on the night of March 19, when the war on Iraq was launched and on April 7 -- in al-Mansour quarters, and the Americans during the two said dates bombarded the two sites, however, the Iraqi president survived death and the officer was assassinated, according to the investigation.

The French weekly concluded that these "violations are explain" the reason why the US defense secretary had a pledge that the Iraqis will not fight, and it also indicated that "toppling Saddam Hussein's regime was a programed process and the negotiations inside the UN were mere maneuvers."

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