Saddam was moving between 30 hides, he fled to al-Namash farm twice during 40 years

The odd thing in capturing Saddam Hussein is that his detention was made in the same farm he hid when he was a youngster in 1959, after his participation in the failed attempt to assassinate the former Iraqi President Abdul Karim Qasem.

In October 1959, Saddam Hussein, then 22 year old, fled from Baghdad, after he was chased by the security forces, and reached as he was wounded to al-Dawr village, 180 Km to the North of Baghdad, seeking resort from a farmer called Jasem al-Namash. The farmer did not know that the fleeing man would be the President of Iraq.

Sheikh Hasein al-Shayb Ahmad, the chieftain of al-Mawaset tribe to which al-Namash affiliates, affered in the Arab traditions refuge to a young wounded man. After Saddam took some rest, he walked through al-Namash lands which adjoins the bank of the Tigris river, and through himself in the cold waters of the river to cross for the other bank of the river, and headed for al-Auja, the village where he was born before he had fled to Syria and then to Egypt.

Just 40 years from this incident, Saddam found himself once again chased but this time by the American occupation forces. Once again he resorted to al-Namash farms asking shelter. Qeis, Jasem's son was running the farm which is of an area of five hectares. He was detained with Saddam.

Sheikh Haseib said "they had offered protection to the toppled President as an expression of loyalty." Jasem, who has cancer, no longer talked to any of his sons.

Al-Namash belongs to the large tribe of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the right hand assistant for Saddam whom the Americans have not been able to arrest yet.

During his rule, Saddam rewarded al-Namash family. He awarded Jasem and each and every one who helped in hiding him with awards, according to Haseib. Saddam Hussein also awarded Jasem's son, Qeis, with the post of chief cookers in his Presidential palace in Tikrit and appointed his two other sons in governmental posts.

Meantime, the US Time magazine said quoting an anonymous American source that Saddam spit on the face of the American soldier who was among those captured him and this pushed the soldier to box the toppled President. An American military spokeswoman in Iraq denied the incident saying "I think this is a folk tale." However, New York Times said that Hussein was able to flee from the face of the American forces for months, by moving between 20 to 30 hides in the area which used to be considered his shelter, and most of the time he was eating chocolates and canned fruits.

American military officials said that in order to avoid tracking him, Saddam used to move walking on his feet or by a small boat along the Tigris river, or in a rent car or pick ups ,and most of the time during night times. The paper noted that he had often met with his two sons Ode and Qusai before they were killed in July.