Kurds Say They Captured Saddam, Not U.S.

Turning the U.S. exaltation at Saddam's capture into a Pyrrhic victory, the Sunday Express quoted unnamed senior British military intelligence officer as saying that Saddam fell into the hands of Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

The officer said that Saddam was betrayed to the PUK by a member of the al-Jabour tribe whose daughter had been raped by Saddam's son Uday, leading to a blood feud and harboring feelings of hatred towards the Saddam family, according to the daily.

A former Iraqi intelligence officer, whom the Express did not name, told the paper that Saddam was held prisoner by Talabani until he negotiated a deal, which apparently involved the group gaining political advantage in the region.

An unnamed Western intelligence source in the Middle East also told the daily: "Saddam was not captured as a result of any American or British intelligence. We knew that someone would eventually take their revenge, it was just a matter of time."

Talabani was actually the first to announce the ground-breaking news in press statements to the Iranian News Agency (IRNA).

News televisions showed a videotape of a bearded and disheveled Saddam in detention and undergoing medical checks.

Mahmmoud Othman, Kurdish member of the Iraqi Interim Governing Council (IGC) asserted at the time that it was the Kurds who nabbed Saddam "because they have Arab friends in Tikrit, Mosul and the country."

The Express said the full story of events leading up to Saddam capture near his hometown of Tikrit in northern Iraq "exposes the version peddled by American spin doctors as incomplete."

Political analysts said U.S. President George W. Bush was in dire need for such a ground-shaking event to raise his ratings and polish his image in the eyes of the Americans as the Presidential elections are drawing closer.