Saddam is hiding in Iraq, claims aide

A CLOSE associate of Saddam Hussein was quoted yesterday as saying that the deposed president was safe in Iraq, preparing to organise resistance to US-led occupation forces.

Qassem Salam, secretary-general of Yemen’s Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, said he had received a message from the leadership of Saddam’s Ba’ath Arab Socialist Party around mid-April, assuring him of the well-being of fellow party leaders in Iraq.

“The message asserted that ... all the leadership was well and in safe places. The national pan-Arab leadership, including Saddam Hussein, were in safe places, and those who had left Iraq also said they were safe,” Salam told the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi in an interview, without giving details.