Modest last stand for leader

Al-Jazeera TV yesterday showed a relatively modest Baghdad home where the Iraqi leader, who had built himself sumptuous palaces, was said to have spent the last days of his rule.

A sitting room ringed with yellow-and-green striped sofas was where al-Jazeera said Saddam held his last meetings with the Revolutionary Council and senior aides.

An adjacent room, sparsely furnished with a conference table covered in white fabric and surrounded by white plastic chairs, appeared to be the room where Saddam was shown in a videotape meeting with his sons and advisers in the days after the war began.