Interrogators to show Saddam graves footage

Interrogators are trying to get Saddam Hussein to confess to his crimes by showing him videos of mass graves, torture and executions under his rule, United States officials said today.

The defeated dictator is also being shown footage of anti-Saddam protests in a bid to break his spirit, it was reported.

The CIA is taking the lead in questioning Saddam, but sources said he has so far disclosed no significant intelligence.

Two officials with access to interrogation reports told the USA Today newspaper that the video technique was being used in a bid to provoke Saddam into making unguarded statements.

One official said interrogators were analysing every “sweat gland, word and twitch” from Saddam.

By showing him taped evidence which could be used against him in a human rights trial it is hoped he will speak out.

Such tapes showing torture and executions were made by the Saddam regime and used to intimidate opponents.

Saddam is still in Baghdad, according to an Iraqi governing council member.

Shortly after his capture Saddam was taken to Baghdad Airport, it is believed, although his precise whereabouts now are not known.

In preliminary questioning Saddam remained defiant, saying the Iraqi people were in “bondage”.

He reportedly denied that Iraq ever had weapons of mass destruction, saying they were “dreamed up” by America as an excuse for the war.

Saddam is currently being given the rights of a prisoner of war, but is not listed as one, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday.

Mr Rumsfeld denied implications that the release of video footage of Saddam being medically examined contravened the Geneva Conventions, saying Iraqis needed to see proof that the former dictator was “off the street, out of commission”.

“He has been handled in a professional way. He has not been held up to public curiosity in any demeaning way by reasonable definitions of the Geneva convention,” Mr Rumsfeld said.

Last night US President George Bush said Saddam should face the “ultimate penalty” for his reign of terror.

He branded the captured Iraqi leader a “disgusting tyrant” but said the decision on whether he should be executed was for the Iraqi people.

He told ABC’s Primetime: “He is a torturer, a murderer, and they had rape rooms, and this is a disgusting tyrant who deserves justice, the ultimate justice.

“But that will be decided not by the President of the United States, but by the citizens of Iraq in one form or another.”

Despite the victory, Mr Bush said there was still much to be done in Iraq.

“The only thing that’s final about it is that the Iraqi people don’t have to worry about Saddam ever again,” he said.

“But there’s no finality for me. There’s a lot more to be done in Iraq.”