U.S. military says Saddam's capture has led to arrests of top insurgents

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Interrogations of Saddam Hussein and documents in his personal briefcase, seized with him, have led to the arrest of several prominent regime figures in Baghdad, a U.S. general told The Associated Press on Monday. Suicide bombers attacked police stations in the capital, killing eight people as the insurgency showed no sign of letting up.

A member of the Iraqi Governing Council said Saddam could be put on trial in the next few weeks and face execution if convicted, though another member said it could take four to six months to begin the trial before a war crimes tribunal set up last week.

President Bush supported holding a public trial but suggested authorities were only just starting the process for getting the ousted dictator into a courtroom.

"We will work with Iraqis to develop a way to try him that will withstand international scrutiny," Bush told reporters in Washington. "There needs to be a public trial and all the atrocities need to come out and justice needs to be delivered."

U.S. allies around the world and Iraqi officials have called for a trial of Saddam, who was caught Saturday evening in a raid that uncovered a safehouse where he was hiding in a small, dank hole near his home town of Tikrit.

"My name is Saddam Hussein," the fallen Iraqi leader told U.S. troops in English as they pulled him out of his hiding place in the village of Adwar, north of Baghdad. "I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate."

A U.S. Special Forces soldier replied: "Regards from President Bush," according to Maj. Bryan Reed, operations officer for the 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division.

Bush expanded on that message to Saddam in his remarks Monday: "Good riddance. The world is better off without you, Mr. Saddam Hussein."

American officials said interrogations of Saddam, whose current location was unknown, will focus first on getting intelligence on the insurgency that has taken the lives of nearly 200 American soldiers.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Saddam was not helping. "He has not been cooperative in terms of talking or anything like that," Rumsfeld told CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday.

But U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling of the 1st Armored Division told AP in Baghdad that the first round of Saddam's questioning and documents in a briefcase found with him was "connecting the dots" in intelligence on the insurgency.

"It was reported as his personal briefcase," Hertling said. "There were a lot of things that can be exploited."