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London: The US may be clueless about the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein but the ousted Iraqi dictator is in touch with his second wife and the only surviving son, currently living in Lebanon, a leading London daily claimed today (Dec 14, 2003).

In an interview published in 'The Sunday Times,' Samira Shahbandar, who has been described by those who know Saddam as being the closest to him of his four wives, said her husband calls or writes to them at least once a week.

"If he cannot say something in detail on the telephone, I know I will receive a letter in two to three days giving me an explanation," she said.

She said she had been given permission to live in France and she would move to Paris next month.

Samira was reported to have fled to Russia after the war that turned her husband into a fugitive with a $ 25 million price on his head.

From there she travelled to Beirut, where she was provided with a Lebanese passport that gives her name as "Hadija".

According to the report, the passport of Saddam's 21-year-old son Ali states his name as "Hassan". Saddam's two elder sons Qusay and Uday, who terrorised Iraq, were killed by American forces during a siege of a house in Mosul. Their mother Sajida - the dictator's first wife - is thought to be in Syria.

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