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Washington: The captured former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was "not cooperative in terms of talking", US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said observing that his future would be decided after consultations with the US coalition partners.

The former Iraqi President's treatment would be governed by the Geneva Conventions and he would be accorded privileges as if "he was a prisoner of war", Rumsfeld said on American television networks after Saddam was captured near his native place Tikrit in Iraq.

Rumsfeld said so far Saddam had refused to give any intelligence information. "He (Saddam) has not been cooperative in terms of talking or anything like that."

The 'Time' magazine reported that during his first interrogation, the ousted Iraqi leader denied that his regime possessed any weapons of mass destruction.

"No, of course not," the weekly quoted him as saying. "The US dreamt them up itself to have a reason to go to war with us."

The Defence Secretary felt that the former President "clearly was compliant or resigned" when US troops took him into custody and moved him to a secure undisclosed location.

Rumsfeld did not rule out that Saddam might decide to cooperate in the future. "I think it's a bit early to try to characterise his demeanour."

Asked about Saddam's future, he said it would be decided in consultations at "a very high level" with coalition partners after thorough legal analysis of the situation.

PTI



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