Uday is considering surrendering to U.S.

[igloo]

Saddam Hussein's son Uday is considering surrendering to U.S. forces, but so far has been reluctant to do so because of a tough negotiating posture by the U.S. government, according to a third party with knowledge of the discussions, the Wall Street Journal (search) reported Friday.

U.S. officials in Washington had no comment, the paper said.

Uday Hussein (search), who is hiding in a Baghdad suburb, wants to know what the charges against him will be and the process for interrogation and custody, the source told the Journal.

U.S. officials don't seem especially interested in cutting a deal, because they assume Uday will be caught sooner or later, the source told the paper.

Uday, Saddam's eldest son, was commander of Iraq's paramilitary unit, known as the Saddam Fedayeen, and he was also chairman of the Iraqi Olympic Committee (search). He is No. 3 on the coalition's most-wanted list, after his father and his brother, Qusay.

Uday fears that Iraqi citizens will kill him if they find him, and may instead choose the safety of a U.S. prison, the person said, adding that Uday frequently changes his mind about surrendering. "He doesn't have good choices," the person said.

Saddam is also alive and in suburban Baghdad, the person familiar with Uday's surrender discussions said he has been told by a Saddam relative. He added that the deposed leader is in questionable mental health.

The U.S. government has asked intermediaries for help in finding him or negotiating a surrender, but this person knows of no progress, the paper reported.

Before Tariq Aziz, Iraq's former deputy prime minister, surrendered, he told his family and others that Mr. Hussein's sons took more than $1 billion in gold from Iraq's central bank, the person said. It has already been reported that the sons took more than $1 billion in cash.

On Thursday, U.S. forces captured Aziz Saleh al-Numan, the highest-ranking capture on the list of the 55 most-wanted Iraqis.

Al-Numan, a former senior Baath Party leader, was nabbed in spite of the reported efforts by his family to throw the U.S. track. He was the "King of Diamonds," and No. 8 on Central Command's list.

U.S. officials have said al-Numan is one of nine top Iraqi leaders whom the United States wants to see tried for war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Several days ago his relatives reportedly published an advertisement in one of Baghdad's new newspapers saying that he died of a heart attack. It said his sister held a mourning ceremony at her house.

Al-Numan's family had been involved in talks with U.S.-led forces for three weeks, Time magazine reported Thursday. They wanted assurances that Al-Numan, 62, would not be charged in an Iraqi court and that he would receive treatment for his diabetes, the report said.

The capture of al-Numan brought to 25 the number of Iraqis from the top-55 list who are in coalition custody, according to the Pentagon's count.

Al-Numan was prominent in the quelling of the Shiite uprising in the south in March 1991 in the immediate aftermath of the U.S.-led attack that ousted the Iraqi army from Kuwait. A Shiite, he had a reputation for cruel treatment of the rebels, accused by opposition groups of killing and torture.

Before the 1991 uprising, when he was governor of Najaf, he was accused of arresting, torturing and killing Shiite clerics during the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.