US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Sunday that the captured former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein has so far refused to cooperate with US military.  

"He has not been cooperative in terms of talking or anything like that," Rumsfeld told CBS's "60 Minutes" program. "I think it's a bit early to try to characterize his demeanor beyond that."

Saddam 'defiant and unrepentant': Iraqi IGC member

Iraqi interim Governing Council (IGC) member Adnan Pachachi said Sunday Iraqi former President Saddam Hussein looked tired but was "defiant and unrepentant" in custody.

Pachachi, together with two other IGC members, was invited to confirm the identity of the former president captured on Saturday.

At a news conference that followed, Pachachi said in English," We found him obviously tired and haggard but he was unrepentant and even defiant."

"He (Saddam) told us he was a just and firm ruler. Our answer was that he was an unjust ruler responsible for the death of thousands of Iraqis," Pachachi said.

Pachachi said when they asked about the crimes Saddam had done during his rule, the former president appeared unrepentant and showed no remorse.

Saddam was captured in an underground hole at a farmhouse, 15 km south of Tikrit, his hometown in northern Iraq, at 8:30 p.m. (1730 GMT) Saturday, US ground forces commander in Iraq Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez told reporters.

Sanchez showed at a press conference Sunday in Baghdad a video footage and several pictures of Saddam in custody, who, with thick, graying beard and bushy hair, was seen undertaking a medical examination and seemed cooperative.

The hole where Saddam hid was seven or eight feet (about three meters) deep and its entrance was camouflaged with bricks and dirt, Sanchez said.

It was reported that there were US$750,000, two AK-47 rifles and a pistol with him when the Saddam was caught.

Saddam was arrested without any resistance, said Sanchez, "Not a single shot was fired." A DNA test has proved the identity of the former Iraqi president.

(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2003)