QUESTIONED AND RELEASED BY THE USA...WAS IT POSSIBLY FEAR OF SADDAM'S RETRIBUTION THAT PUSHED HIM TO THIS?

Two points come to mind. One is the story that Saddam et al made it to Syria, and were then ejected from that country.

The other is that this is only a problem if he believed...or knew...that Saddam is alive and might blame him for failure to secure cooperation from the Syrians, or for his cooperation with US officials.

Absent any other information I can't make sense of this if Saddam is not alive.

The former Iraqi ambassador in Damascus is recuperating in a Baghdad hospital after shooting himself, the London-based al-Hayat daily reported today.

The paper quoted an unnamed diplomatic source as saying that Mohammed Rifaat al-Ani was hospitalized after he allegedly attempted to commit suicide at his home in the Iraqi capital.

It was not immediately clear why the former ambassador would have wanted to end his life.

Fascinating to speculate on this...read the story here, then let's all stay tuned to see where this goes.