THE BUTCHER OF BAGHDAD GETS A VISIT

Two international Red Cross workers Saturday visited Saddam Hussein in U.S. custody in Iraq, a spokeswoman said.

The delegates - one of them a doctor - saw the ousted Iraqi leader at an undisclosed location, said Nada Doumani, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"The aim of this visit is to track and monitor the conditions of detention and treatment of the detainee," Doumani said, speaking from Amman, Jordan.

"We want to see whether he is getting enough food and water and also to check his health condition and to give him the possibility to write a message to his family, which he did."

The ICRC is mandated to carry out visits to detainees under the Geneva Conventions on the conduct of warfare, but it never comments publicly on the conditions it finds.