WE MISSED HIM BY 15 MINUTES

As he walked into the house, Saddam asked one of his nephews who headed the messenger team, "did you inform Tahir?" in reference to his intelligence chief.

The nephew replied affirmatively.

Tahir, however, was not in the house.

For Saddam, his absence meant only one thing: a trap.

The Iraqi leader immediately fled from the Al-Mansur villa on foot, crossed a narrow street and walked several hundred yards until he reached a main road where Taha Yassin Ramadan's taxi that was waiting.

"I am sure of this information," the source said.