London, June 15: Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter told a British weekly she is convinced that her father survived the US-led war which toppled him from power and is still alive. Raghad Hussein told the London-based publication she was no longer in touch with the former Iraqi President or her brothers Uday and Qusay, but believed they had all survived.
"The last time I spoke to my father was five days before the war, which was launched on March 20,” Raghad said. "He was in good spirits. I know he survived the war.”
"But once Baghdad fell it was all so quick, all the family went our own ways. I am not in touch with any of them. But I believe they are still alive," she added. Saddam, his elder son Uday and younger son Qusay hold the top slots on the most-wanted list of the United States-led forces in Iraq, but their whereabouts remain unknown.
Raghad, 36, told the paper in a telephone interview that she was still in Iraq over the weekend, living with her four children aged between 10 and 19, and with her sister Rana, 34, and her three children.
The family did not leave Baghdad until April 9. "We heard on the radio that the Americans had entered the city and occupied it so at noon that day we all left," Raghad said. She denied media reports that she had considered seeking asylum in Britain.
"I like England," she said. "I have been there before and it's nice, quiet and very cold. But politically it is impossible." Bureau Report