CIA 'loots' villa where Saddam's sons died

The four-storey house in Mosul where Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay, made their last stand has been demolished to prevent it being made into a shrine by Iraqis nostalgic for their father's rule. But before the bulldozers moved in, the site was picked over by American souvenir hunters.

Four armed CIA men in plain clothes were prowling through the rubble in Mosul's Chalalat Street last week. One, a bald man with an automatic rifle slung over his shoulders who said he was from Colorado, admitted he was collecting souvenirs for himself and his colleagues. He and other armed Americans were removing pieces of blue and pink marble from interior walls and stacking them in the back of their vehicle.

The Americans spent two hours in the rubble, watched silently by Iraqi workers and resentful local residents. Some said the demolition was unnecessary and compared the CIA men to looters. "They act with no honour," said one of the Iraqis bulldozing the house.

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