Report: Taped Saddam Names Foreign Leaders in Bribe Scheme

Taped-recorded interrogation sessions of Saddam Hussein reportedly show the captured Iraqi dictator naming specific leaders in the Middle East and other parts of the world as recipients of bribes paid by Baghdad, an Iraqi press report claimed this week.

"Diplomatic sources confirm the existence of 150 recordings of Saddam's confessions which include information on bribes paid to heads of state and political leaders in Arab and foreign states," the Iraqi newspaper Al-Mu'tamar reported on Thursday, according the Middle Eastern Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

MEMRI monitors Arab media reports and translates them into English.

Although U.S. authorities have not confirmed the Al-Mu'tamar report, Saddam is said to have been alternatively "talkative" and "uncooperative" in U.S. interrogation sessions. He is expected to stand trial for war crimes under the new Iraqi government sometime this fall.

A decision by the former Iraqi dictator to name names could have a major impact on relations between the U.S. and any allies that were found to be on Saddam's bribe list.

His testimony on Baghdad's bribery network could also ad fuel to the burgeoning United Nations Oil-for-Food scandal.

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