Tikrit - Saddam Hussein protected himself during eight months on the run, with key help most likely coming from four family members who served in his elite Special Security Organisation, said tribal leaders from the captive strongman's home region.
Sheikhs around Tikrit said the men who aided Saddam probably included Mohammad Hadosh, a bodyguard for Saddam in Tikrit and a relative on his father's side and Mohammed Omar Ibrahim al-Muslat, a bodyguard for him in Baghdad and a relative on his mother's side.
The other two henchmen were probably brothers Akrama al-Salah and Habib al-Salah, also bodyguards and related to the former president on his father's side.
The accounts by tribal leaders linked with the US military's theory that Saddam relied on four or five key aides who facilitated his travel and relayed his instructions for battling the Americans over the past eight months.
While the military has not released the names of Saddam's top lieutenants, it has described all of them as coming from five families around Tikrit who had served in his government or security forces.
The military has said all but one of Saddam's top henchmen has now been captured, including the man who led US troops to Saddam's hiding place after himself being detained.
"What facilitated and eased Saddam's capture was his bad relations with the people, even with some of his own tribe," said Sheikh Naji al-Jabbara, head of the US-installed interim council for Tikrit.
A source of ill-will for Saddam in his own Bejat tribe was his replacement of its ruling sheikh, Mahmoud al-Nida, in the 1980s, with his own candidate and his confiscation of much of Nida's land.
With such an ugly past, Saddam had to count on relatives from his mother's Albu Omar clan and his father's Albu Ghafur - particularly those who had enjoyed the pleasure of his patronage and had served in the uppermost ranks of his secretive security services.
Those not on the Americans' list of the 55 most-wanted Iraqis like Hadosh, Muslat and the Salah brothers were the best candidates to help their old boss.
"For sure, it would be these four," said Jabbara.
Jabbara described Hadosh as Saddam's right-hand man and top bodyguard in Tikrit, while Muslat and the Salah brothers served him in Baghdad.
"They were in the first line of Saddam's bodyguards," he said.
While none of the men have been seen the fall of Baghdad, Jabbara said many people believed Muslat had been hiding with Saddam and might have been killed by Iraqis after Saddam's capture on suspicion that he was the one who turned on Saddam.
But Jabbara doubted that Muslat was dead.
"We have not seen his body at the hospital," said Jabbara.
Another sheikh, Hassib Shahib Ahmed, from Ad-Dawr where Saddam was captured said US troops had been asking about Muslat in the town after Saddam's arrest.
However, despite the notoriety of all the men, Hadosh seemed to loom largest.
Sheikh Hassib described Saddam and Hadosh as inordinately close.
"Saddam gave Hadosh too much authority. He could spend money how he wanted. Saddam was too close to him," he said.
Other tribal leaders agreed.
"Mohamed Hadosh was Saddam's right arm. He depended on him in Salahuddin province (around Tikrit). He was more important than the governor. He was the top security officer for the presidential palace. Saddam counted on him for lots of things," said another tribal sheikh from Ad-Dawr, on condition of anonymity.
A sheikh from the village of Abu Ajil gave a similar account. "Hadosh was everything to Saddam and he disappeared after the war. I think he was hiding with Saddam," said the sheikh, asking not to be identified. - Sapa-AFP