"The circle is closing and their options are running out," Rumsfeld said of Iraq's leaders.

He said the regime was quickly running out of "real" soldiers and would soon have only "war criminals" left to defend it.

Of Saddam, he said: "We may not know if or where he is but we do know that he is no longer running Iraq.

"The Iraqi people are losing their fear of the regime and many are daring for the first time to imagine life without Saddam Hussein."

SPACE.WIRE