"I never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country. Saddam Hussein and his entire regime learned to live with UN inspections," Rumsfeld told "Fox News Sunday."

"The intelligence shows that they were systematically trying to prevent the inspectors from finding them."

"We're going to find what we find as a result of talking to people, I believe, not simply by going to some site and hoping to discover it," he said.

Asked if senior Iraqi officials now in US custody were providing information on weapons of mass destruction, Rumsfeld said lower-ranking officials would likely provide the most interesting leads.

"We're going to have to find people not at the very senior level, who are vulnerable, obviously, if they're in custody, but it will be people down below who had been involved in one way or another."

Rumsfeld said he still did know whether the deposed Iraqi leader was alive, but added: "If I had to guess, I would suspect that he may very well be alive."

"He and his crowd are gone. They're either in a tunnel someplace or in a basement hiding. We'll find them, if he's alive."

SPACE.WIRE