DUBAI (Reuters) - He swore he would go down in a blaze of glory but experts said Monday Saddam Hussein's humiliating capture by U.S. forces befitted the cowardly nature of a man who ruled by death yet loved life above all else.

The U.S. administration in Iraq announced Sunday it had arrested Saddam and showed footage of the country's dreaded former leader undergoing medical tests without a fuss.

His bushy beard and quiet demeanor belied the image of strength Saddam projected throughout his 35-year iron rule and the promises he made after his ouster in April that he would rather be a "martyr for Iraq" than fall into U.S. hands.

"The main commodity of his rule was death, but it was a weapon that he was not willing to use upon himself," Jawad al-Anani, a former Jordanian foreign minister and Dubai-based political analyst, told Reuters Monday.

"The fact that he chose to stay in that hole with the mice shows that he was clinging onto life, no matter how bad it was. Eventually, he was a coward."

For many in the Middle East, Saddam's arrest was a shock as he was the ultimate champion of causes dear to Arab hearts such as the recapture of east Jerusalem from Israeli rule.

Although he was reviled for his barbaric human rights violations, many Arabs saw him as a man of principle who dared stand up to the region's hated superpower, the United States.

But Baghdad's fall to the U.S. army without resistance and Saddam's subsequent escape tarnished his image. Experts said his arrest Saturday in Tikrit was the final blow.

"His image has been totally undermined," said Iraq expert Mustafa Alani from London's Royal United Services Institute.

"Everyone expected him to fight to the death or commit suicide, but that is a choice he did not make. No one likes to admit it, but he's a coward."

By contrast Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay died in July fighting U.S. troops who raided their hideout in Iraq.    Continued ...

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