Captors, or rescuers?

If you aren’t familiar with DEBKAfile, you might want to fix that. It’s a site run by an ex-Mossad agent who still has, and uses, his old contacts. The site is decidedly pro-Israel, as you’d expect, but as long as you bear the bias in mind, it’s a great source for information and analysis. Case in point: an article on the site which argues that Saddam wasn’t in hiding, he was a prisoner, perhaps held by another clan which was in blood feud with him and his clan. That would certainly explain his odd submissiveness.