BAGHDAD, JANUARY 11 Iraqi's complex and contradictory relationship with the dictator who dominated them for decades got even more tangled Saturday, as the country digested reports that the Pentagon has determined that Saddam Hussein is a Prisoner of War (PoW).

Cab driver Jassam Said hoped the decision by Pentagon that Saddam is protected under the Geneva Convention means he may be tried in the US rather than Iraq.

‘‘He deserves to be treated in a good way,’’ said the 28-year-old Baghdad resident. ‘‘If he were tried in Iraq it would not be fair.’’ ‘‘Saddam is a criminal,’’ said Nabeel Mehdi, 40, whose uncles were executed by the regime.

The one common reaction to the announcement was to suspect that the US was up to no good. ‘‘The Americans want to avoid him being tried openly, he would disclose crimes committed by Americans,’’ said Muheeb Hamid, a 22-year-old law student. His classmates say the US had backed Saddam against Iran when he was slaughtering Kurdish and Shiite Iraqis in the 1980s.

Many Iraqis saw the Pentagon’s announcement as evidence that Saddam had cut a deal with the Americans that Gen. Mark Kimmitt had to issue a denial at the occupation force’s regularly scheduled news conference Saturday.