Saddam 'not a key war aim'

Saddam 'not a key war aim'

Thursday's attacks aimed to 'decapitate' the regime

The head of coalition forces in Iraq, General Tommy Franks, has admitted that he has no idea whether the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is alive or dead.

There has been speculation, fuelled by Western intelligence sources, that the Iraqi leader might have been killed in the opening cruise missile strikes on Baghdad last Thursday.

These intelligence-led strikes aimed to kill him and bring the war to an early end.

But Saddam Hussein has since been shown on Iraqi television, with experts studying the tapes to see if they might have been fabricated or pre-recorded.

Asked about the confusion, General Franks said: "I have no idea where he is now. I suppose we will know more in the days ahead."

He played down the importance of focusing on the Iraqi president.

A TV appearance suggested Saddam Hussein had survived

"The way we're undertaking this military operation would not be changed irrespective of the location or the life of this one man and that's why we talk about the regime," said General Franks.

"It would not surprise any of us whether Saddam Hussein is alive or dead. It is not about that one personality, it is about this regime."

Senator Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, said on Thursday he had been told that intelligence officials do think some of the Iraqi military leadership were killed in the bombing.

Officials reportedly said that they believed the Iraqi leader, and possibly one or both of his sons, Qusay and Uday, were inside a compound in southern Baghdad when it was bombed.

"The preponderance of the evidence is: he was there when the building blew up," one official was quoted as saying.

Officials also said they believed medical assistance was summoned to the compound soon after the attacks.

But there are conflicting reports over whether the medical assistance was called for Saddam Hussein himself.

Footage

Analysts have been scrutinising a televised message by the Iraqi president, broadcast within hours of Thursday morning's attack, which refers to the date of the bombing and the fact that it was at dawn.

"The CIA's assessment of the tape is that it does appear to be the voice of Saddam, but there is no conclusive evidence about whether that was taped before or after the operation began," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

Later the same day, Iraqi TV showed footage of what appeared to be the president dressed in military uniform, chairing a meeting of cabinet ministers.

And Saturday saw Iraqi television broadcast pictures of Saddam Hussein and his younger son Qusay at what it said was a defence meeting

However there was nothing to indicate when any of this was filmed.

Attempt to 'decapitate' regime

A report from US intelligence that it had a fix on the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein prompted the cruise missile strikes, which took place at 0534 Baghdad time on Thursday.

KEY TARGETS

Profile: Saddam Hussein

Profile: Qusay and Uday

US officials have described the attacks as an attempt to "decapitate" Saddam Hussein's government by killing senior figures.

The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency, George Tenet, reportedly told President George W Bush that agents had pinpointed the elusive Iraqi leader, presenting a "target of opportunity".

Several reports describe the target as a residential site where the Iraqi president and his sons may have been sleeping.

But one report quoted "a knowledgeable official" as saying the location was an underground bunker, which was part of a secure compound guarded by the Special Security Organisation, which protects the president and is commanded by his younger son Qusay.

Survivor

One of Washington's stated war aims is "regime change" in Iraq.

But despite America's overwhelming military and intelligence superiority, targeting Saddam Hussein and his key lieutenants is very difficult.

Saddam Hussein is a master of self-preservation and employs a number of tactics to ensure his personal safety.

TRACKING TECHNIQUES

Spy satellites and aircraft

Remote-controlled Predator drone aircraft (above)

Electronic surveillance of communication between Iraqi officials

Fact file: Predator spy plane

He has not appeared in public for more than two years and employs the 15,000 strong Special Security Organisation as his personal bodyguard.

The Iraqi president is believed to spend most of his time in discreet, ordinary houses, or his network of fortified underground bunkers.

These include underground command posts, air-raid and tank shelters and hospitals and, according to an engineer who helped build them, can resist a direct hit by a TNT bomb of 2,000 kilograms.

"Conventional weapons can hardly reach him and I don't believe the US can get rid of him that way," the unnamed source told the Reuters news agency last year.

Saddam Hussein is reputed to never sleep more than one night in the same place, apparently sometimes driving himself between locations.

It is reported that during the 1991 Gulf War, the Iraqi leader surprised a family by arriving at their Basra farmhouse and requesting a bed for the night.

He is also reputed to have spent time sleeping in a tent in the western Iraqi desert.

US officials told the Associated Press that the intelligence for Thursday's attacks came from an operation combining human sources, electronic spying and special military operations.

The strikes suggest the US had precise information, possibly fed to the CIA by an Iraqi spy, or defector.