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Report: Iraqi leadership disappears
From the International Desk
Published 4/10/2003 1:36 AM
WASHINGTON, April 9 (UPI) -- Secret CIA and military teams in Iraq to monitor Saddam Hussein's inner circle say that nearly the entire Iraqi leadership has vanished, according to a published report Thursday.
U.S. military officials told The Washington Post that some leaders had headed to Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, while others had fled to Syria. Heavy fighting by Iraqi forces at Qaim, near the Syrian border, has led some U.S. and British offcials that Iraqi troops may protecting important Iraqi leaders and their families, the Post said.
As U.S. troops took up positions in Baghdad on Wednesday, covert CIA and military teams dedicated to killing or capturing the Iraqi president and senior leaders discovered that the Baath Party leaders, Republican Guard leaders and other high-ranking government leaders were not at their posts.
"All of a sudden, all communications ceased and the regime didn't come to work," one senior administration official told the Post.
The most likely explanation for the sudden dropoff in detectable communications and activity among such a large number of key people is that an order to disappear was given in Saddam's name, and that he is still alive, the newspaper said.
Another less probable possibility, intelligence sources told the Post, is that the Iraqi leader died in one of two U.S. air strikes that targeted Saddam and that word of his death finally leaked put. The U.S. struck once on March 19 and again on Tuesday.
Capturing or killing the Iraqi leader remains a top U.S. priority. "In order to come to closure, we need to demonstrate he's not in control anymore," a senior administration official told the newspaper. "It will make it easier to start afresh."
Report: Iraqi leadership disappears
From the International Desk
Published 4/10/2003 1:36 AM
WASHINGTON, April 9 (UPI) -- Secret CIA and military teams in Iraq to monitor Saddam Hussein's inner circle say that nearly the entire Iraqi leadership has vanished, according to a published report Thursday.
U.S. military officials told The Washington Post that some leaders had headed to Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, while others had fled to Syria. Heavy fighting by Iraqi forces at Qaim, near the Syrian border, has led some U.S. and British offcials that Iraqi troops may protecting important Iraqi leaders and their families, the Post said.
As U.S. troops took up positions in Baghdad on Wednesday, covert CIA and military teams dedicated to killing or capturing the Iraqi president and senior leaders discovered that the Baath Party leaders, Republican Guard leaders and other high-ranking government leaders were not at their posts.
"All of a sudden, all communications ceased and the regime didn't come to work," one senior administration official told the Post.
The most likely explanation for the sudden dropoff in detectable communications and activity among such a large number of key people is that an order to disappear was given in Saddam's name, and that he is still alive, the newspaper said.
Another less probable possibility, intelligence sources told the Post, is that the Iraqi leader died in one of two U.S. air strikes that targeted Saddam and that word of his death finally leaked put. The U.S. struck once on March 19 and again on Tuesday.
Capturing or killing the Iraqi leader remains a top U.S. priority. "In order to come to closure, we need to demonstrate he's not in control anymore," a senior administration official told the newspaper. "It will make it easier to start afresh."
