Dead or alive? Priority is dead for Saddam, claims agent

Sydney Morning Herald, and Daily Telegraph (UK), 19 March 2003

It could result in a lot more civilian casualties. Put it this way, if we spot people crossing the border we will take them out and then ask questions later. —Saddam's continued presence in Iraq was a factor in Mr Bush Snr's election defeat in 1992 and his son is aware that with regime change a declared war aim he could lose in 2004 if Saddam were still at large and the US economy still in the doldrums.

Killing Saddam is a major priority within the CIA and Pentagon, according to a US intelligence source who warns: It could result in a lot more civilian casualties. Put it this way, if we spot people crossing the border we will take them out and then ask questions later.

The American authorities have acquired a DNA sample from a relative of Saddam which will be used to identify any body parts thought to be the remains of the Iraqi president. Confirming Saddam's death would help prevent myths about him springing up.

One of Washington's key concerns is to get Saddam before he could flee Iraq and become a figurehead for America's enemies like Osama bin Laden.

A number of the 3,000 precision-guided bombs expected to rain down on Iraq anytime now will be aimed at his anticipated hiding places.

Delta Force units will also be sent in to find him. They are not likely to take any prisoners.

It's extremely important to get him, a Bush administration official told Britain's Daily Telegraph. We will simultaneously hit all the places where we think he may be. But we may not get him. He's very slippery. Someone may offer him hidden sanctuary.

With bin Laden still at large more than 18 months after President George W Bush declared him wanted dead or alive, Saddam's survival would be a major blow to the president's prestige as well as leaving a potential leader for a Ba'athist rump either inside or outside the country.

We can't have a situation where our worst enemies are floating around the Middle East because it's like trying to chase a drop of water on glass, said the official. The importance of his surviving might not be obvious immediately, but it would become apparent in the months or years afterwards.

Any day now the situation can deteriorate and all of a sudden bin Laden's got legs again in Afghanistan. The same could happen with Saddam and Iraq.

Saddam's lurking presence, he said, would make reconciliation and reconstruction in Iraq much more difficult and terrorist attacks against US or free Iraqi targets more likely.

If it works out well and we get him early the sleeper units he's sent out will immediately know it's over. The best way to shut down his control over far-flung terrorist networks is to kill him.

Before the 1991 Gulf war, President George Bush Snr described Saddam as a dictator so evil the world would be better rid of him. We are dealing with Hitler revisited, he said on one occasion.

In his memoirs, Colin Powell, now secretary of state, wrote that this demonising made me feel uneasy and was a big mistake. I thought it unwise to elevate public expectations by making the man out to be the devil incarnate and then leaving him in place.

Saddam's continued presence in Iraq was a factor in Mr Bush Snr's election defeat in 1992 and his son is aware that with regime change a declared war aim he could lose in 2004 if Saddam were still at large and the US economy still in the doldrums. Mr Bush Snr's advisers rue the day they failed to pay heed to one of Saddam's own aphorisms: Don't provoke a snake unless you have the intention and power to cut off its head.

Saddam lived through the 38 days of the first Gulf war by sleeping in a different location every night. He uses a complex system of doubles to counter assassination attempts and has built fortified bunkers and secure escape routes.

United States forces came closest to killing him in February 1991 when he left the al Firdos command bunker in Baghdad an hour before it was destroyed. At the age of 21, he fled Iraq by donkey after he was the only one of four accomplices to escape death or capture following an assassination attempt on the country's then military ruler.