Reuters July 23, 2003
Pentagon Expresses Confidence in Finding Saddam
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pentagon officials on Wednesday expressed confidence that U.S. forces will follow-up on the killing of Saddam Hussein's two sons by snaring the ousted former president, who is being stalked by a special forces unit in Iraq.
U.S. forces in the past two years have mounted fruitless searches for three high-profile fugitives: Saddam, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and deposed Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.
"We know we're going to get to the step where we get Saddam Hussein in the future," said a senior defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding that the U.S. military believes Saddam remains in hiding inside Iraq.
Soldiers from the Army's 101st Airborne Division and troops from a special forces unit, Task Force 20, raided a fortified villa in Mosul on Tuesday and killed Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay, according to U.S. officials.
Task Force 20 is a secretive group of special forces troops assigned the task of hunting down Saddam and his sons, as well as other prominent figures from Saddam's government. Task Force 20 has operated inside Iraq since before the war began in March, and also has been involved in the search for Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who commands U.S. forces in Iraq, told a briefing in Baghdad that "the ultimate objective is Saddam Hussein" and "we will not fail."
'SURVIVAL INSTINCT'
A defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the killing of Saddam's sons turns up the heat on the former president.
"As far as Saddam Hussein goes, probably his will to avoid capture and stay alive -- his survival instinct -- is greater than any type of emotion he could get from mourning his sons' loss," the official contended.
The official said U.S. forces increased efforts to find Saddam and his sons "in the last two or three weeks" amid escalating attacks on American in troops in Iraq.
"And unless you addressed the issue of capturing Hussein and former members of the regime, it was only going to get worse," the official said.
"I am somewhat surprised and puzzled that these senior figures have managed to remain at large this long," said John Pike, director of the GlobalSecurity.org defense think tank.
"There's a domino effect here. I think that how ever they managed to corner these guys (the sons) creates a presumption that anybody else who's at large is going to get cornered pretty soon, including the old man. Saddam might be just a matter of time."
Sanchez said Uday and Qusay were tracked down after a tip from a "walk-in" informant who likely will collect the two $15 million rewards offered by the United States for information on their whereabouts. The United States is offering $25 million for information that leads to the capture of Saddam or that proves he is dead.
"Certainly, the U.S. made a point out of saying that the reward might be going to someone for turning the sons in," said former Pentagon official Anthony Cordesman, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "People are going to think hard. I mean, $25 million, and probably U.S. citizenship if you want it -- it would be a pretty tempting offer."
© Copyright 2003, Reuters
