Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE= 4/8/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ/U-S BRIEFING/STRIKE (S-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-301924

BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON

DATELINE= DOHA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The U-S military says it destroyed a building in Baghdad where Iraqi President Saddam Hussein might have been meeting with his top associates. But, as V-O-A's Roger Wilkison reports from Central Command headquarters in Qatar, a top general says U-S forces may never know who was inside.

TEXT: U-S aircraft dropped four two-thousand-pound bombs on the building Monday in a residential area of Baghdad, after U-S intelligence reports indicated that Saddam Hussein and his two sons might have been inside with other Iraqi leaders.

Brigadier General Vince Brooks, the Central Command spokesman, says there is no word on the fate of Saddam Hussein or any of the other people who were reported to be inside the building.

/// BROOKS ACT ///

We believe the attack was effective in causing destruction of that facility. As to who was inside, and what their conditions are, it will take some time before we can make that full determination.

/// END ACT ///

General Brooks told reporters later that U-S forces may never find out who had been inside the building when it was bombed. (SIGNED)

NEB/RW/ALW/MEM/rae