CIA (news
- web
sites) and military analysts were vigorously reviewing clues
about the fate of Saddam, his inner circle and his two powerful sons
who were targeted in the attacks. Senior officials cautioned late
Thursday night that there was no conclusion.
Among the evidence being examined were reports suggesting
military field commanders might be cut off from Saddam's leadership,
that soldiers were considering mass defections and two videos
purporting to show Saddam alive after the attack.
With voice and video frame analysis, U.S. officials looked for
signs whether those tapes were contemporaneous or prerecorded as a
ruse, officials said.
U.S. officials, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said
intelligence believed Saddam was still in the compound when U.S.
bombs and missiles rained down late Wednesday night Washington time,
about six hours after U.S. intelligence first detected Saddam and
his leadership might be there.
"We have reason to believe he was still in there," one senior
U.S. official said.
The officials said they also believed medical attention was
urgently summoned to the compound in the aftermath of the attack.
One senior military official said the manner in which the help was
summoned raised the possibility Saddam himself or someone of
high-level importance in the Iraqi leadership was injured.
But other officials cautioned there was nothing definitive. "It
is not clear exactly on whose behalf the medical attention was
summoned," one U.S. official said.
The attack, which involved ship-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles
and bombs dropped from stealth fighters, was aimed at a residential
complex where U.S. intelligence believed Saddam, and possibly his
sons, were sleeping.
Naval missile strikes in Baghdad also were aimed at the
headquarters of the Special Republican Guard, a paramilitary force
that was expected to defend Baghdad from any U.S. assault, and other
security organizations.
After the attack, intelligence reports indicated Iraq (news
- web
sites)'s leaders were not organizing any coordinated response
across their country, suggesting the leadership might be in chaos or
cut off from communicating with field commanders.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said military planners had
good reason to believe top Iraqi leaders may be losing control of
their forces.
"We are in communication with still more people who are officials
of the military at various levels — the regular army, the Republican
Guard, the Special Republican Guard — who are increasingly aware
that it's going to happen, he's going to be gone," Rumsfeld said.
U.S. intelligence suspected Saddam's sons, Qusai and Odai, might
have been with him during the strike. Both hold high-level security
positions. Qusai, the younger son, was believed to be Saddam's
likely successor.
A defiant Saddam appeared on Iraqi television a few hours after
the strike. However, officials said the taped message did not prove
he was alive.
It appeared to be him and not a look-alike, officials said after
initial analysis. A voice analysis was under way.
There was nothing in the tape that made specific reference to the
attack, or other events, that would confirm it was made in the hours
after the strike. Saddam's reading of the date could have been
recorded earlier, officials said.
However, the fact that Saddam read the speech from a steno pad
indicated a fairly impromptu production, suggesting it came after
the strike, the officials said.
At a closed-door briefing in the Capitol, lawmakers asked top
Pentagon (news
- web
sites) officials if Saddam had been wounded.
"They frankly said, at this point in time, we have no definitive
facts," said Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed
Services Committee (news
- web
sites).
If Saddam survived, U.S. officials hoped the surprise attack at
least would leave him distrustful of his inner circle and suspecting
betrayal by one of his advisers, leaving him less able to command.
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