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NewsMine war-on-terror iraq saddam-hussein hunt Viewing Item | We know we hit saddam Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-03-24-saddam-health-usat_x.htmhttp://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-03-24-saddam-health-usat_x.htm
Doctors might be treating Saddam in bunker By Jack Kelley, USA TODAY
KUWAIT CITY — CIA operatives and Army commandos who are hunting for Saddam Hussein believe that the Iraqi leader could be in a Baghdad bunker receiving medical attention from military doctors, U.S. intelligence and military sources said Monday.
"We know we hit him. We know he was wounded" Thursday in a missile and bomb attack on a compound south of Baghdad, said a U.S. intelligence official involved in tracking Saddam. "We also believe he hasn't left Baghdad."
The assessment came on a day in which Saddam gave his second address on Iraqi TV since Thursday's attack, which U.S. officials said was aimed at "decapitating" his regime in the opening hours of the war. Saddam appeared more robust than the pale, shaken figure that was shown a few hours after the attack. He taunted coalition forces in referring to battles in southern Iraq.
"Have you found what the devil that besets your soul promised you?" he asked, imploring Iraqis to fight coalition forces. "Cut their throats and even their fingers. ...We will make it as painful as we can. ... Victory is imminent."
U.S. intelligence officials said they believe the person in the latest video was Saddam. But they and the White House said the tape could have been recorded before the war began and didn't necessarily prove that he was in control of his army. On the tape, Saddam praises his army's 51st Division. But some troops in the 51st have surrendered in southern Iraq, U.S. military and Kuwaiti government sources said.
Publicly, U.S. officials say they aren't sure whether Saddam is alive. But air attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere continue to make Saddam's residences and command centers a priority, suggesting an assumption that he is alive.
Intelligence and military sources said that intercepted communications, captured Iraqi generals, spy satellites and aircraft are being used to try to track Saddam's movements. It's a difficult task, the sources said, because he can move from bunker to bunker via underground tunnels in Baghdad.
But two intelligence gains have given U.S. officials more hope. Intelligence sources said Delta Force commandos in Baghdad have tapped Saddam's underground phone lines, and said the CIA has recruited an Iraqi official who knows where Saddam sleeps.
Some of the bunkers are 300 feet underground and are beneath mosques, hospitals and schools to keep coalition forces from bombing them, U.S. intelligence officials said.
Contributing: John Diamond and Dave Moniz in Washington
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