- Note - Historians might well be hoping Saddam has been
diligently recording his memoirs somewhere. Imagine the tales he could
tell. Can you say 'worldwide bestseller'? Of course, preventing him talking
would be a logical goal of those who would stand to lose from such information.
If you recall, the Iraq report to the UN on WMD was edited to the extent
that about 2/3 of the more than 10,000 pages were hidden from the public.
Even serial killers are given their day in court to speak. The world deserves
to hear what Saddam Hussein has to say. -ed
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- WASHINGTON (AFP) -- A Top
US official suggested today that ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
should be killed without hesitation, if capturing him alive meant risking
the lives of US soldiers.
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- The comments, by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage,
appeared to signal that only clean surrender could guarantee survival to
the former Iraqi dictator.
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- "If Saddam Hussein could be captured safely, without
any harm to US service persons, that would be great," Armitage told
CNN television. "If there is a question of harm being done to US servicemen,
then he should be killed."
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- The deputy secretary of state became the second high-ranking
US official in less than a week to indicate that while the United States
was interested in getting Saddam out of the picture, it had no particular
concern whether he ended up alive or dead.
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- Speaking in Congress last Wednesday, Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld said top Pentagon officials had left it to commanders in
the field to decide whether to take former senior Iraqi leaders dead or
alive.
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- "If a person is determined to fight to the death,
then they may very well have that opportunity," Rumsfeld warned.
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- The remarks by Armitage came a week after US forces killed
Saddam Hussein's two sons, Uday and Qusay, following a pitched battle in
the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a breakthrough that led to an intensified
the search for the deposed strongman.
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- Three US soldiers were wounded in that operation, according
to defense officials.
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- With the hunt for Saddam gathering steam, Armitage insisted
that US troops in Iraq were now hot on his trail and stood a good chance
of catching up with him.
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- "I think most people feel that the noose is tightening
pretty regularly around the neck of Saddam Hussein," he said. "Even
today, there were three raids. And we believe we were just hours behind
Saddam Hussein. So it looks like his days are numbered."
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- But US Army Captain Jeff Fitzgibbons, a spokesman for
coalition forces in Baghdad, told AFP the military had no evidence that
capture of the former Iraqi leader was imminent.
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- "I don't have any hard facts in my possession that
would indicate that was the case," Fitzgibbons said in a telephone
interview. "I do know that they talked to some locals that felt he
had just been through, but there is nothing really confirmable as far as
facts that would lead us conclude irrefutably that that was the case."
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- Reflecting on the causes of intensified guerrilla attacks
against US forces, Armitage expressed regret that not enough Iraqi soldiers
had been killed by US and British forces during initial offensive operations
in the wake of the March 20 invasion of Iraq.
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- "We thought they would fight more of a set-piece
battle and that we would, frankly, kill a lot more of them and, therefore,
have a slightly better security situation," he said.
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- The deputy secretary of state also said that there were
"some indications" that the radical Islamic group Hezbollah,
which is backed by Syria and Iran, may be trying "to harm our interests
in an already confused situation" in Iraq.
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- He did not offer any specifics but said foreign fighters
from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and Syria had been involved in armed
attacks against coalition forces in Iraq.
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- Meanwhile, an unnamed defense official told the American
Forces Press Service that, according to US intelligence estimates, the
guerrilla force operating against US troops has between 4,000 and 5,000
fighters at its disposal.
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- It was being coordinated at regional and local levels
by former colonels and lieutenant colonels of the Iraqi army, who have
access to money and weapons and are capable of hiring poor Iraqis to launch
attacks, the official was quoted as saying.
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- The official pointed out that the former Iraqi intelligence
service is now believed to have a much bigger role in organizing these
raids than previously thought.
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- Copyright 2003 News Limited.
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