Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
'We saw Saddam's son after the bombing'
"A rewards programme has been established for information leading to the capture of key leaders of the Baghdad regime", Brigadier General Vincent Brooks said, adding that "appropriate prices" were being offered.
The US defence department on Friday released pictures of the 52 most wanted Iraqi leaders in the form of playing cards to be distributed throughout Iraq.
The US defence department on Friday released pictures of the 52 most wanted Iraqi leaders in the form of playing cards to be distributed throughout Iraq.
Iraq - Residents of a Baghdad suburb said on Saturday they saw Saddam Hussein's younger son Qusay alive shortly after American bombs flattened a building where United States officials had tried to kill Saddam and his sons.
On Monday a B-1 bomber dropped four 900kg bombs on the building in the Mansur district after the CIA received a tip that Saddam and his sons Qusay and Uday were inside.
The strike demolished the building but US and British officials said they suspected Saddam might have got away.
This Reuters correspondent visited the upscale Mansur district on Saturday, the first time an unsupervised visit had been possible since censorship collapsed with Saddam's rule on Wednesday. Only on Saturday morning did foreign Arab fighters who had continued to resist US forces pull out of the area.
Among people living across the street from the bombed building, one middle-aged couple said they both saw Qusay, Saddam's heir apparent, driven away in a government-issue Peugeot 306 car about 15 minutes after the bombing.
The couple, who had seen Qusay in the flesh before, said they had rushed out of their villa after the blast to inspect damage. Their garden remained littered with rubble.
They said Qusay was sitting in the passenger seat of the car.
"I am positive it was Qusay. He was sitting in the passenger seat, the AK-47 was in his lap," the man, an Iraqi professional, said.
"A degree of fear will always rule us as long as they (Saddam and his family) are out there," he added.
The whole street had been swarming with Saddam's special security guards before the explosions, they said.
The man, speaking on condition of anonymity, said some of his relatives believed they had seen Saddam himself at around the same time a few streets away.
There was no way of independently corroborating the statements and Saddam is known to have a number of lookalikes to help protect against possible assassination attempts.
US intelligence officials sounded confident that they had at least been close to hitting Saddam.
The area was known to have been frequented by Saddam and other members of the Iraqi elite.
The whereabouts of Saddam and his sons remain a mystery. US officials said on Friday Washington was leaning slightly more towards the view that Saddam was dead rather than alive.
Independent Online ©2003. All rights strictly reserved.
On Monday a B-1 bomber dropped four 900kg bombs on the building in the Mansur district after the CIA received a tip that Saddam and his sons Qusay and Uday were inside.
The strike demolished the building but US and British officials said they suspected Saddam might have got away.
This Reuters correspondent visited the upscale Mansur district on Saturday, the first time an unsupervised visit had been possible since censorship collapsed with Saddam's rule on Wednesday. Only on Saturday morning did foreign Arab fighters who had continued to resist US forces pull out of the area.
Among people living across the street from the bombed building, one middle-aged couple said they both saw Qusay, Saddam's heir apparent, driven away in a government-issue Peugeot 306 car about 15 minutes after the bombing.
The couple, who had seen Qusay in the flesh before, said they had rushed out of their villa after the blast to inspect damage. Their garden remained littered with rubble.
They said Qusay was sitting in the passenger seat of the car.
"I am positive it was Qusay. He was sitting in the passenger seat, the AK-47 was in his lap," the man, an Iraqi professional, said.
"A degree of fear will always rule us as long as they (Saddam and his family) are out there," he added.
The whole street had been swarming with Saddam's special security guards before the explosions, they said.
The man, speaking on condition of anonymity, said some of his relatives believed they had seen Saddam himself at around the same time a few streets away.
There was no way of independently corroborating the statements and Saddam is known to have a number of lookalikes to help protect against possible assassination attempts.
US intelligence officials sounded confident that they had at least been close to hitting Saddam.
The area was known to have been frequented by Saddam and other members of the Iraqi elite.
The whereabouts of Saddam and his sons remain a mystery. US officials said on Friday Washington was leaning slightly more towards the view that Saddam was dead rather than alive.
Independent Online ©2003. All rights strictly reserved.
For more information:
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=79...
Add Your Comments
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$190.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network