Army Raids Catch Saddam's Northern Deputy

IraqNet Information Network ^ | Dec 19, 2003 | Thanassis Cambanis

[XHogPilot]

Army Raids Catch Saddam's Northern Deputy

As recently as two days before his capture, Saddam Hussein dined with a top lieutenant who was co-ordinating guerilla attacks on the so-called Highway of Death from Baghdad north to Tikrit.

He also gave him more than $US1 million ($1.35 million) to finance the attacks, a US military commander said.

The deputy, Qais Hattam, was arrested at a farmhouse south of Tikrit early on Tuesday with 73 suspected Saddam Fedayeen guerillas, a huge cache of explosives and paperwork accounting for $US1.9 million to finance attacks, said Colonel Nate Sassaman, who led the raid.

Raids against suspected guerillas are continuing. US forces sealed all roads into the city of Samarra early on Wednesday and arrested about 30 suspects.

The show of force, the biggest since the US-led occupation began in April, signalled an escalation in the anti-insurgent campaign and reflected a growing sense that the military has to change tactics if it is to counter increasingly well-planned attacks in Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland.

Hattam, believed to be Saddam's top lieutenant for guerilla operations north of Baghdad, has been on the military's wanted list for months. An Iraqi informant came to a US base just hours after Saddam's arrest was reported in Iraq and said that Hattam was meeting regional Fedayeen militia commanders.

It is unclear how much control Saddam had over the guerilla campaign centred on Samarra, where at least 54 Iraqis were killed in a gun battle this month and insurgents mounted a sophisticated two-stage ambush against a US patrol on Monday, two days after Saddam's arrest.

There was civilian outrage in Samarra over the troops' strong-arm search tactics. The US said it would pay restitution for any property damage.

Officials would not say whether financial documents found in Saddam's hideout directly linked him to Hattam or other guerilla money men.

However, in the northern city of Mosul, Major-General David Petraeus, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, said documents found with Saddam confirmed that he had had contact with several suspected Iraqi insurgents long sought by US forces in north-western Iraq.

The top commander of US forces in the Persian Gulf region, General John Abizaid, said on Wednesday that Saddam's capture had given US authorities valuable insight into the structure and operations of the resistance.

Information gained from the capture, coupled with intelligence gathered over the past two months, had contributed to "a good haul" of more suspected insurgents, General Abizaid said.

Army intelligence officers reportedly tracked more than 9000 members of extended families loyal to Saddam, using arrests, interrogations and occasional rewards until one of Saddam's most trusted tribesmen pinpointed his location.

Officials have said that the key information in locating Saddam came from a man arrested in Baghdad on Friday and taken to Tikrit for interrogation on Saturday.  Gunmen loyal to Saddam killed an official of Iraq's largest Shiite Muslim political movement in Baghdad on Wednesday, the group said yesterday. The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq said Muhannad al-Hakim was shot dead near his home in the Amil district following death threats from Saddam backers.

[XHogPilot]

The rat speaks!

[thegreatbeast]

Day by day we thin the ranks of these scum. Slow but steady progress that has does indeed have an end. Outstanding!

[kattracks]

BTTT

[Grampa Dave]

That magical and wonderful briefcase, the coward $oddomite had when he surrended is working wonders around Iraq and around the world.

[Grampa Dave]

Ragtime, fyi.

[GeronL]

This deserves a super ping!

[GeronL]

and every time they arrest another top leader he probably has documents too, leading to other rats

[bonfire]

The briefcase domino effect.

[GeronL]

ring around the enemy

they all fall down

[Grampa Dave]

Yep, with each newly arrested top scumbag, get his documents, and then make him comfortable and put him on a Versed IV continuous infusion with a good load of narcotics. Then video record his truthful responses to any question asked of him.

In the meantime let those hiding know that if they surrender first and volunteer good info, they will become rich. If they are captured, they end up looking like their buddy the Soddomite!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

If you can get FOXNEWS turn it on and watch Greta talking to Inezz ??? regarding what Al Queda is up to!

Absolutely scary.

He is talking about them using Oil tankers to take out the Panama or Suez canal. And other such wild stuff!

[GeronL]

Round them up and head them out!

[There's millions of'em]

What great news.
What a great bunch of troops we have defending us.

[kcvl]

A previous attempt to capture Hattam near Samarra was foiled, Sassaman said, when Iraqi police tipped him off as soldiers approached his home.

Dozens of suspects previously under surveillance in Samarra had fled the city ahead of yesterday's sweep, leading US military officials to speculate that they had been warned.

Armed members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, a security body created by the US-led coalition, assisted in the cordon-and-sweep operation yesterday.

Civil defense troops cloaked their faces in ski masks as they checked cars at roadblocks, fearful of reprisals if they are recognized.

"Five days ago men came to my house and said, `If you don't leave your job in 24 hours we will kill you,' " said Jamal Nasser Jaber, a first sergeant in the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.

That was the third threat he has received, Jaber said, and he takes them seriously; three corps members in Samarra have been killed recently, he said.

Standing guard at the city's entrance, Jaber removed his ski mask to talk to a reporter but wore wraparound reflective sunglasses on an overcast morning.

Iraqi security forces play a key role in the coalition strategy. In places like Samarra, US soldiers hope to turn over day-to-day security responsibility to the civil defense corps or the Iraqi police while lowering their own profile.

[LiberalBassTurds]

The deputy, Qais Hattam, was arrested at a farmhouse south of Tikrit early on Tuesday with 73 suspected Saddam Fedayeen guerillas...

Wow, nice catch fellas! Think about the exponential impact of these type hits to their extended infrastructure. Outstanding work by our troops.

LBT

-=-

[BurbankKarl]

WSJ had an article on the Army intel team...ping me if you want to read it..

>>>Army intelligence officers reportedly tracked more than 9000 members of extended families loyal to Saddam, using arrests, interrogations and occasional rewards until one of Saddam's most trusted tribesmen pinpointed his location.

[Cap Huff]

This needs to be seen and heard by all. This is a very encouraging news item with a lot of good detail. The same article was posted yesterday afternoon with the same by-line. Nevertheless, I hope the news travels far and wide.

[GeronL]

it means they still have work to do

[bonfire]

Thanks for the info. I just watched. Does anyone know how much of Monsoor's info is "good"? And just who is he anyway? I always see him on FOX.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

He is well connected!