Posted on 03/01/2003 5:42:32 PM PST by Pern
U.S. Special Forces have been inside Iraq for months and plan to capture or kill Iraqi President Saddam Hussein within three hours of an assault on Baghdad.
Undercover U.S. agents, CIA operatives and Special Forces teams are already in place in and around the Iraqi capital, reports the Sydney Daily Telegraph.
A government source in a pro-U.S. Middle Eastern country told the paper the plan to ''take out Saddam'' is designed to minimize infrastructure damage, increase the likelihood of Iraqi forces surrendering and save billions of dollars by avoiding a lengthy campaign.
Here's what Hussein has been doing in recent days, according to the report:
- Ordered members of his depleted air force to form a ''kamikaze'' suicide unit which will pilot Iraqi fighter jets Sept.-11-style into enemy targets;
- Added two new units to his forces the Fidayee Saddam Army and the Special Protection Army. They join the regular army, the Republican Guard, the Special Republican Guard and the Alquds Liberation Army;
- Sent senior officers of his Special Republican Guard to monitor the regular army for any sign of revolt;
- Ordered the arrest of key officers in the air force suspected of treachery. They have been sent to the notorious Abu Graib Prison in Baghdad. Three air force officers two captains and a lieutenant who refused to join the kamikaze units were shot last week during the traditional Al Adha feast;
- Established a bio-chemical weapons training base at Al Naserieya, in southern Iraq for use as a last resort against coalition troops; and
- Drew up plans for a scorched earth policy involving the destruction of dams, bridges and oil wells.
Much of the insight into Saddam's plans comes from a former senior officer in an elite Iraqi Army unit who led an uprising against Saddam during the last Gulf War, Captain William Warda, who was granted political asylum in Australia by U.N. edict.
Speaking yesterday, Captain Warda, who is now a senior official in the Iraqi Military Council, said the council was using a complex web of agents inside Saddam's regime to monitor the dictator and his military plans.
''We have received this information from agents still inside Iraq and others who have escaped through Jordan,'' he told The Daily Telegraph.
Saddam is so distrustful of his regular army he has starved it of resources, supplying only minimal stores of ammunition, fuel and food.
Saddam has created a Special Protection Army to protect him from assassination. It is made up of his closest allies, including relatives, tribal loyalists from his birthplace of Tikrit and criminals who face jail should Saddam be toppled. Numbering several hundred, this unit will fight to the death.
The Fidayee Army was formed by Saddam's son Qusay to crush any signs of revolt. The Alquds Liberation Army is made up of retired army officers and Arabs from outside Iraq who have volunteered to fight the ''infidels''.
There has been speculation that a war against Iraq could be all but over within 48 hours, but that hinges on a swift operation to eliminate Saddam.
Imagine being that actor when the crowd decides to tear "Saddam's" body apart limb from limb, or shoot it full of holes.
Yes, I do know. I also know that the odds of not only locating Saddam within 3 hours of the beginning of hostilities, but tracking his movements, moving in for the kill in the midst of U.S. attacks and meeting mission success, are low - even for Delta and the CIA. Not impossible, but improbable. I'm sure his suspected hiding places will be sealed by SOFs, keeping him trapped, but I believe it will take more than 3 hours to smoke him out. If it were that easy we would have had Noriega within hours of invading Panama and Bin Laden would be eating fruit loops in GITMO by now.
The raid took place in October '93. Who's administration was that under?
This is the first administration in 30 years who is allowing the CIA free reign, and giving them sull support.
There is a new Sherrif in town, and the rules have changed.
Keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times, and don't stand up!!!!
Yeah. Sure. Right. "Death to the infidel!!!" and all that bulls**t.
Arabs are notoriously cowardly in the face of equal or superior force. They'll chest-thump and ululate.....and run screaming like little girls when American Hell rains down on their empty heads.
Mark my words.
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