Saddam, sons targeted in strike

MSNBC.com ^

[GulliverSwift]

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 8 — A U.S. Air Force warplane dropped four enormous bombs Monday on a residential neighborhood where “extremely reliable” intelligence information indicated that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his two sons were staying, senior administration officials told NBC News. The sources would not rule out the possibility that Saddam could have moved before the planes struck, but they said it was highly likely that he and his sons were dead if they were still there when the bombs hit.

BASED ON an intelligence source on the ground in Baghdad, U.S. military officials were confident that Saddam and his sons, Uday and Qusay, were attending a meeting in the neighborhood, senior officials said.
Officials quickly called in Air Force jets to strike the location Monday with four GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition weapons, the 2,000-pound smart bombs known as “bunker busters.” Diplomatic officials and officials at the Pentagon told NBC News that they were highly confident that they killed everyone at the meeting.
Military officials at U.S. Central Command forward headquarters in Doha, Qatar, confirmed the airstrike but would not comment on its possible effect.

BUSY DAY FOR COALITION
If Saddam was killed, U.S. military planners would have achieved one of their prime objectives in the war. It would cap a dramatic day in which U.S. forces established a foothold in one of Saddam’s palaces in Baghdad after swooping into the city the day before.
Coalition forces moved to cut off escape routes from the capital. Meanwhile, in a city near Baghdad, the military was led to a site where suspicious chemical compounds were stored — a discovery that, if verified, could prove that Iraq had continued its banned weapons programs.
U.S. troops remained in the presidential compound on the west bank of the Tigris River, apparently determined to deliver a powerful message to residents and Saddam loyalists that his regime was broken.
They had been part of an early morning assault by more than 70 tanks and 60 Bradley fighting vehicles from the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division. The attack was a power play designed to prove to Saddam and the Iraqi people that “we can come and go at our pleasure,” a U.S. military official told NBC News on condition of anonymity.

[JustPiper]

THIS JUST IN: Generallissimo Francisco Franco is still dead

Or this just announced on Al Jazerra by Bagdad Bob:

This war has been cancelled due to lack of interest!

[whadizit]

"Somebody who passed this stuff around to the media..."

I could not agree more! We may need to track someone else in the future that uses this! For instance, Syria's leader, N.Korea's, etc.

Pentagon, or somebody, talks entirely too much in my opinion. We should never talk about "possible wmd sites" either until confirmed. It makes us look foolish.

And what about the human intel Rita spoke about? Saddam has already killed 2 and cut another's tongue out til he bled to death after the lst night's strike!

[Aric2000]

I don't see how we are going to confirm it...maybe they'll find an ear or nose 200 yards from the blast zone :)


Did anyone else get flashbacks to the sleeper?

Get that roller out, crush that nose, no cloning allowed!!!LOL

[whadizit]

"And lemme guess..."

Usama bin Laden was there, too.

[whadizit]

"...and someone who was supposed to be at the meeting ratted them out."

Man, if we did not get Saddam, that poor guy is history!

[Destro]

You know--I am usually the blood thirsty kill Muslims type--but is killing civilians worth the lives of these animals-and is it a violation of the rules of war to drop weapons in a residential target-even if used as human shields. If it was a restaurant that was targeted could we not spare the busboys? Waiters? Chefs?

[Aric2000]

Sorry, but if Saddam walks into your neighborhood, if your smart, you'll get the heck out of dodge.

He has a BIG OLD target on his back, if I were an Iraqi, as soon as I saw him, I'd be gittin, and in a big old hurry.

[whadizit]

I want to know where he has been staying!

[Destro]

Listen I don't find it easy caring for Muslims or the deaths but homeagain balkansvet said my soul is on the line for my evil deeds against Muslims so I am kind of giving a thought to the Iraqis who according to our own govt are victims too.

Ok-just don't bomb restaurants even if Saddam is eating there, ok? Spare the lives of the waiters and cooks and busboys. Makes us look desperate targeting like that.

PS: There is humor mixed in with my humanity.

[b4its2late]

There he is, and he's over there, and over there, and lookee, hanging from the palm tree, a piece of him there and there.......

[Destro]

You sure that those parts aren't the bus boy's? (looking out for the little people)

[thisiskubrick]

If you're right, then this looks like Saddam would be playing the part of the gopher in Caddyshack. If so, we'll need to send Carl the assistant greenkeeper over to flush or smoke him out.

Yeah, what is this, "whack a mole"??

[Aric2000]

As the pope once said, "kill them all, God will sort them out" or words to that effect.

No, I really don't feel this way, but it was a good quote for this thread.

[stands2reason]

"Well, since the first report was wrong, logically the second must be wrong as well."

[Political Junkie Too]

Personally, I still believe that Saddam Hussein and his sons were killed in the first strike.

I believe that this attack did hit a meeting of the remaining leadership, but the only way left to stop the delusional Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf and Al Jazeera from running videos of Saddam Hussein here there about town is to definitavely "kill" Saddam Hussein and his sons.

Iraq has been acting like a headless state. They have been running questionable videos of Hussein as evidence that he's alive. If the Information Minister is willing to deny that our troops are in Baghdad while our tanks are sitting on the Palace lawn, then the only way to take away the spectre of Saddam Hussein is to stage a conclusive kill.

That's what this strike is -- taking away the spectre of Saddam Hussein as a propaganda tool. Saddam Hussein died on the first day in the first strike.

-PJ

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

They were able to identify the remains of many of the people from the World Trade Center. It's only fitting that we will have to identify Saddam the same way.

That's if the devil didn't take him to hell in one whole piece, but then again, the devil didn't want Saddam, he didn't need the competition.

[Mo1]

---

God Bless America
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[Cincinatus' Wife]

Buildings in the al-Mansour neighborhood of Baghdad lie in ruins Monday afternoon, April 7, 2003 after a U.S. warplane dropped four bunker-busting bombs on the site where Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was believed to be meeting with his sons. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

[friendly]

VERY funny. I can't wait to get the news that this monster is room temperature.

[MeekOneGOP]

Crossing fingers bttt . . .