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I'm waiting for Baghdad Bob to say that Saddam and his sons have died.

Wednesday, April 9, 2003
British believe Saddam escaped attack

By AP

LONDON -- British intelligence sources believe Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein escaped a coalition attack on a building in Baghdad on Monday, news reports said today.

The sources were quoted as saying it was believed Saddam had been in the building in the upscale al-Mansour neighbourhood but had left before it was bombed.

"He was probably not in the building when it was bombed," an unidentified intelligence source was quoted as saying by the Guardian newspaper.

The Times newspaper quoted a source, also unidentified, who said: "We think he left the same way he arrived in the area, either by a tunnel system or by car, we're not sure."

An American bomber dropped four bombs, including two bunker-busters designed to penetrate underground tunnels, on what the coalition called a "leadership target," where senior Iraqi officials, possibly including Saddam and his sons, Odai and Qusai, were believed to be meeting.

Three houses were destroyed.

It was unclear who was inside and whether anybody survived.

An elderly man's body was found Monday night. Yesterday, rescuers recovered a small boy's body and that of a 20-year-old woman.

U.S. officials said the houses had not been targeted.

After the attack, a U.S. source said the target was the al-Saa'a restaurant.

But U.S. officials later said the intended site was 100 metres from the only restaurant in the neighbourhood and that it was hit.

U.S. officials have said American intelligence learned of a high-level meeting Monday morning.

On April 4, state Iraqi television showed lengthy footage of Saddam, or at least a man who looked like him, on a walkabout of several Baghdad districts, including al-Mansour, when al-Saa'a appeared in the background.

Those close to Saddam say the Iraqi leader is so obsessed with security that very few people know about his movements.

He maintains dozens of residences and uses doubles to keep people guessing.

Coalition military commanders in Baghdad say it will be at least several days before they reach the bombing site, which is in a neighbourhood that has not been cleared of fighters loyal to the Iraqi dictator.

Once at the site, U.S. intelligence and military operatives will look for human remains and begin testing any that are found. Intelligence sources say that could involve obtaining Saddam's dental records and comparing them with teeth found at the scene or using biometrics, in which analysts would compare features of Saddam in earlier photos with those on recovered body parts.

DNA testing could be more difficult.

U.S. intelligence sources indicated American analysts do not have a sample of Saddam's DNA, the cell acid that contains an individual's unique genetic code. Such a "reference sample" would be needed to compare with DNA drawn from remains thought to be Saddam's

I'm waiting for Baghdad Bob to say that Saddam and his sons have died.

I haven't seen those pigs flying yet WG....(and I LOVE your tag line!!!)

Baghdad Bob didn't show up for work today.

"I'm waiting for Baghdad Bob to say that Saddam and his sons have died."

When he says, "they are alive and well', then we'll know they're dead!