Regards, Ivan
Posted on 04/10/2003 4:39:40 PM PDT by MadIvan
SAS and MI6 teams were last night helping their US counterparts in the search for Saddam Hussein as US troops in Baghdad turned their attention from defeating his army to finding the leaders of his regime.
Spy satellites, photo-reconnaissance aircraft, and Predator and Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles are scouring the area between Baghdad and Tikrit, the dictator's home town.
Intercept operators are also scanning the airwaves for any sign of the encrypted communications equipment used by his lieutenants to communicate with other members of the Ba'ath party leadership.
Those hunting for Saddam include a secret Pentagon unit known only as Gray Fox, which carries out covert intelligence operations and specialises in tracking down individuals.
It has been used in the past in Lebanon against Hizbollah and provided the information that led to the arrest of Pablo Escobar, the Colombian drugs baron. Gray Fox has all the latest surveillance equipment, including communications monitoring equipment and low-flying signals intercept aircraft.
There was intensive special forces activity at the Iraqi town of Qaim, close to the Syrian border, yesterday. This reinforced speculation that the allies believed senior members of the regime were seeking refuge in Damascus.
US Central Command forward headquarters in Qatar said the special forces were trying to ensure that the Iraqis could not launch missiles from the town.
Maj Gen Victor Renuart said Iraq had fired missiles from mobile launchers in the area around Qaim in the 1991 Gulf war, when 39 Scuds were aimed at Israel, causing damage but few casualties.
He said: "It's in our strategic interest that we preclude any capability of surface-to-surface missiles, especially those that are long range, being launched from that area."
Allied special forces teams have been on the ground in western, central and southern Iraq since January, trying to track down weapons of mass destruction and missiles that might be aimed at allied forces or at Israel in an attempt to draw it into the conflict.
In Baghdad, US forces stormed a series of buildings after tip-offs that Saddam or members of his regime had taken refuge there.
Among them was a house in the west of the city that was raided after it was claimed Uday, Saddam's oldest son, had been using it as his military headquarters. Maps were found on the walls with the location of Iraqi units marked.
Neighbours said Uday was seen in the district only 48 hours previously and had, they claimed, fled north to Tikrit.
Rumours circulated that Uday had been seen in a convoy leaving the city heading north. Other rumours said that he was holed up in a suburb to the north-east of the city surrounded by paramilitary fighters.
Elsewhere, skirmishes continued between US forces and Iraqis in hideouts, some of whom manned their own checkpoints in loyalist areas.
An American patrol came across a team unloading five rocket grenade launchers from a lorry near to where US troops were camped.
There was an exchange of fire and the Iraqi driver of the vehicle was killed. Tanks spent the rest of the day attempting to track down the Iraqi paramilitaries but with little success.
Regards, Ivan
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