U.S. attack on convoy targeted Saddam

WASHINGTON -- An American Predator aircraft firing Hellfire missiles destroyed a convoy last week that was believed to be carrying fugitive Iraqi leaders, and experts are trying to determine whether those killed might have included Saddam Hussein or his sons, U.S. government officials said on Sunday.

The officials said they had obtained intelligence that indicated that senior Iraqi leaders were traveling in the convoy. They suggested that the intelligence may have come from an intercepted telephone conversation or a human informant. The attack took place Wednesday near the Syrian border in Iraq's western desert.

There was no evidence so far, the officials said, to support the idea that Saddam or his sons might have been killed in the raid, and some officials were doubtful that they were. But they said that intelligence exploitation teams, including DNA experts, were at the site to review the wreckage and assess the evidence.

The London-based Observer newspaper disclosed the attack in Sunday's editions, and said it had been an attempt to kill Saddam. The Pentagon and the U.S. Central Command declined on Sunday to discuss that report, and American officials who agreed to discuss it on condition of anonymity said that the United States had never been certain that Saddam or his sons were in the convoy.

Still, administration officials said the strike underscored a growing belief among American intelligence officials that Saddam and his sons were not killed during the war and have remained in Iraq. And the attack on the convoy showed the pressure of a stepped-up American manhunt following information provided by a Saddam confidant who was detained last week.

The aide, Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, 46, who had served as the Iraqi leader's personal secretary and bodyguard, told his American interrogators that Saddam and his sons, Odai and Qusai, survived the U.S.-led war, and that he himself traveled to Syria after the conflict with Saddam's sons, according to Defense Department officials who have said they have not been able to corroborate those claims.

A senior administration official said on Sunday night that President Bush had been aware of the strike before it occurred, but did not have to approve it. The official said that a team was moving in to try to recover the DNA of those inside the convoy, but it was unclear if they had yet arrived at the scene.

Some American officials described the attack as having been in the same category as the March 19 and April 7 attacks on compounds where Saddam and his sons were believed to be hiding. American intelligence analysts now believe that Saddam and his sons probably survived both those attacks..

A senior administration official described the intelligence that led to Wednesday's attack as a good lead. But another administration official said, "I have no information that leads us to believe we got Saddam." And one military officer said intelligence reports that Saddam or his sons might have been in the convoy may have been based more on hope than evidence.

"There might be people crossing their fingers, but it's just like a year ago, when they were crossing their fingers" in the hopes of capturing Osama bin Laden, one military official said. Al-Qaida's leader is still believed alive after 21 months in which he has been the target of an intense American manhunt.

In a television interview on Sunday, King Abdullah of Jordan said he had heard reports several days ago that Saddam and his sons were in Iraq's western desert region.

But he said he had heard many reports of their whereabouts in recent weeks and months, and did not know if this one was accurate.

"It's like Elvis. There's a lot of sightings of him all over the place," King Abdullah said on ABC's "This Week."

Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, including the chairman, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said in television appearances on Sunday they had not been informed of any new missile strike aimed at the Iraqi leader. Still, Roberts said on Fox TV, "I will not be surprised at any military action that would lead to the possibility that we have now finally killed Saddam Hussein."

Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said on the same program that any confirmation of the death of Saddam would serve to undercut the morale of fighters who are staging hit-and-run attacks on U.S. soldiers and at the same time instill confidence among the broader Iraqi public.

The search for Saddam has been led by Task Force 20, a secret military organization that is working closely with American intelligence agencies and whose members include special Army and Navy counterterrorist teams..

The United States is flying U-2 spy planes and RC-135 electronic eavesdropping aircraft over Iraq on a regular basis. Both are capable of scooping up electronic emissions and pinpointing locations for strike aircraft or the unmanned Predator drones, which can be either armed or unarmed and are being flown from Tallil Air Base in Iraqi near Nasiriyah.

One senior administration official noted that Hellfire missile attacks on convoys by the unmanned Predators were rare, and would not have been carried out except on the basis of good intelligence about an important target.

Other officials said the United States had obtained good reconnaissance photos showing that the convoy had been destroyed, but that those photographs did not clarify who had been in the wreckage.

"Although we do have good intelligence, you don't know if you have someone until you've seen the analysis from the ground," said one senior American officer.

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