Excerpts from previous political updates, by subject

November 17, 2003

The search for Saddam

The search continues for Saddam Hussein, led by a secretive special operations group known as Task Force 20. The erstwhile head of Iraq was the first target of "Operation Iraqi Freedom," which began in the early hours of March 20 with a surprise attack on a building in Baghdad where Iraq's president and his sons or chief lieutenants were thought to be present. On April 7, in a second attempt to target Saddam and the Iraqi leadership, an American B-1 bomber dropped four 2,000 pound bombs in Mansur, an upscale neighborhood in western Baghdad. The specific target was a house where a high-level meeting was reportedly being held. U.S. forces have reportedly excavated the site and have found no proof that Saddam Hussein was killed.

Further information about Saddam Hussein's whereabouts has been gleaned from high-level Iraqi officials in U.S. custody. After surrendering to U.S. forces, Tariq Aziz, Iraq's former deputy prime minister, claimed that Saddam Hussein survived both air strikes. Saddam's personal secretary, Mahmoud al-Tikriti, reinforced these claims, saying that both the former Iraqi leader and his two sons survived the war. A series of audiotape messages, purportedly from the former Iraqi leader, have been broadcast on Arabic-language television since the end of the war, reinforcing claims that he is still alive. The C.I.A. believes that Saddam was the speaker on a tape aired September 1. Additional tapes aired September 17 and November 16, but their audio quality was too poor to determine their authenticity. Following the deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein, U.S. forces received a number of tips on Saddam's whereabouts, which have led to several raids. Some U.S. officials now speculate that "it's just a matter of time" before the former Iraqi leader is found.