Saddam's capture reveals links to guerrillas, says US

9.00am - By JOSEPH LOGAN


MOSUL, Iraq - Intelligence gleaned from Saddam Hussein's capture shows he was in contact with suspected organisers of attacks against United States troops, a senior US officer said on Monday.

Major-General David Petraeus, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, said the arrest of the deposed Iraqi strongman had also convinced top figures in his Baath party to turn over weapons and offer cooperation to US forces.

He said documents gathered after Saddam was found hiding in a hole on a farm outside his hometown and power base of Tikrit had validated previous intelligence about organisers of attacks on US forces.

"It confirmed that there were a couple of key individuals involved who did in fact have contact with him periodically, perhaps got some general guidance from him or at least encouragement," said Petraeus, whose forces are deployed in northern and northwestern Iraq.

"These are individuals we need to pursue and we're doing that," he said.

He added that Saddam's capture seemed to have demoralised senior Baath party elements of potential importance to the guerrillas.

"To state the obvious, Saddam is never coming back so finally those who have been sitting on the fence waiting to see which way to jump, we're seeing some of them jumping in our direction," Petraeus said.

"In the past week we've had three groups of former senior Baathists, military commanders outside Mosul and in and around Mosul, wanting to have dialogue, turning in large caches of weapons and ammunition ... trying to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem."

The prospect of any slackening of the guerrilla campaign against US troops in Iraq would be of huge political value to a US administration facing domestic pressure over troop losses as it campaigns for the 2004 presidential elections.

US military officials have warned that Saddam's capture does not necessarily signal an to end the insurgency, and could accelerate the pace of attacks on US-backed Iraqi police and security forces, as well as civilian targets.

US casualties in the Mosul area spiked in November due to helicopter crashes and the drive-by shooting of two US officers in the city, which is split among Kurds and Arabs.

Much of the territory is administered by two Kurdish factions which co-operated closely with US forces before and during the war to topple Saddam.

- REUTERS


Herald Feature: Iraq