Taken from FOX News
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,81847,00.html
U.S. Officials: Saddam Seen
on Stretcher After March 19 Strike
Saturday, March 22, 2003
By Bret Baier
WASHINGTON Saddam Hussein is seen being placed on a stretcher and
into an ambulance in photographs in the possession of the U.S.
government showing what is described as "panicked digging" at the
bunker/command-and-control facility that was struck in the first
strike of the war March 19, U.S. officials told Fox News late
Friday.
Bodies are seen as they are removed, and these officials are
confident that Saddam was seen being placed upon a stretcher.
Additionally, these same officials told Fox News that top security
and military personnel have been leaving Baghdad, and more are
preparing to leave. "The erosion from Baghdad has begun," one
official said.
U.S. intelligence officials said Friday it was almost certainly
Saddam, not a look-alike, who appeared in a video recording on
Iraqi television a few hours after he was targeted by the American
air strike.
It is unclear whether the message was recorded before or after the
strike, however. Officials said some reports indicate Saddam
pre-recorded several speeches to air during fighting.
The video showed Saddam, in military uniform, reading from a steno
pad and exhorting Iraqis to fight American invaders.
Intelligence officials said that an analysis of the speaker's
voice, inflections and facial movements led them to believe it was
Saddam.
While Saddam read the date -- March 20 -- during his speech, that
could have been pre-recorded. He did not speak specifically of the
attack on him or other events that would positively confirm the
message was recorded after the attacks.
CIA and military analysts were vigorously reviewing this and other
clues about the fate of Saddam, his inner circle and his two
powerful sons who were also targeted in the attacks. Senior
officials cautioned Friday that they do not know whether Saddam or
his sons are alive or dead.
U.S. intelligence believes they were inside a residential compound
bombarded by American forces. Government officials were examining a
request for medical attention that could indicate injuries to the
senior Iraqi leaders.
"We have reason to believe he was still in there," one senior U.S.
official said.
The officials said they believed medical attention was urgently
summoned to the compound in the aftermath of the attack. One senior
military official said the manner in which the help was summoned
raised the possibility Saddam himself or someone of high-level
importance in the Iraqi leadership was injured.
But other officials cautioned there was nothing definitive. "It is
not clear exactly on whose behalf the medical attention was
summoned," one U.S. official said.
U.S. officials said intelligence indicated Saddam was still in the
compound when U.S. bombs and missiles rained down late Wednesday
night Washington time, about six hours after U.S. intelligence
first detected that Saddam and his leadership might be there.
The attack, which involved ship-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles
and bombs dropped from stealth fighters, was aimed at a residential
complex where U.S. intelligence believed Saddam, and possibly his
sons, were sleeping.
Naval missile strikes in Baghdad also were aimed at the
headquarters of the Special Republican Guard, a paramilitary force
that was expected to defend Baghdad from any U.S. assault, and
other security organizations.
After the attack, intelligence reports indicated Iraq's leaders
were not organizing any coordinated response across their country,
suggesting the leadership might be in chaos or cut off from
communicating with field commanders.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said military planners had
good reason to believe top Iraqi leaders may be losing control of
their forces.
"We are in communication with still more people who are officials
of the military at various levels -- the regular army, the
Republican Guard, the Special Republican Guard -- who are
increasingly aware that it's going to happen, he's going to be
gone," Rumsfeld said.
U.S. intelligence suspected Saddam's sons, Qusai and Odai, might
have been with him during the strike. Both hold high-level security
positions. Qusai, the younger son, was believed to be Saddam's
likely successor.
A second tape of Saddam may have aired later Thursday. Officials
had no information on that recording.
If Saddam survived, U.S. officials hoped the surprise attack at
least would leave him distrustful of his inner circle and
suspecting betrayal by one of his advisers, leaving him less able
to command.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
