Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Baszn Özeti
can GIs. Says a military official: "He knew
he might have to just hunker down, try to
beat us and hope the situation changes:'
The plan worked well until U.S. forces began
seizing caches of the dictatàr's money,
raiding his safe houses and rounding up
his associates. "Saddam has to have some
kind of communication;' says a Pentagon
official. "He has to live somewhere. And he
needs money."
It is Saddam's untold millions, many
Iraqis believe, that allowed him to buy protection
and payoff locals not to cooperate
with U.S. forces. In recentweeks, the 187th
Infantry Regiment has received a flood of
tips that Saddam was in the area of Beij, a
Bedouin settlement in northwestern Iraq.
The town is a regime stronghold whose entrance
reads ONE THOUSAND CHEERS FOR
YOU, SADDAM. But the mayor of Beij, Abdullah
Fahed al-Aja'arsh, thinks any support
for Saddam is purchased rather than
given freely. "Maybe he has money now;'
says al-Aja'arsh, "but his money will be
finished soon:'.
U.S. commanders hope the same can
be said of the ongoing insurgency that
plagues the U.S. occupation and took the
lives of seven more soldiers last week.
Pentagon officials say the attacks on American
forces continue to grow in sophistication.
The greatest danger still comes from
regime loyalists: members of the Baath
Party, Saddiun Fedayeen, Iraqi Intelligence
Service, Special Security Organization and
Special Republican Guard. Saddam is not
thought to be commanding these forces. A
Pentagon official in Iraq says that the communication
required to run a resistance
movement would make Saddam too vulnerable
to U.S. eavesdropping. But officials
think Saddam's definitive removal from the
scene would make Iraqis feel freer to cooperate
with American forces against the
resistance. "People will come out and say,
'This man did it: We'll have more prevention;'
says the Pentagon source.
In Tikrit, U.S. troops believe their recent
success in killing and arresting highranking
members of the regime has begun
to demoralize the insurgents. "It really gets
inside these guys;' says Colonel James
Hickey, commander of the 4th Infantry
Division's 1st Brigade. "Theycan't afford to
lose that many. They place a premium on
running awaY:' Hickey says the insurgents
have scaled back their attacks on American
troops in the area, focusing instead on
spreading pro-Saddam propaganda and intimidating
Iraqis cooperating with the U.S.
Nobody expects Saddam's demise to
kill the insurgency altogether. "Everyone
agrees that getting Saddam would. be a
major plus;' says a senior U.S. intelligence
official. "But you're still going to have the
lower and mid-level people who, frankly,
just see no other out:' U.S. officials are worried
that if Saddam is captured or killed,
Fedayeen fighters may switch their allegiance
to tribal leaders with anti-American
grudges or link up with foreign militants
who have crossed into Iraq to join the fray.
What's more, as U.S. authorities know
by now, the same Iraqis who celebrate the
demise of Saddam and his sons today may
turn against the Americans tomorrow if the
U.S. is not seen to be improving services,
putting people to work and turning the
country back to Iraqis to govern. "The central
focus is.how tb get Iraq back on track;'
says a Pentagon official close to the search
for the ex-dictator. "Saddam Hussein is important.
But he's not that important:' And
the challenges facing the U.S. in Iraq won't
die when he does.
-Reported by
Brian Bennett/Sinjar, Michael DuHy/Washington
and VMenne Walt/Tfluit
The Rules
Of Exile
y DID SADDAM HUSSEIN'S
daughters suddenly break
~ cover last week to emerge
in Amman, Jordan, and why did
King Abdullah welcome them
in? Jordanian sources close to
the former dictator's family say
Raghad and Rana Hussein had
sent feelers to several Arab capitals
weeks before their siblings
Uday and Qusay were killed in
Mosul; but their brothers' grisly
end inspired the sisters to speed
up their search for a safe haven.
"Before what happened iIi .
Mosul, they thought nobody
would dare to harm the
children of Saddam Hussein;'
. sa~ one source. "But after their
brothers were killed, and so
brutally, they worried it could
happen to them too:'
Jordan, with its long and
close ties to the Saddam regime,
was a logical choice. But King
Abdullah hesitated, first seeking
American approval for any exile
deal. Only when he had the nod
from Washington did the King
offer the sisters his hospitality
and protection. The terms of
exile may not be in writingone
source described it as a
"gentleman's agreement"-but
theyare nonetheless precise.
The sisters are to maintain the
lowest possibl!'lprofile and steer
clear of any activity that may be
construed as political,
according to a politician close to
the family. That includes talking
to the media. They were
permitted only two interviews,
one with an Arab outlet and one
with a Western outlet. One
objective of the 1V appearances
was to renounce any political
role in Iraq's still-fragile future.
Both sisters said repeatedly
they'd like to live "peacefully"
in Abdullah's Jordan for the rest
TIME
AUGUST
. "
., ~-(;~...-.-' - ~.
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Il, 2003
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