Qusay and Uday believed to be dead NBC Special Report Special Ops raided a house in Mosul last night and it is believed both of Saddams sons Uday and Qusay were killed in the firefight.
If true, that's something good. To paraphrase what Olbermann said last night about Idi Amin: "It's not really Hell until they get there."
yeah i am watching this too on tv right now. this could be huge and least a step in the right direction to getting the job done there. i wonder what this could do to public opinion for the administration if they were finally killed . . .
Maybe, just Maybe, this will bring Saddam out. I'm surprised that the brothers were together... if they were indeed.
A) If they were killed, I wonder how Saddam will respond to this, or how his loyalists will respond. It could potentially make a very dangerous situation even more so. B) If they were just captured, this would be the best scenario.
from what ive been reading there is a chance they could have been captured as well. Either way it's great to see
Don't know how accurate this is, but this is from cnn.com A U.S. official told CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr that no people were captured at the house raided in Mosul, and that four people were killed. Further details were expected shortly. http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/07/22/sprj.irq.main/index.html And from msnbc.com BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 22 — Saddam Hussein’s fugitive sons, Udai and Qusai, are believed to have been killed or captured during a raid on a home early Tuesday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, military officials in Iraq and Washington told NBC News. THE OFFICIALS, WHO spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity, said there was a “high likelihood” that the sons had been killed or captured, but that they were awaiting confirmation. Witnesses to the raid said that U.S. troops encountered hostile fire when they arrived to search a large villa believed to belong to a cousin of Saddam near Mosul. The troops called in helicopters to subdue the resistance before storming the house, they said. The house was badly damaged, and its roof caved in after it was apparently hit by a missile. Lt. Col. William Bishop of the 101st Airborne Division said earlier that one Iraqi was killed and five were wounded in the raid. In an interview with Reuters news agency, Bishop declined to identify the Iraqis apprehended, but said they were “individuals of very high interest to the coalition forces.” U.S. forces have announced the capture of 34 of the 55 Iraqis on a most-wanted list of members of Saddam’s regime, but Saddam and his sons have not been found. U.S. officials say Saddam is probably still alive and hiding somewhere in Iraq. Audio tapes said to have been made by the deposed leader have been given to Arab television networks, exhorting Iraqis to fight occupying U.S. and British troops. http://www.msnbc.com/news/870749.asp?0cv=CA01
U.S. Kills 'High-Value' Iraqis in Siege Tue July 22, 2003 10:23 AM ET By Miral Fahmy MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. troops stormed a house in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Tuesday and said they killed four high-ranking allies of Saddam Hussein. Some 200 soldiers blasted the villa with machineguns and rockets during a four-hour battle before storming in to find four bodies, U.S. officers said. They declined to identify them or comment on local rumors Saddam's sons might have been present. The U.S. forces have been conducting an intensive hunt for the fugitive former dictator himself, spurred on by guerrilla attacks they blame on his die-hard supporters. Another American soldier was killed on Tuesday, the sixth in just five days. He died as a trio of U.S. appointees prepared to address the Security Council in New York, the first Baghdad delegates to return to the United Nations since Saddam fell in April. "Individuals of very high interest to the coalition forces were hiding out in the building," Lieutenant-Colonel William Bishop of the 101st Airborne Division told Reuters in Mosul. "This morning we went to the building and surrounded it." Major Trey Cate, spokesman for the division, said four "high-value targets" were found dead after the battle. A fifth Iraqi also died in the fighting. Locals said there had been rumors that the troops were hunting Saddam's sons. The younger, Qusay, was one of his father's most trusted lieutenants. Uday was famed and feared throughout Iraq for his cruelty and playboy lifestyle. Witnesses said U.S. soldiers were fired at by people inside the house as they approached. The house -- a large villa -- sustained considerable damage. Its roof was staved in, apparently by a missile.
I find it interesting that if this story is retracted, many of us will still feel as if the work in Iraq is going better than even last week. Hopefully it is the Hussein boys, but if it is not, anybody want to watch the polls this upcoming week to see what American attitudes are towards the war? I bet they'll bounce regardless of whether or not we've killed these two.
MSNBC is reporting that there is a likelihood that another of the dead in the raid is the Vice Chairman of the Ba'ath Party, Izzat Ibragun Al-Duri, #6 on the list of 55 and the King of Clubs in the deck. He was Saddam's "right hand man." The other dead is possibly Qusay's teenage son. Also, a US official has told MSNBC that there is an "80% chance" that Uday and Qusay are among the dead.
CNN is reporting that there is a teenager boy, and a probable bodyguard...so it seems unlikely that the two sons and Al-Durin would all be hits here among the 4 bodies.
cnn.com put up this quote "We are reasonably certain they could have met their maker," one U.S. official told CNN. "We didn't just stumble across them."
If Saddam's right hand man is among the dead why isn't he with Saddam? Perhaps Saddam has been taken out already?
msnbc reported that there are more than 4 bodies, its just that there are 4 bodies that we supposedly care about. they said there was a fifth and that could be the teenage boy . . .
or maybe saddam's right hand is dead...but his left hand is still just fine? just thinking out loud here people...work with me...not against me.
How many times are we going to hear this? I wish they'd just keep their mouths shut until they actually confirm who they've got.
Nice one. I can hear Bush giving the public announcement. "This evil man was right handed. No more will he legibly write evil memos. No more will he be able to competantly wipe his own behind. And no more will he be able to hold both a cocktail and a snack plate simultaneously at his evil Baath parties."
They have made great pains, at least overtly, to clarify that at this point it is unconfirmed. On the other hand, does Wolfowitz work for the government? He consistently paints any and everyting as pro-admin as possible. he said, in the wake of today's 9-11 rreport citing intel mistakes, and yesterday's NIE report citing misuse of intel, and the whole WMD intel fiasco, that if the intel about the two sons being in this house turns out to have been acurate, it " Goes a long way to clearing up the image of the US's inteligence community." HUH!?!?
