tekkmortal
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WASHINGTON -- Capturing Saddam Hussein alive was easier than it would be to apprehend the Bush administration's No. 1 fugitive, Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials said Sunday.
Both Saddam and bin Laden spent huge sums of money preparing to elude an American-led dragnet. But bin Laden, who has hidden from U.S. forces for more than two years, has advantages Saddam didn't enjoy, according to U.S. officials and counterterrorism experts. The al-Qaida leader has an apparent hideout deep within the recesses of a vast and lawless mountain range, and a network of supporters that is shadowy -- and more loyal -- than the one that supported Saddam, they said.
U.S. officials say that cash payments they have been spreading around Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan in an effort to buy information about both fugitives is more attractive to Iraqis than to tribal chieftains in the frontier provinces where bin Laden is believed to be hiding. Saddam's supporters, the U.S. intelligence community has suggested, believed in recent weeks that they were part of a dying regime. Bin Laden's stature, however, continues to rise among a growing base of supporters who appear willing to fight to the death to defend him, several U.S. officials said.
"In the frontier area, we seem to have no traction, and our money doesn't work," said one U.S. counterterrorism official familiar with the hunt for the al-Qaida leader. "Saddam supporters probably thought they were part of a dead enterprise. Bin Laden's don't think they are part of a dead enterprise."
In addition, the CIA and Pentagon are unlikely to return to Afghanistan the scores of U.S. commandos and intelligence agents that had been seeking bin Laden before they were shifted to Iraq to crack down on Iraqi rebels killing U.S. soldiers.
That mission remains more important than turning up the heat on bin Laden, who is believed to be all but isolated in a remote corner of Afghanistan, analysts said.
"The priority of the effort in Iraq is not just finding Saddam. It's trying to identify and neutralize the resistance," said Vincent Cannistraro, former director of the CIA's counterterrorism operations and analysis.
The U.S.-led pursuit of bin Laden, arguably the largest dragnet ever for one man, is different from the hunt for Saddam, officials said.
Iraq has for several months been under the control of the U.S. military, allowing U.S. authorities to work in secret and launch intelligence-gathering missions and attempts at capture. Also, the deposed Iraqi leader was long believed to be hiding in Tikrit, Iraq, his birthplace -- an accessible, flat area, where it is relatively easy for U.S. troops to move around.
But bin Laden and top aide Ayman Zawahiri are believed to be hiding high up in the mountains that form the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, probably in caves and tunnels. The region's topography, high altitude and rocky landscape make it virtually impossible for U.S. forces to maneuver, even if they had the cooperation of tribal elders who traditionally have been loyal to bin Laden, the officials said. The area is so vast that even the most advanced satellite reconnaissance technology is of little help, the U.S. officials added.
Moreover, both Pakistan and Afghanistan are sovereign governments, forcing U.S. officials to work jointly with them. U.S. officials have been reluctant to share intelligence with Pakistan for fear it could fall into the hands of al-Qaida sympathizers within the Islamabad government and compromise the entire effort, they said.
Saddam's unkempt and haggard appearance when he was captured was just one indication of his constant and desperate scramble to elude his pursuers.
Bin Laden is believed to be so secure in the loyalty of his lieutenants that he has continued to help run the al-Qaida organization from his remote location, and even has issued statements reiterating his calls for all Muslims to join in the fight against U.S. forces in Iraq. In the most recent videotape available, bin Laden looks rested and relaxed as he and Zawahiri walk peacefully down a mountain path.
U.S. officials also said they had been watching Saddam's concentric circles of family members, senior aides and Iraqi officials in the months before the war so that eventually they could trace some of them to Saddam. Bin Laden's supporters have proven far more elusive.
Nearly half the U.S. intelligence and commando agents who had been in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan were reassigned to Iraq starting last summer after the resistance began intensifying. The redeployment raised complaints in Washington that President Bush was easing the pressures on bin Laden.
Many of the new arrivals in Iraq wound up in Task Force 121 -- an elite force of CIA analysts and linguists, Army Green Beret, Delta Force and Navy SEAL commandos, and CIA paramilitary units created in October to track down and capture or kill Saddam and resistance leaders.
"Clearly, the resources devoted to bin Laden were diluted, but I don't expect a switch back to Afghanistan just because of the capture of" Saddam, said Cannistraro.
Nonetheless, Afghan officials said the former Iraqi dictator's capture could help dampen support for a burgeoning insurgency in Afghanistan.
"This is obviously good news for the people of Iraq who suffered for so long under Saddam's tyrannical regime and it is a warning to all the other outlaws who are at large like bin Laden, (Taliban chief) Mullah Omar and (renegade warlord) Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who hopefully sooner or later will be brought to justice," Omar Samad, a spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Ministry, told The Associated Press.
Both Saddam and bin Laden spent huge sums of money preparing to elude an American-led dragnet. But bin Laden, who has hidden from U.S. forces for more than two years, has advantages Saddam didn't enjoy, according to U.S. officials and counterterrorism experts. The al-Qaida leader has an apparent hideout deep within the recesses of a vast and lawless mountain range, and a network of supporters that is shadowy -- and more loyal -- than the one that supported Saddam, they said.
U.S. officials say that cash payments they have been spreading around Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan in an effort to buy information about both fugitives is more attractive to Iraqis than to tribal chieftains in the frontier provinces where bin Laden is believed to be hiding. Saddam's supporters, the U.S. intelligence community has suggested, believed in recent weeks that they were part of a dying regime. Bin Laden's stature, however, continues to rise among a growing base of supporters who appear willing to fight to the death to defend him, several U.S. officials said.
"In the frontier area, we seem to have no traction, and our money doesn't work," said one U.S. counterterrorism official familiar with the hunt for the al-Qaida leader. "Saddam supporters probably thought they were part of a dead enterprise. Bin Laden's don't think they are part of a dead enterprise."
In addition, the CIA and Pentagon are unlikely to return to Afghanistan the scores of U.S. commandos and intelligence agents that had been seeking bin Laden before they were shifted to Iraq to crack down on Iraqi rebels killing U.S. soldiers.
That mission remains more important than turning up the heat on bin Laden, who is believed to be all but isolated in a remote corner of Afghanistan, analysts said.
"The priority of the effort in Iraq is not just finding Saddam. It's trying to identify and neutralize the resistance," said Vincent Cannistraro, former director of the CIA's counterterrorism operations and analysis.
The U.S.-led pursuit of bin Laden, arguably the largest dragnet ever for one man, is different from the hunt for Saddam, officials said.
Iraq has for several months been under the control of the U.S. military, allowing U.S. authorities to work in secret and launch intelligence-gathering missions and attempts at capture. Also, the deposed Iraqi leader was long believed to be hiding in Tikrit, Iraq, his birthplace -- an accessible, flat area, where it is relatively easy for U.S. troops to move around.
But bin Laden and top aide Ayman Zawahiri are believed to be hiding high up in the mountains that form the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, probably in caves and tunnels. The region's topography, high altitude and rocky landscape make it virtually impossible for U.S. forces to maneuver, even if they had the cooperation of tribal elders who traditionally have been loyal to bin Laden, the officials said. The area is so vast that even the most advanced satellite reconnaissance technology is of little help, the U.S. officials added.
Moreover, both Pakistan and Afghanistan are sovereign governments, forcing U.S. officials to work jointly with them. U.S. officials have been reluctant to share intelligence with Pakistan for fear it could fall into the hands of al-Qaida sympathizers within the Islamabad government and compromise the entire effort, they said.
Saddam's unkempt and haggard appearance when he was captured was just one indication of his constant and desperate scramble to elude his pursuers.
Bin Laden is believed to be so secure in the loyalty of his lieutenants that he has continued to help run the al-Qaida organization from his remote location, and even has issued statements reiterating his calls for all Muslims to join in the fight against U.S. forces in Iraq. In the most recent videotape available, bin Laden looks rested and relaxed as he and Zawahiri walk peacefully down a mountain path.
U.S. officials also said they had been watching Saddam's concentric circles of family members, senior aides and Iraqi officials in the months before the war so that eventually they could trace some of them to Saddam. Bin Laden's supporters have proven far more elusive.
Nearly half the U.S. intelligence and commando agents who had been in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan were reassigned to Iraq starting last summer after the resistance began intensifying. The redeployment raised complaints in Washington that President Bush was easing the pressures on bin Laden.
Many of the new arrivals in Iraq wound up in Task Force 121 -- an elite force of CIA analysts and linguists, Army Green Beret, Delta Force and Navy SEAL commandos, and CIA paramilitary units created in October to track down and capture or kill Saddam and resistance leaders.
"Clearly, the resources devoted to bin Laden were diluted, but I don't expect a switch back to Afghanistan just because of the capture of" Saddam, said Cannistraro.
Nonetheless, Afghan officials said the former Iraqi dictator's capture could help dampen support for a burgeoning insurgency in Afghanistan.
"This is obviously good news for the people of Iraq who suffered for so long under Saddam's tyrannical regime and it is a warning to all the other outlaws who are at large like bin Laden, (Taliban chief) Mullah Omar and (renegade warlord) Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who hopefully sooner or later will be brought to justice," Omar Samad, a spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Ministry, told The Associated Press.
well it would work.... and it won't have to cost us a penny! (we need to go on a budget in USA.. too much cutoffs and so on for the lifestyle in America to support the Middle-Easterns folks... :-/ )
