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U.S. Reserves Judgment on Whether or Not Saddam Hussein is Dead

Aired April 08, 2003 - 12:13   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: This the scene in Baghdad. Earlier today, fighting going on in and around the Iraqi capital. Sometimes intense fighting as U.S. Marines and U.S. Army soldiers continue to probe, continue to take up positions in Baghdad. We're monitoring all those developments here on CNN.
At the same time, we're monitoring a huge potential story. Saddam Hussein, what happened to him? U.S. Intelligence experts are now working to answer that big question: Are Saddam Hussein and his two sons dead, killed by a massive U.S. bombing raid on Monday?

Our national security correspondent, David Ensor, is joining us now live from Washington. David, what are you hearing from your sources?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, they said yesterday that they thought they had pretty good intelligence indicating that Saddam Hussein and/or one or more of his sons might have been at this site. They're being cautious today about whether or not they believe they hit any members of the family or not.

And obviously they very, very much would like to know whether they have. But there is caution for two reasons. First of all, you know they had pretty good intelligence back on the night of March 19th-20th that led them to think Saddam Hussein was in a different location.

They were really quite confident they had hit a location where he was. And then there was subsequent evidence on Iraqi television suggesting that he was alive. So there's caution because of that. Caution about how good the intelligence is.

The other question is, officials said they do not know whether the elaborate complex of underground bunkers and tunnels that has been built over the years by the regime includes a section that was under this particular site or not. And there's some parts of the complex that are very, very well hardened and very deep.

So although two of the four 2,000-pound bombs that were dropped by a B-1 bomber were bunker-busters, the Pentagon says, the U.S. is reserving judgment on whether or not they have actually killed Saddam Hussein -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So do they go through the same process they did in the days that followed the first night of the war? They wait to see if they see him on television, for example, if there's any physical evidence that he is alive, or if there's any communications that they can intercept, that they can pick up that would seem to suggest he still has command and control, authority of the regime?

Is that basically the process? Because I assume it's going to be difficult to send a forensics team into the rubble, into that deep crater there and start looking for body parts, if you will.

ENSOR: Indeed it will be. I should mention, though, that the Central Intelligence Agency and Army Special Operations units have been moving around Baghdad since the war began. You can be sure that there are more of them than there were before. But, as you say, they don't have control of this specific area; not clear when they will. The possibility of forensics is pretty low at the moment.

They are tracking any communications they can. They say that, interestingly, they have some evidence that some of the leadership don't have a very real picture of what's really going on around the country. That they refer in conversations with each other to units, Iraqi units that no longer exist, and they don't seem to realize that.

So there may have been -- the senior leadership, what's left of it may be somewhat cut off from reality. They also believe that in some cases, given the structure of the government, given the element of fear and the way the country has been run, that the senior leadership is not always being told the truth by its subordinates -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David Ensor with the latest on this big question of the day: Is Saddam Hussein alive? And what about his two sons? He'll continue to check with his sources of course throughout the day and the days to come. David, thanks very much.




Dead>


Aired April 8, 2003 - 12:13   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: This the scene in Baghdad. Earlier today, fighting going on in and around the Iraqi capital. Sometimes intense fighting as U.S. Marines and U.S. Army soldiers continue to probe, continue to take up positions in Baghdad. We're monitoring all those developments here on CNN.
At the same time, we're monitoring a huge potential story. Saddam Hussein, what happened to him? U.S. Intelligence experts are now working to answer that big question: Are Saddam Hussein and his two sons dead, killed by a massive U.S. bombing raid on Monday?

Our national security correspondent, David Ensor, is joining us now live from Washington. David, what are you hearing from your sources?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, they said yesterday that they thought they had pretty good intelligence indicating that Saddam Hussein and/or one or more of his sons might have been at this site. They're being cautious today about whether or not they believe they hit any members of the family or not.

And obviously they very, very much would like to know whether they have. But there is caution for two reasons. First of all, you know they had pretty good intelligence back on the night of March 19th-20th that led them to think Saddam Hussein was in a different location.

They were really quite confident they had hit a location where he was. And then there was subsequent evidence on Iraqi television suggesting that he was alive. So there's caution because of that. Caution about how good the intelligence is.

The other question is, officials said they do not know whether the elaborate complex of underground bunkers and tunnels that has been built over the years by the regime includes a section that was under this particular site or not. And there's some parts of the complex that are very, very well hardened and very deep.

So although two of the four 2,000-pound bombs that were dropped by a B-1 bomber were bunker-busters, the Pentagon says, the U.S. is reserving judgment on whether or not they have actually killed Saddam Hussein -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So do they go through the same process they did in the days that followed the first night of the war? They wait to see if they see him on television, for example, if there's any physical evidence that he is alive, or if there's any communications that they can intercept, that they can pick up that would seem to suggest he still has command and control, authority of the regime?

Is that basically the process? Because I assume it's going to be difficult to send a forensics team into the rubble, into that deep crater there and start looking for body parts, if you will.

ENSOR: Indeed it will be. I should mention, though, that the Central Intelligence Agency and Army Special Operations units have been moving around Baghdad since the war began. You can be sure that there are more of them than there were before. But, as you say, they don't have control of this specific area; not clear when they will. The possibility of forensics is pretty low at the moment.

They are tracking any communications they can. They say that, interestingly, they have some evidence that some of the leadership don't have a very real picture of what's really going on around the country. That they refer in conversations with each other to units, Iraqi units that no longer exist, and they don't seem to realize that.

So there may have been -- the senior leadership, what's left of it may be somewhat cut off from reality. They also believe that in some cases, given the structure of the government, given the element of fear and the way the country has been run, that the senior leadership is not always being told the truth by its subordinates -- Wolf.

BLITZER: David Ensor with the latest on this big question of the day: Is Saddam Hussein alive? And what about his two sons? He'll continue to check with his sources of course throughout the day and the days to come. David, thanks very much.




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