Seraphim
07-23-2003, 09:59 PM
http://www.msnbc.com/news/943232.asp?vts=072320031850
July 23 — The informant who led U.S. troops to Odai and Qusai Hussein is Saddam Hussein’s distant cousin — and the owner of the house where Saddam’s two sons were killed, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday.
U.S. TROOPS on Wednesday sifted through the rubble of the house in Mosul that was the hideout for Odai and Qusai and celebrated the killing of two of the most brutal leaders in Saddam’s regime.
“Giving everyone high fives and congratulations — so it was a good day,” one U.S. soldier said.
Details emerged Wednesday about the firefight that killed the two men.
MINUTE BY MINUTE
At 10:10 a.m., troops from the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division entered the house and headed upstairs where Odai, Qusai, a bodyguard and Qusai’s 14-year-old son were barricaded in a safe room surrounded by double-thick bulletproof glass.
The four opened fire, wounding three soldiers. The Americans retreated and called in bigger guns.
Over the next three hours, U.S. troops pounded the house with rockets, grenades and heavy machine gun fire while helicopter gunships fired rockets through the roof.
Unbelievably, those barricaded inside were still shooting back.
Bush: Saddam’s ‘regime is gone’
At 1 p.m. the Americans fired 10 TOW anti-tank missiles, finally killing Odai, Qusai and the bodyguard.
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“Autopsies will follow, but we have no doubt that we have the bodies of Odai and Qusai,” Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of the U.S.-led coalition ground forces in Iraq, said at a news conference in Baghdad.
But somehow, Qusai’s son Mustafa survived. As U.S. troops approached, he opened fire. The soldiers shot back, killing the 14-year old.
TOO MUCH FORCE?
But questions are being raised: Why did the U.S. military use such heavy firepower to take down a few lightly armed men? And, did the United States lose valuable intelligence with the deaths of Saddam’s sons?
Sanchez says the brothers were not willing to surrender, and U.S. forces could not let them escape, “I would never consider this a failure. Our mission is to find, kill or capture,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said he is convinced the deaths of Odai and Qusai could decrease the level of violence and the killing of U.S. troops in Iraq.
There are rumors in Iraq that Odai or Qusai or possibly both committed suicide as U.S. troops were closing in. U.S. officials say there’s no evidence to suggest it and say autopsies should ultimately determine what killed them.
July 23 — The informant who led U.S. troops to Odai and Qusai Hussein is Saddam Hussein’s distant cousin — and the owner of the house where Saddam’s two sons were killed, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday.
U.S. TROOPS on Wednesday sifted through the rubble of the house in Mosul that was the hideout for Odai and Qusai and celebrated the killing of two of the most brutal leaders in Saddam’s regime.
“Giving everyone high fives and congratulations — so it was a good day,” one U.S. soldier said.
Details emerged Wednesday about the firefight that killed the two men.
MINUTE BY MINUTE
At 10:10 a.m., troops from the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division entered the house and headed upstairs where Odai, Qusai, a bodyguard and Qusai’s 14-year-old son were barricaded in a safe room surrounded by double-thick bulletproof glass.
The four opened fire, wounding three soldiers. The Americans retreated and called in bigger guns.
Over the next three hours, U.S. troops pounded the house with rockets, grenades and heavy machine gun fire while helicopter gunships fired rockets through the roof.
Unbelievably, those barricaded inside were still shooting back.
Bush: Saddam’s ‘regime is gone’
At 1 p.m. the Americans fired 10 TOW anti-tank missiles, finally killing Odai, Qusai and the bodyguard.
Advertisement
“Autopsies will follow, but we have no doubt that we have the bodies of Odai and Qusai,” Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of the U.S.-led coalition ground forces in Iraq, said at a news conference in Baghdad.
But somehow, Qusai’s son Mustafa survived. As U.S. troops approached, he opened fire. The soldiers shot back, killing the 14-year old.
TOO MUCH FORCE?
But questions are being raised: Why did the U.S. military use such heavy firepower to take down a few lightly armed men? And, did the United States lose valuable intelligence with the deaths of Saddam’s sons?
Sanchez says the brothers were not willing to surrender, and U.S. forces could not let them escape, “I would never consider this a failure. Our mission is to find, kill or capture,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said he is convinced the deaths of Odai and Qusai could decrease the level of violence and the killing of U.S. troops in Iraq.
There are rumors in Iraq that Odai or Qusai or possibly both committed suicide as U.S. troops were closing in. U.S. officials say there’s no evidence to suggest it and say autopsies should ultimately determine what killed them.