d e m i g o d

Saddam likely alive, commitee told
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6713409%255E1702,00.html

IT IS increasingly likely that Saddam Hussein is alive, the chairman of the
Senate Intelligence Committee said today.

The inability to prove that the deposed Iraqi president and his sons are
dead or in custody could mean "a long, hot summer" for US troops in Iraq,
said Republican Senator Pat Roberts.

In an audiotape aired on Friday on the Arab television station Al-Jazeera, a
person purporting to be Saddam said he was in Iraq and directing attacks on
American forces. He rallied Iraqis to help the resistance against the US-led
occupation.

The CIA is reviewing the tape.

Roberts, who recently returned from a trip to Iraq, put the odds that Saddam
was alive at "about 70-30, according to the intelligence sources we have".
He added: "I think we pretty well changed our mind from a 50-50 or whether
he was or not."
The senator said the Iraqi people were hearing from Saddam's loyalists that
the former president was alive, and that was contributing to the unrest in
Iraq after the US-led invasion.

"If we can prove that Saddam Hussein is killed or captured, plus his two
sons, we're miles ahead in this," Roberts told CNN's Late Edition program.

"If not, it's going to be a long, hot summer."

During his trip, Roberts said, he detected that "the fear on the part of the
average Iraqi citizen is absolutely palpable. You can see it" as a result of
the uncertainty about Saddam's fate.

"So it is a big-ticket item for us if we're going to eliminate the fear and
be successful over the next 100 days with all the attacks against Americans.
We have to kill or capture Saddam and his two sons."

The committee's top Democrat, Senator Jay Rockefeller, was in Iraq with
Roberts and spoke of "the looming presence" of Saddam.

"I assume until, you know, clearly given proof otherwise, that he is alive,
that his sons are alive," Rockefeller said.

"I think his being alive is a terrible, terrible obstacle to what we're
trying to do there."

Hard evidence on Saddam's whereabouts and status has been lacking in the
weeks since the major fighting ended. US intelligence ****ysts believe he is
alive, probably still in Iraq.

The United States has offered $US25 million ($A36.8 million) for information
leading to the capture or confirmation of the death of the ousted Iraqi
leader.


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This was your desire. And here I am now, always to be with you
as a worst nightmare. Because I will hold YOU to the contract of
your choice, which you coerced me to sign, but unwilling to keep.

DEMIGOD