NBC News: âLikelyâ captured or killed
Saddam Husseinâs sons Udai and Qusai Hussein were âlikelyâ captured or killed in a U.S. raid in northern Iraq Tuesday. More details to come...
FOX reports al-J was on the scene, sez both are dead. Oh, please, please!
Detail, from al-Cheezewhiz. Note where they put the emphasis in the screamer...3 US soldiers killed during the arrest or killing of the Saddam's sons in Mosul
Abu Dhabi TV
7/23/03: 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time
Abu Dhabi TV reported live from Mosul eyewitness accounts about a major US military operation targeting a house in the northern Iraqi city.
Eyewitnesses said that US helicopters and soldiers attacked a house, killing almost everyone there and arresting the owner, who is a head of a major Iraqi tribe.
It was believed that the two sons of the former Iraqi President, Udai and Quossai, were in the house. They were either killed or arrested, according to US sources. KNOCK KNOCK!
"Why Uday! Qusay! Welcome to my humble abode!"
"Hiya, Abdul! Say, that's a stunning traditional Arab dress!"
"Why, thank you. I stole it myself."
KNOCK KNOCK!
"Why who could that be, coming to visit so close on your heels?"
"Cheeze! It's the 101st Airborne!"
"Infidels! The place is crawling with infidels!"
"Ow!"
"Ow! Hey! Knock it off!... Owwww!" |
More detail from WaPo...
Details of the attack were very sketchy in Washington and there was no immediate confirmation of the deaths. But one intelligence official said, "Among the dead may be Uday and Qusay" Hussein. Another official said that two of the bodies bore strong physical resemblance to the men. Both men were close to their father and had been listed as aces in the deck of cards depicting former Iraqi officials being sought by U.S. troops. Qusay had headed the elite Republican Guard for his father. The dead did not include the ousted Iraqi leader, U.S. officials said.
| Damn. But I guess that would have been too much to hope for... How about those captured? |
Before the attack, U.S. troops had been told that there were high-ranking officials from the deposed government and the resistance was reportedly fierce when they arrived.
CNN adds that...
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told President Bush Tuesday the U.S. military might have killed Saddam Hussein's two sons during a raid in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, administration officials said.
| C'mon. He coulda gotten that reading Rantburg. Or even CNN... |
The initial White House reaction was cautious, though one official said confirmation the two sons, Qusay and Uday, were killed would "brighten" spirits in an administration that has been under sharp criticism recently from those who accuse the White House of exaggerating the threat posed by the former Iraqi regime.
"Oh, woe! We're so down. But wait! Uday and Qusay and little Mustafa may be rotting! Who's up for a few verses of 'Singin' in the Rain'?"
"Can I sing bass, boss?" |
"We can't say for certain but there is hope in my heart," said one administration official familiar with the operation. This official said there was "very solid" intelligence that the two sons were in a home in Mosul at the time of the firefight, but said he was not at liberty to discuss the evidence that made officials optimistic that Hussein's sons had been killed.
| Hmmm... They walked in. They didn't walk out. Kinda like a roach motel... |
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