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| Iraq |
| U.S. Troops Capture Another Saddam Bodyguard |
| 2003-08-12 |
| U.S. soldiers on Tuesday captured one of Saddam Hussein’s former bodyguards and an Iraqi general who was a senior Baath Party official, the U.S. military said. A total of 14 suspects were detained in a series of raids lasting three hours in the deposed dictator’s hometown. All the suspects were from a single family that had been a pillar of support for Saddam’s regime, said Lt. Col. Steve Russell, commander of the 22nd Infantry Regiment’s 1st Battalion. He declined to identify the detainees or specify the location of the raid other than as a southern Tikrit suburb. "We were targeting a specific family - one of the four controlling families of the former regime," Russell said. "They were trying to support the remnants of the former regime by organizing attacks, through funding and by trying to hide former regime members," he added. About 250 soldiers surrounded and searched 20 homes, he said. Soldiers carried away a safe, photographs and computers that may be of intelligence value, Russell said. The Army had been watching the family for weeks, because of intelligence pointing to their involvement in recent attacks on soldiers in Tikrit, Russell said. They staged the sweep Tuesday when they thought they could catch the maximum number of people, Russell said. During his reign, Saddam depended on four families for support and rewarded them financially by giving them cash, prestige and land seized from other people, Russell said. Slowly and surely taking them down. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #14 Fred: They're different people? I honestly didn't know - my genuine apologies to NMM. You're annoying but not THAT annoying. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2003-8-12 6:23:37 PM |
| #13 Thanks for using your can of Steve-a-way. |
| Posted by: Bill 2003-8-12 5:31:31 PM |
| #12 Rats -- that's what I get for seeing patients all day and not hanging around on Rantburg. Sniff. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-8-12 4:45:58 PM |
| #11 Thanks Fred. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2003-8-12 3:50:18 PM |
| #10 Stevey's banned. If he sneaks through the filter I'll delete him by hand. Stevey and NMM are two different people. One's a jerk, the other's just occasionally misguided. There's no hope for jerks. |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-8-12 2:57:41 PM |
| #9 thank you, Fred |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-8-12 2:29:59 PM |
| #8 The air smells better here already. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-8-12 2:26:11 PM |
| #7 Sweet--all hail Fred! |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-8-12 2:13:14 PM |
| #6 Agreed--this asshat is contributing nothing to the debate. Murat was a perfect gentleman in comparison. |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-8-12 2:12:10 PM |
| #5 Stevey Robinson aka Not Mike Moore. Clarify exactly what you meant or I too will ask Fred to kick you off. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2003-8-12 2:11:34 PM |
| #4 Stevey who? |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-8-12 2:10:46 PM |
| #3 Fred, I second Frank G on this. Stevey's last post was off the scale. No merit whatsoever. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2003-8-12 2:02:46 PM |
| #2 Fred? Is "scumbag" enough to get stevey banned? Dissent is OK, referring to U.S. servicemen as scumbags is deplorable. Ban him, please. Let him find another place to slime |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-8-12 1:42:35 PM |
| #1 this is the first post I've seen which indicates that we have been able to make sense of the sub clan structure (I'm presuming what the post says are 'controlling families' are sub clans) of the Tikriti clan if this is true, it is good news indeed (at least for people who love freedom). |
| Posted by: mhw 2003-8-12 1:33:38 PM |