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新浪首页 > 新浪教育 > US looks for Saddam in rubble

US looks for Saddam in rubble
http://www.sina.com.cn 2003/06/05 11:14  Shanghai Daily

  US Army combat engineers using bulldozers and earthmoving equipment dug through a rubble-filled crater yesterday in an effort to determine whether Saddam Hussein died in an airstrike on the house where he was believed to be hiding.

  The site was attacked on April 7, just two days before US forces took control of the capital. The US military said at the time it had reliable information Saddam and other members of his family and entourage were there at the time.

  "For us to expend the amount of money it took to destroy this place, it must have been a key target," said US Major Scott Slaten of the newly arrived 1st Armored Division, which is now assuming responsibility for Baghdad.

  He said an engineering unit of the Utah National Guard attached to the 1st Armored was excavating the site and carting the rubble off in dump trucks to an undisclosed location where it would be sifted and examined for human remains.

  The United States does not know if Saddam is alive or dead. The deposed dictator's last purported public appearance was apparently on April 9, in the Baghdad neighborhood of Azamiyah. He stood atop a vehicle and waved to supporters in video released several days later. But some US officials have wondered aloud whether the footage was really filmed on that day and whether he was already dead.

  It was not immediately clear yesterday what sparked the sudden new interest in finding his remains.

  The two-floor residential dwelling in the upscale Mansour district - in which at least 14 civilians are believed to have died - had been left virtually undisturbed.

  On Thursday, however, a bulldozer, a backhoe, two loaders and a dozen heavy trucks were hard at work at the site, which was covered by a thick layer of dust from the pulverized bricks.

  The engineers were protected by three Bradley Fighting Vehicles and dozens of armed troops posted around the city block. Concertina wire was strung across the streets to prevent cars and pedestrians from passing through.

  Meantime, a former body double of Saddam Hussein's elder son said Odai Hussein had been in hiding in Baghdad and considered giving himself up to US forces.

  Latif Yahia, in Ireland awaiting a visa to rejoin his family in England, told a British news agency that a mutual friend had given him the information about Odai in a satellite telephone conversation 10 days ago.

  The friend reportedly said Odai and his bodyguards had stayed at his house in Baghdad for two nights.

  Yahia said Odai, who was left partially paralyzed after a failed attempt to kill him in 1996, was in desperate need of medication.

  He said a cousin of two daughters of Saddam told him that the women had applied for asylum United Kingdom but that they also applied to Germany and the United Arab Emirates.




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