Interesting now to look back on this article from Friday’s NY Times, which was good news in itself in Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno talking about breaking up the “cycle of financing” for the insurgency in Iraq; Odierno, who’s today’s man of the hour, added this:
Capturing or killing Mr. Hussein would provide a huge lift toward that goal. “It’s psychological,” General Odierno said. “I don’t think he’s really directing any of the operations, but I think he has a psychological effect. They fear him. They absolutely fear him. And there’s a fear he might come back and suppress them.”
An elite team of Special Operations Forces and Central Intelligence Agency operatives, called Task Force 121, is leading the hunt for Mr. Hussein and other top former Iraqi officials. General Odierno said American forces believe they had at least two close calls with the former Iraqi dictator in recent months. In a raid on a safehouse in the Tikrit area this past summer, American forces said they had learned from Iraqis they detained that Mr. Hussein had been there just eight hours earlier.
“Do I think he’s operating in this area? Probably,” General Odierno said. “Do I know if he’s in this area? I don’t. What I do know are his tribal connections here and his family connections here. The tribal and family connections are binding, and it’s very tough to get inside them. But one day we will.”
“I think he’s moving around,” General Odierno said. “Look at the quality of his tapes. Any one of my soldiers could make a better tape than he does right now.”