Pentagon: Saddam's sons are dead

'Multiple sources' identified bodies, Army general says

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) --Ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's sons, Qusay and Uday, were killed Tuesday in a gunbattle with U.S. troops in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq said.

Their bodies were identified from "multiple sources," Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez told reporters in Baghdad.

"They died in a fierce gunbattle," Sanchez said. "They resisted detention and the effort of coalition forces to apprehend them."

When asked whether the million bounties on both Uday and Qusay will be paid, Sanchez said, "I would expect that it probably will happen."

Uday, 39, and Qusay, 37 -- key members of Saddam's regime -- were among four people killed during the battle.

Sanchez said U.S. forces learned about the whereabouts of the brothers from a walk-in Iraqi tipster Monday night.

Sanchez said the 101st Airborne Division, Special Forces and Air Force assets participated in the six-hour operation on a residence near the northern edge of the city. (Map)

A military task force formed to hunt for Saddam and his top supporters led the raid, supported by extensive armor and air cover, officials said.

Two-hundred members of the 101st Airborne Division also joined the assault, and no one was captured, a U.S. official told CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

The military went in and engaged in a "big firefight," the official said. (Gallery: The firefight scene)

A senior Pentagon official said one of the other two bodies appeared to be that of a teenage boy. U.S. officials noted that Qusay has a teenage son. The other body recovered appeared to be that of a bodyguard.

A U.S. official said Saddam was not among them.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld briefed President Bush about the Mosul operation after it was over, a senior defense official said.

"Part of the reason he discussed this operation in particular was because he knew it would get a lot of attention, and that first reports are often wrong," the official said.

The initial White House reaction was cautious, though one official said confirmation that the two sons were killed would "brighten" spirits after recent criticism that the Bush administration exaggerated the former Iraqi regime's threat.

Both in deck of cards

Saddam and his sons have been fugitives since their government collapsed after a U.S.-led invasion in March. (Profiles: Qusay Hussein, Uday Hussein)

Mosul is a Kurd-controlled city about 110 miles [176 kilometers] from both Syria and Iran. Intelligence officials said they are investigating whether Uday and Qusay were attempting to find a way out of Iraq.

Retired Army Brig. Gen. David Grange said the deaths of Uday and Qusay would deal a psychological blow to Saddam loyalists attacking U.S. troops.

The hunt for Saddam in Iraq is led by a U.S. Special Operations team -- code-named Task Force 20 -- with support from the CIA. The task force, which also took part in the rescue of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, includes covert special operations forces from the various U.S. military services. (Lynch homecoming)

Qusay and Uday are the second- and third-most-wanted Iraqi leaders, and both are in the card deck of most-wanted Iraqis issued to U.S. troops in Iraq. Uday is the ace of hearts and Qusay the ace of clubs. (Flash interactive: Iraq's most-wanted)

Qusay has been the son widely perceived as most likely to have succeeded Saddam.

With Iraq preparing its defenses in the run-up to the war, Qusay was put in charge of four key areas, including Baghdad and Tikrit -- his family's tribal home.

When the war began, he was in charge of the country's intelligence network, the 80,000-strong Republican Guard and 15,000-member Special Republican Guard, which was responsible for protecting Saddam and his family.

Uday has a reputation for violence that included torturing Iraqi athletes who did not meet expectations. He ran the dreaded Saddam Fedayeen security force.

He was also in charge of the nation's Olympic committee, edited a leading newspaper, Babel, and was head of Youth TV, the country's most popular channel.

Just before the war, Uday warned that Iraqi troops would make the mothers of U.S. soldiers "weep blood instead of tears."

Correspondents Rym Brahimi, David Ensor, Jamie McIntyre, John King, Barbara Starr and Harris Whitbeck, and producers Pam Benson and Kevin Flower, contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/07/22/sprj.irq.sons/index.html

...the pentagon could use periodic whacking of sons as great propaganda.

How many times was SoDamInsane reported killed? Three times?

Bush did!

Its not surprising that the CIA has had its moles in the mainstream media, and CNN is no different.

For that, the CIA News Network surely has its influence on what is being propagandized in those little news bite nuggets.

can anyone say that the US government did a good thing by removing two of the most evil people in the history of civilization from the gene pool.

I am certain that there are people who will ask at what price, which is a good question, but how can we say how many people they have been responsible for. In death they are leaders in death. They are responsible for more than 250,000 deaths. A total by independant observers. For what ever you think about the Bush Administration you must agree they did well today. These two are second to their father who can only be second to Adolf Hitler when it comes to evil on earth.......

Hell, it's been estimated that our sanctions killed twice that many children in Iraq in less than a decade.

Its my understanding that many of the people killed by these two were in the context of war or an uprising. And while i have no interest in condoning these practices, it seems rather hypocrytical to fault them for doing what a military does.

Also, consider that so far damn near everything we have had crammed down our throats regarding this war and iraq has been complete horse shit. With that in mind, what do any of us really know about these two guys? Not much. So until I see some real evidence of these guys being so evil that they deserve to die, I will reserve myself in celebrating their demise, the same as I would be reluctant to celebrate anyones death.

In fact the only death I have not felt any remorse for lately was Strom Thurmond. Rascist asshole. Not that I would wish death on him but hell, he was older than god anyways, so i say good riddance.

the first hand accounts of hundreds of citizens who were tortured or had relatives tortured is not enough? The accounts of them jailing athletes who did not win a sporting event? Killing hundreds of thousands of people who dared to challenge their government? You are the kind of person who would not believe something happened even if you saw it with your own eyes. And as far as sanctions, the UN allowed Saddam to use money from oil to buy medicine and food. It was the government that decided to use the money on places and luxury cars. The santions did not kill the children, neglect by the leaders killed them.

>>the first hand accounts of hundreds of citizens who were tortured or had relatives tortured is not enough? The accounts of them jailing athletes who did not win a sporting event? Killing hundreds of thousands of people who dared to challenge their government? >>:

unsubstantiated allegations.

try reading Logic for Moles.

Saddam was a good guy. These reports of people tortured and children imprisoned are all unsubstantiated allegations. I don't believe any of it.

your usual pthetic pseudosarcasm is no replacemten for your lack of arguments and only makes you look more like a tool.

">>the first hand accounts of hundreds of citizens who were tortured or had relatives tortured is not enough? The accounts of them jailing athletes who did not win a sporting event? Killing hundreds of thousands of people who dared to challenge their government? >>:

unsubstantiated allegations."

There's no "pseudosarcasm" here at all. I agree with the writer!! If you have a problem with it, you need to speak with "no-evidence john". He's the one who wrote it. I just seconded it.

Two more murders for which Bush should be held accountable at his war crimes trial, this time of Hussein's sons. That story that they resisted sounds like all those stories from frontier North America about Indians who had to be killed because they were trying to escape while being brought back to the stockade.

That's why people like you aren't allowed to make important decisions or run while holding scissors.

"Two more murders for which Bush should be held accountable at his war crimes trial, this time of Hussein's sons. "

Timeless!

Classic!

Magnificent!

Meyer, you still got it baby!

I'm saving this one.

...of dollars of Ordnance are expended, Iraq is laid waste, the country littered with toxic DU dust and thousands of innocents killed they are able to whack two thugs. Am I supposed to be impressed by this massive display of waste, murder, and Incompetence?

They could have hired the Gambinos for a lot less.

When you want a job done right hire the right Pro.

"Am I supposed to be impressed by this massive display of waste, murder, and Incompetence?"

ANNOUNCEMENT!! It's not meant to impress you. You're irrelevant!

This is really all I have. I'm a conservative.

...irrelevant. I am the point of infection for the disease of thinking for one's self. It is the one thing that drives your side berserk. When people start thinking for themselves your lies become obvious and you not only become irrelevant but Gallows Fruit.

You want to have a high opinion of yourself, so ahead. No sweat off my back.

Dream On!!

This is really all I have. I'm a conservative.

"...irrelevant. I am the point of infection for the disease of thinking for one's self. It is the one thing that drives your side berserk. When people start thinking for themselves your lies become obvious and you not only become irrelevant but Gallows Fruit."

dio you truly are stupid. And vain.

There are no "sides" here. There's only you and a handful of similiarly stupid and gullible paranoids (for instance, your swallowing of the clear internet hoax of the "dancing isrealis...what a moron) who are pathologically incapable of being honest with themselves and the rest of us who are here to mock you.

You have no idea what "side" I'm even on since it never even comes up around here.

dio ...loud, proud and stupid.

A very ugly yet perversely amusing combination.

...I actually believe in fairy tales, so what do I know?

Believe it or not, some people are less than delighted that Uday and Qusay have breathed their last. Howard Dean grudgingly acknowledged that "it's a victory for the Iraqi people" but insisted that "it doesn't have any effect on whether we should or shouldn't have had a war," and added: "I think in general the ends do not justify the means." What's his problem with the "means"? Does he wish we'd stabbed them instead of shooting them?

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/203/region/Dean_chides_fellow_Dems_for_be:.shtml

Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, is getting to be one of the most irresponsible members of Congress. In December, he proposed reinstating the draft in order to hinder American national security. Then in March he voted against a resolution supporting the troops. Yesterday, notes NewsMax.com, Rangel appeared on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes," where he implied that the killings were assassinations: "We have a law on the books that United States should not be assassinating anybody," he said. (Actually, that's not true; it's an executive order, not a law.)

"When you personalize a war and when you're saying that you're killing someone's kids, then they in turn would think that they kill somebody," he added. Oh no, Saddam Hussein might kill somebody! Imagine that! And he said: "How can you get so much satisfaction out of the fact that two bums have been killed? We got bums all over the world and some in the United States. I personally don't get any satisfaction that it takes, you know, 200,000 troops, 250,000 troops, to knock off two bums."

http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2003/7/22/225219

The New York Times report on the Hussein boys' death includes this strange paragraph:

Not all the reaction was positive, however. The correspondent for Al Jazeera, the Arab satellite television network that has been a staunch critic of the war, described the two men as having been killed "in cold blood," and one analyst brought on to comment called the method of their deaths a "crime."

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/23/international/worldspecial/23IRAQ.html?pagewanted=all

It's not clear if that was Charlie Rangel on al-Jazeera. But in any case, why is it even news that "not all the reaction" is positive? We are, after all, fighting a war, which means we have an enemy, and some people are going to sympathize with the enemy. Heck, even today there are people who celebrate Hitler's birthday.

Somehow, though, I was amused by this headline on IslamOnline.net: "Iraqis Irked by, Jubilant at Death of Qusay, Uday."

http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2003-07/23/article02.shtml

Then there's this gem, from the National Post:

At least one man voiced disappointment that Uday, who ran much of Iraq's media and sport with a heavy hand, had been killed. "I don't want him dead. I want to torture him first," said Alaa Hamed, who was a producer at Uday's television station.

http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id=410FCCDB-8797-4E00-A65E-8342DA6CFC37

Sadly, Alaa, we live in an imperfect world.