Saddam’s sons dead

U.S. military forces attacked a villa in northern Iraq yesterday and killed Saddam Hussein’s two sons, both former regime leaders, in a fierce gunbattle.

“We’re certain that Uday and Qusai were killed today,” Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of coalition forces in Iraq, told reporters in Baghdad. “We’ve used multiple sources to identify the individuals.”

The deaths of the No. 2 and No. 3 leaders of the ousted Iraqi government mark a turning point in the postwar campaign in Iraq, which has been hampered in recent weeks by daily guerrilla attacks in which 39 U.S. soldiers have been killed.

Allied officials said the deaths of Saddam’s sons will boost efforts to stabilize the situation in Iraq by helping to assure liberated Iraqis that the former Ba’ath Party regime will not return to power.

“I believe very firmly that this will, in fact, have an effect; this will prove to the Iraqi people that at least these two members of the regime will not be coming back into power,” Gen. Sanchez said. “And we remain totally committed to the Hussein regime never returning to power and tormenting the Iraqi people.”

At the White House, Press Secretary Scott McClellan said President Bush was “pleased to learn” of the raid’s outcome.

“Over the period of many years, these two individuals were responsible for countless atrocities committed against the Iraqi people, and they can no longer cast a shadow of hate on Iraq,” Mr. McClellan said, crediting U.S. military and intelligence forces and an Iraqi informant for the success of the operation.

In Baghdad, Iraqis celebrated by firing guns into the air after news of the deaths reached the capital. “It’s celebration. People have heard about what happened,” a U.S. military spokesman told Reuters news agency.

L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civil administrator in Iraq, said after a meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill yesterday that it “is really a great day for the Iraqi people.”

“It’s a wonderful day for the fine American men and women in our services, who have shown again how competent and professional they are,” Mr. Bremer said.

“The fact that Baghdad was lighted up with celebratory fire tonight shows you how important this is in meeting the real desires of the Iraqi people to be rid for once and for all of Saddam Hussein, his sons and his odious regime,” he told reporters after briefing 65 senators for more than an hour about the situation in Iraq.

Gen. Sanchez declined to say how the identities of Uday and Qusai were confirmed.

Four U.S. soldiers were injured in the raid. The operation included 101st Airborne Division troops, Army Special Forces commandos and Air Force elements.

When asked whether the raid had produced leads that are helping in the hunt for Saddam, Gen. Sanchez said: “We are still continuing to exploit the site and everything that we captured in that raid.”

Story Continues →