In what seems to be a boost for American intelligence after the failures of 9/11, U.S. intelligence officials have confirmed that sites bombed by American bombers prior to the Iraq war with the intention of killing Saddam Hussein barely missed him.
In the first attack on March 19, as U.S. troops were poised to invade Iraq, U.S. bombs narrowly missed a small palace where the Iraqi leader was reportedly staying. The compound around the palace was leveled.
A second attempt to kill him came on April 7, just before Baghdad fell. U.S. intelligence sources had put him in a house in a wealthy neighborhood on the city’s west side, but believe he fled just minutes before Air Force bombs destroyed it.
And yesterday, based on intelligence, we finally got him. So, too, did intelligence help capture Saddam’s two sons, Qusay and Uday. Maybe our intelligence isn’t so bad after all. But ask ABC News and they’ll tell you a different story about the early attacks on Saddam. In the July 30 edition of “Nightline,” reporter Chris Bury called the attacks hasty (Source: LexisNexis).
In fact, the war started two days earlier than planned because of US intelligence that led to that hastily-called air strike.
If anything, the attacks weren’t hasty enough, seeing as that Saddam was, in fact, in the area prior to the attacks. But don’t blame “Nightline,” being wrong isn’t so bad.