A recently created U.S. covert commando force has been hunting America’s most wanted men, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, and has come close to the deposed Iraqi leader, The New York Times said on Friday. Citing Pentagon and military officials, the newspaper said the commander for U.S. forces from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean formed the Special Operations group in the last few months to hunt throughout the region for Saddam and the al Qaeda leader.
Gen. John Abizaid disbanded two forces hunting separately for the two men and replaced them with a more flexible group that already has been close to Saddam, according to the officials. They declined to give any details on the group coming close to Saddam, the Times reported.
Military officers said that focusing the intelligence and the Special Operations firepower within one organization, called Task Force 121, streamlines the effort to use information and mount attacks, the paper said. The force is designed to strike against the two men or other "high-value targets" in America’s war on terrorism. The joint task force of Special Operations forces from the Army, Navy and Air Force is supplemented by a conventional force, which can be used to secure the perimeter of an area where a raid is about to take place, the paper said. Since U.S. forces toppled Saddam in April, he has been on the run. Troops have periodically said they are closing in on the former president, who they believe remains in Iraq. After the September 11, 2001, attacks on America, which Washington blames on Laden, President Bush vowed to take the guerrilla network leader "dead or alive."
| "I'll take 'dead' for $20..." |
Although the United States waged a war in Afghanistan that routed al Qaeda, many senior militants evaded capture and the network has apparently remained active, blamed for several attacks around the world.
Bin Laden appears regularly on video or audio tape vowing fresh strikes on America. U.S. intelligence and military officials say they believe bin Laden is most likely hiding in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan. |