Secret papers found in Saddam Hussein's hiding place reveal that he had regular contact with the leader of the terrorists who oppose the U.S. presence in Iraq, military officials told The Post. The papers prove Saddam communicated with Izzat Ibrahim al Douri, his former deputy in the Baath Party - the political organization behind his reign of terror.
| I'd have been mighty surprised if he hadn't... |
Details were sketchy, but the documents show Saddam was more deeply involved in the resistance than previously believed.
| He's the one who knows where the cash is... |
And the farm complex in Adwar where Saddam was found hiding in a "spider hole" Saturday may have been a terrorist meeting spot. People coming to see Saddam could get there by boat on the nearby Tigris River. Saddam's communication with al Douri is just part of a treasure trove of secrets found at the hiding place - which led yesterday to the arrests of two key Iraqi terror leaders.
| That would be Un-named Co-conspirator One and his younger brother, Un-named Co-conspirator Two, no doubt... |
U.S. officials said that crucial documents, found in the Butcher of Baghdad's briefcase, included a list of six names, including two financiers, two bomb makers, and the two arrested resistance leaders, described as distant relatives of Saddam. The documents also detailed the structure and financing of eight to 12 vicious terror cells around Baghdad - of which the U.S. had known little. The information should bring more arrests in the coming days, said officials. "Some were things we already knew about and we just needed the intel to go after them. I think we'll get some significant intelligence over the next couple of days," said Gen. Mark Hertling of the Army's 1st Armored Division.
| They should be sifting through a glut of intel right now, even as the subjects of that intel are trying on their false noses and moustaches and getting the hell out of Dodge. Get 'em now, before they're gone... |
Uncovering Saddam's involvement with and knowledge of recent Baathist death-squad activities remains the first priority of CIA agents interrogating Saddam. "I'm sure he was giving some guidance to some key figures in this insurgency. When you take down a mob boss, you don't know how much is going to come out of it," Hertling told reporters. But so far, Saddam remains grumpy and uncooperative, sources said, spending much of Day 2 of his sessions with the CIA refusing to say much beyond "rote" political rhetoric. "He's been fairly defiant," an official told Fox News. "While he's talkative, he's provided nothing substantial. His comments are self-serving, lengthy rationalizations of his behavior, and he punctuates a lot of it with wise-ass and deflective remarks." |