TASK FORCE 20 LAUNCHES RAIDS ON AL-OUJA

Between Sunday, July 27, and Tuesday, July 29, 2003, Task Force 20, the combined U.S. Army Special Forces and CIA unit, conducted 58 raids in Iraq, including three on houses in Al-Ouja, a village 3 kilometers (2 miles) north of Tikrit, which was alleged to be the site of Saddam Hussein's large underground base.

"U.S. military officials declined to comment on Sunday's raid--as they have on all efforts of Task Force 20, the unit detailed with hunting down Hussein. Task Force 20 led the assault on Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay."

"Among those captured was Adnan Abdullah Abid al- Musslit, who commanders said was one of Saddam's most trusted bodyguards. Al-Musslit, who is Saddam's cousin, was believed to have detailed knowledge of the ex- dictator's hiding spots."

However, the raids on Al-Ouja failed to turn up any sign of Saddam Hussein or the tunnel leading to the purported underground base. According to Iraqi rumors, the base was built for Saddam by the Zarzi aliens, to whom the Iraqi dictator had granted sanctuary when their UFO crashed in Iraq in December 1998.

In other news, Saddam himself continued to make clandestine radio broadcasts, with two more coming out last week.

Speculation that Uday and Qusay had survived the July 22 gun battle in Mosul ended abruptly when Saddam himself acknowledged their deaths in his audiotape of Tuesday, July 29, 2003.

"In the nine-minute audiotape, a voice resembling Saddam's said he was glad Uday and Qusay Hussein were killed in battle because such a death 'is the hope of every fighter.'"

"An audio tape attributed to Saddam was released Friday," August 1, 2003, by the Arab television network Al-Jazeera, in which the speaker promised to again take power and return Iraq 'to its normal state.'"

"'Our faith is great that God will support us and that one day the occupation army will falter and that victory is possible at any moment in the future as a result of the painful strikes of the mujaheddin (Muslim guerrilla fighters--J.T.) and our people's insistence to stop the invaders,' said the voice."

"The tape was the fourth purportedly released by Saddam in two weeks."

(See the Chicago Tribune for July 29, 2003, "Explosion kills GI in Humvee along highway," page 4; the Minneapolis, Minn. Star-Tribune for July 30, 2003, "Audiotape attributed to Saddam acknowledges death of 2 sons," page A7; USA Today for July 31, 2003, "High- tech tools used to hunt Saddam," page 5A; and the Duluth, Minn. News-Tribune for August 2, 2003, "Multiple attacks launched on U.S. forces," page 6A.)
 

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