----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Pollak
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 7:34 PM
Subject: [lbo-talk] CBS: First there wasn't a bunker. Second we didn't hit it.
No Bunker where U.S. Bombs Targeted Saddam-CBS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Baghdad bunker which the United States said it
bombed on the opening night of the Iraq (news - web sites) war in a bid to
kill Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) never existed, CBS Evening News
reported Wednesday.
The network quoted a U.S. Army colonel in charge of inspecting key sites
in Baghdad as saying no trace of a bunker or of bodies had been found at
the site on the southern outskirts of the Iraqi capital, known as Dora
Farms.
"When we came out here, the primary thing they were looking for was an
underground facility, or bodies, forensics, and basically, what they saw
was giant holes created. No underground facilities, no bodies," Col. Tim
Madere said.
CBS, saying it was the first news organization to visit the site, reported
that the CIA (news - web sites) had searched it once and Col. Madere had
searched it twice as part of efforts to find traces of DNA that could
indicate if Saddam or his sons had been killed or wounded.
The network said the main palace in the compound remained standing despite
the surrounding destruction. It quoted Madere as saying anyone who had
been in the building could have survived the raid.
Shortly after the attack, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told
reporters: "There's no question but that the strike on that leadership
headquarters was successful. We have photographs of what took place. The
question is, what was in there?"
The United States effectively acknowledged that the March 20 raid failed
to kill Saddam when it launched a second air attack aimed at the Iraqi
president on April 7.
The fate of Saddam and his sons Uday and Qusay is still unclear.
Rumsfeld said earlier this month, "If you don't have evidence he's dead,
you've probably got to assume he's alive."
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