Battle Lines
Tom Brown		Battle Lines is an ongoing Web log (blog) dedicated to providing a broad perspective on the latest news and developments from the war in Iraq. Response and suggestions are welcomed. Tom Brown has been an editor, reporter and software analyst for The Seattle Times for 20 years.

April 03, 2003

Saddam update: Has the regime already changed?

The morning's most interesting -- but totally unverifiable -- reports come from the Israeli site DEBKAfile. DEBKA claims "it is safe to say that Saddam and the senior members of his family are no longer at the helm of government. Iraq is undoubtedly in the process of regime change, the main objective of the Iraq War. Anything beyond that is hazy." The site says the evidence is that Saddam either left the capital or, possibly, is dead. It also reports that the Baghdad regime earlier rented an entire "1,600-room luxury resort with 600 meters of private sandy beach in the Mediterranean coastal town of Latakiya" in Syria. "Top Iraqi officials are reported hiding there since March 23, four days after the US-led coalition invaded Iraq. They are guarded by a Syrian commando unit armed with anti-air missiles while Syrian naval missile boats secure the port," DEBKA says. All, some, or none of this may be true. But it's interesting reading. Check out DEBKA's Iraq War Diary below the headlines. The U.S., meanwhile, has stepped up its campaign to sow doubt among Iraqis about Saddam's fate.

Posted by tbrown at April 3, 2003 09:37 AM

Katherine Long, research editor at the Seattle Times and 18-year editor and reporter, substituted for Tom Brown the week of April 14.

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