British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said on Wednesday he believed Saddam Hussein was probably still hiding in Iraq.
"In the end we don't know, but it is still our best judgment that he is (in Iraq)," Hoon told reporters on a visit to southern Iraq, when asked if he thought the deposed president was still in the country.
"As each day goes by, as we continue to search those places he may be hiding. We have to keep an open mind, but is it still my best judgment."
Hoon is the first senior minister from Britain or the United States to visit Iraq since they launched their military campaign to oust Saddam on March 20.
Hoon also said he was confident the forces that drove Saddam from power would also uncover his alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, the main justification for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. "We will increasingly be able to find weapons of mass destruction as we get cooperation, as we are doing from individuals who are part of the regime responsible for the programs of mass destruction," he said.
Meanwhile, amid Iraqi Shiite demands for a dominant role in Iraq's future, Bush administration officials were quoted Wednesday as saying that they underestimated the Shiites' organizational strength and were unprepared to prevent the rise of an anti-American, Islamic government in the country.
According to the Washington Post, U.S. officials said the administration failed to fully appreciate the force of Shiite aspirations.
Some U.S. intelligence analysts and Iraq experts said they warned the Bush administration before the war about vanquishing Saddam's government without anything to replace it. But officials said the concerns were either not heard or fell too low on the priority list of postwar planning. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
