Saddam was at bombed site, officials say

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U.S. intelligence officials believe Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, possibly accompanied by one or both of his powerful sons, was still inside a compound in southern Baghdad when it was struck by a barrage of U.S. bombs and cruise missiles at the opening of the war.

The U.S. believes Saddam Hussein and his son Qusai, right, were both in the compound that was destroyed in the war's first strike. Associated Press

If Saddam wasn't killed in that attack, U.S. forces are now authorized to target him without specific approval from President Bush, USA Today reports. The decision was made because it took several hours to mount the first strike after U.S. intelligence confirmed Saddam's whereabouts.

U.S. officials yesterday were analyzing a videotape of an appearance by Saddam broadcast on Iraqi television within hours of the pre-dawn bombardment.

"The preponderance of the evidence is he was there when the building blew up," said one senior U.S. official. The official added that Saddam's sons, Qusai and Odai, may also have been at the compound. "He didn't get out" beforehand, another senior official said of the Iraqi president.

A third administration official said "there is evidence that he (Saddam) was at least injured" because of indications that medical help was urgently summoned. The condition of Saddam's sons, and any others who may have been at the compound, was also unknown, officials said. One source told Newsday a clandestine U.S. team saw the compound after the strike and concluded "no one came out of the rubble."

The Newsday source said the CIA has no confirmation on who was killed. He said CIA Director George Tenet is confident "real damage" was done to Saddam's inner circle in the missile strike in part because U.S. military forces are not picking up "command and control traffic" from Baghdad.

"The nature of the resistance (from Iraqi troops) so far seems to be unorganized and unorchestrated," he said.

While U.S. intelligence monitored Iraqi government communications and movements yesterday to pick up signs of Saddam's fate, the administration's attention was focused on the television appearance by Saddam in which he stated yesterday's date and made reference to "dawn" and an attack by the United States. Officials said they had information that Saddam had recorded several statements earlier in the week.

Technical analysts, who used digital enhancement techniques and triangulation measurements of facial proportions, assessed that the broadcast depicted the real Saddam. But the government also consulted Parisoula Lampsos, who the Defense Department believes has passed a polygraph examination in support of her claim that she was Saddam's mistress in Iraq for many years. Lampsos has distinguished Saddam from his doubles in more than a dozen cases, one official said, and this time she said he was not the man in the broadcast.

The Washington Post contributed to this report.