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Satellite-Backed CIA Hit Squads Hunt Saddam

By Andrew Buncombe in Washington

The US is engaged in a massive effort to track the movements and communications of Saddam Hussein, using covert special forces and electronic eavesdropping equipment. The forces carrying out the search have authority to assassinate the Iraqi leader.

Teams from the CIA and special forces are involved in reconnaissance trips in the deserts and outside many of the major cities of Iraq. They are backed by an armoury of satellite technology, which is used to monitor the phone calls and walkie-talkie transmissions of Saddam and his senior lieutenants.

The US teams are reported to be searching for potential landing strips for coalition forces to use in the event of an attack. They are also training opposition Kurdish and Shia leaders.

The units have authority to use so-called "lethal force". A presidential order signed by Mr Bush last year circumvents the ban on assassinating foreign leaders or civilians introduced by President Ford amid concern that the CIA had become a "rogue elephant" in its Cold War operations.

The new order means that al-Qa'ida terrorists are excluded from the ban because they are classified as "enemy combatants", as is President Saddam because he is a military commander. Many within the US administration believe assassinating the Iraqi leader would avert a costly and dangerous war.

The covert teams are supported by the latest electronic surveillance equipment. A converted Boeing 707, called a RC-135 Rivet Joint, is flying up to 10 hours a day at 35,000ft over Iraq, intercepting phone calls and identifying callers' locations to within a mile.

Two satellites are tracking the Iraqi President. The Micron Spy satellite is stationed 22,300 miles above the Middle East and can pick up telephone calls, which are sent to the US listening base at Menwith Hill, Yorkshire, or the National Security Agency in Fort Meade, Maryland.

The Trumpet satellitepicks up mobile-phone calls. Most of the information is sent to Buckley Air National Guard Base, in Aurora, Colorado.

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