US hopes DNA sample will help find Saddam

US FORCES say they have a sample of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s DNA as they try to crack the mystery of his whereabouts.

General Tommy Franks, the US commander in Iraq, said the genetic material would be checked against DNA taken from bodies found in the aftermath of coalition missile and bomb strikes.

“The appropriate people with the appropriate forensics are doing checks you would find appropriate in each of the places where we think we may have killed regime leadership,” Gen Franks told CNN.

He acknowledged a positive match might be hard to get, particularly if remains have been removed.

“But what you should know, we have the forensics capability to chase these things down, and we’ll chase them down, every one of them, all the way,” he said.

Gen Franks said coalition forces also had DNA from other top Iraqi leaders. He did not explain how the DNA was obtained. It can be culled from a wide range of sources, including licked envelopes.

Asked on ABC This Week whether he believed Saddam was still alive, Gen Franks said he was not sure.

“Until I see convincing proof that he’s dead, we’re going to continue to look,” Gen Franks said.

But matching samples from sites where Saddam may have been killed could be like looking for a needle in a haystack, a leading scientist said yesterday. Proving he is dead may be just as difficult.

“A 100% conclusion, I think, is extremely difficult to make because there are different factors involved,” said Dr Esther Signer, a DNA expert at the University of Leicester in England.

DNA is contained in every cell in the body. Samples can be gathered from blood, skin, saliva, hair, body tissue, bone or semen. Each person has a unique DNA fingerprint.

Investigators working at the World Trade Center after the September 11 attacks asked relatives to bring in combs or toothbrushes so they could match DNA samples taken from them with bodies of those killed.

But Dr Signer, one of the DNA experts who proved that Dolly the sheep was truly a clone, said finding matching samples in debris of bomb sites may not be easy.

Even if a DNA match is found in blood or bone fragments it does not mean Saddam is dead.

“Having the DNA and matching it to the DNA sample you have already doesn’t mean you can conclude he is dead,” Dr Signer said. “He can be injured.”