Saddam located, CIA told Bush

JUST hours before the attack on Iraq began, the CIA reportedly told US President George Bush that the spy agency believed it had a fix on Saddam Hussein’s location.

CIA Director George Tenet told Bush he not only knew where the Iraqi leader was, but also believed he knew where he would be for hours to come consulting with advisers at a known private residence in southern Baghdad, The Washington Post said.

Those advisers were believed to include Saddam's two sons, Qusai and Uday. Officials said it was unclear whether any of the three were near the target, or had been killed. Both sons hold high-level security positions in Saddam's regime.

The information presented a 'target of opportunity' that might not come again, one intelligence agent said.

White House aides said Bush listened calmly as Tenet said there was no guarantee that Saddam's whereabouts would be pinpointed again.

Over the next three hours Bush and his top officials tore up the war plan that had been honed for months by US Central Command, the Post said.

Now the first shots would strike through the roof and walls of an anonymous Baghdad home and deep beneath it in the hope of decapitating the Iraqi government in a single blow.

"If you're going to take a shot like this, you're going to take a shot at the top guy," said one US official. "It was a fairly singular strike."

According to the report, CIA Director George Tenet told Bush, at a 4pm war council meeting, that the agency knew Saddam was meeting with top advisers in a private residence in southern Baghdad and would likely be there for hours to come.

The newspaper said Tenet described the sources and limits of his information, the likelihood that it was true and the length of time the Iraqi president could be expected to spend at the site before moving to his next refuge.

Bush signed an order at 6:30pm authorising a strike, the report said. The first shots in the war would be fired in hopes of decapitating the Iraqi government in a single blow, The Post said.

President Bush conferred with his national security adviser early yesterday on the initial strikes against Iraq, part of a conflict he warned could be longer and more difficult than some expect.

Bush said the hostilities that began yesterday morning with a narrow focus on selected targets of military importance will become a broad and concerted campaign.

After a brief night's sleep, the president talked to National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice about events overnight.

The White House made no immediate response to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who appeared on state-run TV yesterday after the US air strike to accuse the US of a shameful crime.

US officials did not know whether the speaker was indeed Saddam nor whether the broadcast was taped after the US strikes or in advance of them, a senior administration official said.

It appears to be him, and not a double, officials said after an initial review of the tape. A voice analysis is underway at US intelligence agencies to confirm his identity.

The war's opening salvos were aimed directly at Iraq's leaders, including Saddam, US officials said.