Signs of renewed Iraqi military control suggest Saddam still alive

US OFFICIALS are seeing signs of renewed control

The partial revival of Iraqi command comes as US forces close in on Baghdad. Air strikes are already hitting the armoured vehicles of the elite Republican Guard units guarding the city's outer reaches.

American war strategists are proceeding on the assumption that Saddam is alive even though intelligence on his fate remains inconclusive.

Some in the Bush administration and in Congress believe Saddam survived last week's air strike aimed at the Dora Farms complex in Baghdad where he slept. Officials said some evidence suggests he was wounded. Others, however, continue to say the information about his status does not lead to any clear conclusion. Iraqi officials say Saddam is alive and well.

After the strike, intelligence and military officials described the Iraqi leadership as in disarray. In the field, that seemed apparent too, as some Iraqi combat units fought and others fled or did nothing. However, now officials are seeing more co-ordination among fighting forces.

Officials have predicted the Iraqi government could crumble without Saddam. That it appears to be holding onto power is taken as another sign he is alive.

US officials acknowledged that a speech by Saddam aired on Monday on Iraqi television swayed some towards believing he was alive. However, there was nothing in the speech that US intelligence regards as conclusive that it was recorded after the strike aimed at killing him.

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he believes Saddam is alive: "I've found credible the statements that he has made since then" as proof he is alive.

Several US officials said the Americans were continuing covert communications designed to get Iraqi military leaders to surrender.

They acknowledged suspicions that some of the talk on the other end was an Iraqi trick, aimed at giving American and British forces pause before attacking a unit that might be on the verge of surrender.

"There are military leaders that have talked about surrendering," said US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "Some have actually done it, others may be engaged in a ruse, that's possible, although the kind of ruse we've seen has tended to be a very small handful of people, Fedayeen Saddam (militia) types, in civilian clothes, pretending they're giving up."

The US officials said there was no mass surrender yet arranged with the Republican Guard, but they remained optimistic the efforts would bear fruit when US troops reach the highly fortified areas around Baghdad where the veteran Iraqi units are located.

One senior official said it is believed some of the Iraqis engaged in the conversations are acting in good faith but don't yet have anyone to surrender to.