"The clues that led to Hussein's capture emerged three weeks ago, officials said, when intelligence analysts and Special Operations forces shifted the focus of their hunt from Hussein's innermost circle to the more distant relatives and tribal allies who they suspected had been sheltering the deposed president," the Washington Post's Dana Priest and Walter Pincus reports. "The new strategy led to the capture in Baghdad on Friday of a relative from Hussein's Tikriti clan. Under interrogation, the man contributed a vital, though still undisclosed, clue to Hussein's whereabouts...Photographic and infrared surveillance in the 24 hours that followed narrowed the search area inside Dawr, a village near Hussein's birthplace..A 'fusion cell of [High Value Target] analysts' drawn from the CIA and military intelligence personnel, commenced a fresh review in late November of the vast trove of information already in hand about who was giving Saddam refuge."

Posted by Laura at December 15, 2003 08:25 AM