theshark8777
03-31-2003, 07:15 AM
From USA TODAY: Page 1- March 31, 2003
KUWAIT CITY — A three-month U.S. effort to persuade Iraq's generals and Baath Party leaders to surrender and oust Saddam Hussein is being scaled back after it failed to produce any significant defections, U.S. intelligence and military officials say.
"We misjudged their tenacity," a senior U.S. intelligence official says of Iraq's leaders. "These guys are driven by a hatred (of the United States) that we may have underestimated."
The failed effort appears to reflect a miscalculation by the Pentagon and CIA of the willingness or ability of Iraq's political and military leaders to overthrow Saddam. Officials say they believed that if they could get Iraq's leaders to surrender, support for the regime would crumble. They also thought a conflict inside Baghdad could be avoided. Now, they fear the war could last longer than expected.
KUWAIT CITY — A three-month U.S. effort to persuade Iraq's generals and Baath Party leaders to surrender and oust Saddam Hussein is being scaled back after it failed to produce any significant defections, U.S. intelligence and military officials say.
"We misjudged their tenacity," a senior U.S. intelligence official says of Iraq's leaders. "These guys are driven by a hatred (of the United States) that we may have underestimated."
The failed effort appears to reflect a miscalculation by the Pentagon and CIA of the willingness or ability of Iraq's political and military leaders to overthrow Saddam. Officials say they believed that if they could get Iraq's leaders to surrender, support for the regime would crumble. They also thought a conflict inside Baghdad could be avoided. Now, they fear the war could last longer than expected.