By Donald Macintyre
The United States has stepped up the military and psychological pressure on Tikrit as the hunt for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his top aides began to focus on northern and western Iraq.
In what looked like a calculated propaganda move as US-led forces continued to bomb Tikrit, the Pentagon issued a thinly veiled threat to deploy - for the first time in the war - its biggest non-nuclear bomb.
The threat to use the 9 526kg bomb came amid speculation by US commanders that the Iraqi leadership - including Information Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf - may have fled to the town of Tikrit or to Syria.
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| About 80 000 Iraqi troops are between Baghdad and northern Iraq |
US military sources at Central Command in Qatar have suggested the uniformity of the disappearance implied that an Iraqi central command and control was still operating.
CIA analysts are said to believe that the disappearance followed an order issued in Saddam's name.
The sources suggested this was a more probable explanation than that Saddam was killed when the US bombed a restaurant in Baghdad's Mansur district on Monday.
Although Saddam reportedly entered the building shortly before the bombing, British intelligence sources believe he escaped minutes before the attack.
The mystery over Saddam's whereabouts intensified when the Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmad Chalabi told CNN of unconfirmed reports indicating he had taken refuge in Baqubah, north-east of Baghdad. He said Saddam's son, Qusay, "is occupying some houses in the Diyala area".
But US commanders have made clear their close interest in Tikrit - Saddam's birthplace on the Tigris River.
On Wednesday, Lieutenant-General Vincent Brooks showed reporters video shots of the bombing of Iraqi command and control facilities in Tikrit.
Brooks said last week US special forces have set up checkpoints on the main roads between Baghdad and Tikrit to prevent movement between the two cities.
He said new Iraqi troops had been deployed to re-inforce defences around the town.
General Richard Myers, chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said 10 or more Iraqi army divisions - about 80 000 troops - were between Baghdad and northern Iraq.
But Major-General Gene Renuart, director of operations at US Central Command, said there were no "substantial" ground forces in the area.
However, the US Fourth Infantry Division, disembarking in Kuwait, was preparing to be deployed there.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Argus on April 11, 2003
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