Military Commander Details Mission That Killed Hussein's Sons

Wednesday, July 23, 2003

By Kathleen T. Rhem

American Forces Press Service

"Immediately upon entering the building, shots were fired. We immediately determined that the targeted individuals were barricaded in the fortified portion of the building, which was the second floor, and they started engaging with small arms."

Soldiers of the Army's 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) fire a TOW missile at a building suspected of harboring Saddam Hussein's sons Qusay and Uday in Mosul, Iraq, on July 22.

Image Credit: SGT Curtis G. Hargrave – U.S. Army

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
U.S. military officials in Iraq believe a coalition missile barrage at roughly 1 p.m. local time July 22 struck the fatal blow to Uday and Qusay Hussein.

Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez this morning described the 101st Airborne Division operation in northeast Mosul, Iraq, that led to the deaths of Saddam Hussein's sons, numbers two and three on U.S. Central Command's list of most wanted members of the former regime, and two others.

Published media reports have said the other two individuals were Qusay Hussein's 14-year-old son and a bodyguard. Sanchez was unable to confirm this, saying officials are still working to positively identify the other two bodies.

Speaking at a press conference in Baghdad, Sanchez, the commander of Coalition Joint Task Force 7, said July 22 was "a landmark day for the people and the future of Iraq."

In a White House appearance a few hours later, President Bush agreed. "Yesterday, in the city of Mosul, the careers of two of the regime's chief henchmen came to an end," Bush said in an appearance with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Joint Chief's Chairman Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, and Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civil administrator in Iraq.

"Saddam Hussein's sons were responsible for torture, maiming and murder of countless Iraqis," he said. "Now more than ever, all Iraqis can know that the former regime is gone and will not be coming back."
(More: DefenseLINK.mil)
2003 © U.S. Department of Defense.

Dan