Shortly before 4 pm on Wednesday, Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet offered President Bush the prospect that the war against Iraq might be transformed with its opening shots. The CIA, Tenet said, had a fix on President Saddam Hussein. Saddam and others in ‘‘the most senior levels of the Iraqi leadership’’ had fallen under US surveillance. The intelligence was unforeseen and perishable, presenting what one administration official called ‘‘a target of opportunity’’ that might not come again. Not only did the agency know where Saddam was, Tenet said, but it also believed with ‘‘a high probability’’ that it knew where he would be for hours to come — cloistered with advisers in a private residence in Baghdad. Bush listened calmly as Tenet described sources and limits of his information, the likelihood that it was true and the length of time Saddam was expected to spend at the site before moving to his next refuge. The Iraqi President avoids them at moments of maximum risk. There was no guarantee at all, Tenet said, that his whereabouts would be pinpointed again. For the next three hours, Bush and his advisers tore up the schedule of violence the US Central Command had honed for months. When Bush signed the launch order at 6:30 pm, it had a hastily prepared insert. The first shots would strike an anonymous Baghdad home and deep beneath it in hopes of decapitating the Iraqi government in a single blow. ‘‘If you’re going to take a shot like this, you’re going to take a shot at the top guy,’’ said a government official. ‘‘It was a singular strike.’’ Aboard Navy warships in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, officers programmed Tomahawk cruise missiles with digital target data transmitted from CIA headquarters at Langley. The bombs aboard the F-117s were 2,000-pound ‘‘bunker busters’’. Three hours after Bush gave the order, southern Baghdad was rocked by a series of closely spaced explosions. The results were unknown. Hours later, Iraqi television reported Saddam was alive and well and would address the nation. The broadcast began about 12:30 am on Thursday. US officials cautioned that it would be some time before intelligence could assess with certainty what the raid had hit, and who had been there. (LATWP)
