The Cruise Missile Fired at Saddam on the Eve of War May Have Changed the Course of the Conflict - 2003-04-17

On the day the attack on Iraq began, March 20, 2003, the Washington Post reported on its front page, based on sources within the White House, details about targeting Saddam with a Tomahawk cruise missile the day before, which were later not reported with such precision by any other media, and American officials did not officially announce any of these details. A summary of this article is provided here. Around 4 PM yesterday, George Tenet, the head of the U.S. intelligence agency, told President Bush that although his words might seem fanciful, he believed he knew the exact location of President Saddam Hussein, the leader of Iraq; the CIA chief said he thought that starting the war with such a target might change the nature of the war with Iraq. According to aides to President Bush, as George Tenet explained the limitations of the information and the difficulty of finding Saddam, who was living like a fugitive in his own country, the President listened quietly. The military investment Bush made for this operation was not significant: 40 cruise missiles and two pilots whose aircraft and lives could be endangered while executing this order. However, the potential reward for this risk was substantial. In the hours following George Tenet's report, Bush and his senior security advisers tore up the detailed violent war plan that the military command had been working on for months. President Bush signed the missile attack order at 6:30 PM, an order that was hastily and spontaneously prepared. It was decided that the first shot would pass over the roof and walls of an unknown house in Baghdad, with the hope that the missile could then penetrate deep into the ground and decisively end the Iraqi government. On eight warships stationed in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, operational officers changed the missiles' paths, which were coming from CIA computers near Washington, while the missiles were in flight. From the Al Udeid base in Qatar, two stealth F-117 fighter jets, which are nearly invisible on radar, took off, each carrying two 900-kilogram bombs. The pilots found their way with minimal guidance, without the usual pre-flight meetings that clarify everything about the target and flight path. The results of this targeting will become clear in the coming days.