IRAQ: A little known Special Forces unit appears to have been central to the operation that killed Saddam's two sons, writes Tom Clonan.
When up to 200 troops of the US 101st Airborne Division engaged a small number of Iraqis occupying a suburban villa in Mosul for up to four hours early yesterday afternoon, the US forces appear to have used small arms fire, heavy machine-guns and anti-tank missiles to subdue the occupants.
In terms of the duration of the gun battle, and the calibre of weapons reportedly deployed, the pattern of the firefight appears unusual and suggests that an attempt was made to extract or lift the individuals in question from the house.
Initial reports suggest that intelligence received on Monday night indicated that Qusay and Uday, along with members of their immediate family and entourage, were seeking refuge in a house in Mosul within the area of operations of the 101st Airborne Division.
The sequence of events that took place matches the time and characteristics of a planned Special Forces operation.
To begin with, after the initial intelligence tip-off of the presence of Saddam's sons, several hours passed before the gun battle erupted.
This time lapse would fit with a co-ordinated covert reconnaissance of the building, along with the deployment of an outer cordon or perimeter of troops from the 101st Airborne in order to seal off the area containing the targeted building.
Concurrent with this activity would have been the mobilisation of Task Force 20, a Special Forces unit operating in Iraq whose mission it is to apprehend Saddam Hussein and members of his family.
Task Force 20 was involved in the dramatic attack on a three-car convoy near Qaim on the border with Syria earlier this month.
That operation, much like yesterday's, was initiated after intelligence indicated that the convoy in question was ferrying members of Saddam's family out of Iraq.
Task Force 20 consists of members of the US 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment (SFOD) or Delta forces. Selected from the elite of the US military's special forces units such as the Green Berets or Rangers, Delta Forces are highly trained and geared in the main towards operations involving hostage rescue or high-profile captures.
it was first formed in 1977, and were deployed during operation Urgent Fury in Grenada in 1983. It was subsequently involved in the rescue of US hostage Kurt Muse in Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989.
After this dramatic rescue, the unit was given the task of locating and detaining Gen Manuel Noriega. The unit was also deployed to Somalia in the mid-90s, and tasked with the location and detention of the warlord Mohammed Farah Adid.
In addition to Delta forces, Task Force 20 consists of members of the US Central Intelligence Agency's special activities staff, which specialises in counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence operations worldwide. .
At some point during Monday night and the early hours of yesterday, it is likely that members of Task Force 20 arrived at the scene of the suspected Ba'athist safe house in Mosul.
Having been briefed by the 101st Airborne and having satisfied itself of the security of the outer cordon, it would then have attempted to storm the building and, if possible, to have taken some of the prisoners alive.
The gradual escalation of force involved in the firefight that followed the surrounding of the building yesterday suggests that its occupants were determined not to be taken prisoner.
Helicopter gunships equipped with Hellfire missiles, or indeed fighter aircraft using smart ammunition could have completely destroyed the building at any point. Similarly, the local commander on the ground could have reduced the building to rubble within minutes with artillery fire.
Instead, the US resorted to small arms fire and the use of Humvee-mounted TOW missiles to press home the attack.
Many observers may conclude that the deaths of the occupants of the house in Mosul were inevitable. The cynical will conclude that by killing them President Bush will have deprived Saddam of his most likely successors, Qusay and his son Mustafa, in one fell swoop.
Tom Clonan is a retired army officer with experience in the Middle East and former Yugoslavia. He is a fellow of the US-based Inter University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society. He currently lectures in the School of Media, DIT